I know why the blue left, and the red told me why it was leaving, but why did the Greenleaf?…read more This lovely park in the north of Charlottesville also contains one of my favorite YMCA locations in the country - so it's a great park for more than one reason. Definitely one of the best recreational areas of a lovely town.

Greenleaf is an intimate, little park tucked away in a neighborhood and is surrounded by beautiful…read moretrees. It's easy to forget that a major roadway runs along the length of the park because it's almost hidden behind a tree line. The park has one of two splash pads in the city, a playground for bigs and tinies and a basketball half court. Finally, I love that the park has plenty of seating (including a pavilion) so either hosting a birthday party or simply monitoring rambunctious children is easy to do. The ONLY drawback to this little diamond of a park is the parking. The lot is uber tiny with only a few spaces and very little space to navigate even if you score a parking spot. Nutshell: It's a great place to come but you may want to come early or come on foot.

Love this Park. Lots of tree cover to help hot sun. Good paths for people of all skill levels. I…read moremust say, sitting and listening to the movement of the river was delightful.

Fabulous trail! Quite busy even on Thanksgiving but we found parking quickly! The wonderful part is…read morethat it rained heavily the evening and morning for our hike. The trail is made of asphalt so easy assess for handicap and no muddy paws

I love this park! On nice days I often walk over here after visiting the central library. My family…read morecalls it the "dizzy park" because so many things here spin around. Pros: small, contained park with plenty of shade and benches around the perimeter. The playground structure is fairly new and well maintained. There is also a small waterfall fountain that's on in the summer months that's perfect for small toddlers to play in. Cons: tiny public parking lot, no public restroom, the higher slide could do with more of a railing around the platform, and the surrounding pre schools use the park around 11:30am on weekdays so it gets very crowded at that time.

It was a tiny park. Two play areas for children of varying ages, swings, see-saw for three, and…read moreplenty of benches for parents around the perimeter. There were only four other children at the park which has its pro's and con's. The good thing is there weren't so many kids, that you couldn't see pass the throng to find your own. The bad part is they were all boys and not interested in playing with my hyper-friendly little girl . . . at least I hope that's why they ignored her completely. I was glad to come to the park because we'd passed it so many times, I was equally happy to leave. Perhaps if I had planned a play date with another kid, it would have been different. Nutshell: this isn't the place for a kiddie connection.

Great hands on play for your kids!…read more We were in the area and since it was hot we wanted an indoor activity for our kids. The museum recommends 8 and under. Our kids are 8, 7 and 5. The website does a great job of explaining where to park. We followed our gps and it took us the emergency exit entrance. The entrance is right on the main brick road. The museum will also validate your pass so parking is free. Entering was easy and we let the kids loose. We spent about 2 hours but they could have easily stayed longer. They do not allow food in the museum but you can come and go as you please. Great experience to let your kids explore.

Visited Charlottesville and this was the perfect little pitstop on the walk through the "mall". So…read moremany great shapes and then this for the kiddos was perfect and fun. The front has a lot of hands on stem stuff while you head down an alphabet corridor and get to play imaginationville with tractors, a bank, restaurant, Dr office as well as a music room and arts and crafts room. Had a great time. Seemed clean. Nice bathrooms. Price was right. Staff wasn't overly friendly but not rude either. The free carousel out front was a nice touch too! Would return.

Very big, clean park! My husband and I were in town with our dogs to go hiking and stopped in here…read moreone morning after grabbing coffee to walk the nature trail.

Great park with a variety of activities-picnic, playgrounds, baseball fields, tennis courts,…read moretrails, etc. This park holds a special place in my heart as it is where I proposed to my wife. And there's a reason we chose to do it here. It's very well kept for an outdoors area, and there are trails for both hardcore walkers and those who are just looking to get out. Come out to Pen Park and see for yourself!

Our Charlottesville son has come here with his two young sons (5 and nearly 4 years of age) …read more Trails, marked by colors (eg, Red Trail, Blue Trail, etc.) are easy enough for the little guys & certainly easy enough for us as well. They are well maintained, go uphill in some areas, flat in others, skirt a small creek, a large pond with turtles, fish, ducks & geese, lots of marked trees & meadows, all good distractions for big & little hikers.

I was heretofore unfamiliar with this tract of land despite having spent plenty of time in the…read morearea. It seems I missed out, as a splendid variety of experiences were available for free. Traversing an overlook over the river, I went down into a valley, spotting majestic birds of prey, a large fish, energetic baby turtles, singing frogs, and a snake, all spotted in less than an hour. As wildlife preserves go, this one had a lot of wildlife. Conditions vary of course, but there were a couple more hours worth of trails I didn't get to. Near the entrance were some buildings, including a water station and primitive bathrooms. People seemed to come for a variety of reasons.

Nice open park with wide spaces for picnics and BBQs. There is a pavilion with tables, benches,…read moregrills, a playground and basketball courts. I will update later!

This park is a seasonal swimming hole. The beach was already closed when I visited, despite the…read moreweather still being warm. There is also a frisbee golf course and some trails. At least in the off season, there wasn't a charge to enter.

Great park that's dog friendly. A group of friends and I came here with our dogs on a Monday and it…read morewasn't packed at all. We did one of the Blue Wheel loops which was pretty short (just over 1mi). There's plenty of opportunities for dogs to get water along the path and an open area for them to swim in which was great. We also had some young kids and they were able to do the trail just fine as well. Very clear and neat! We came in the off season (end of April) so there was no one at the park entrance gate.

My 20-month-old daughter LOVED this park. It's across the street from an amazing coffee shop…read more(Shenandoah Joe) and has several main areas- a playground, a basketball court, a swing set area, and a pool. The playground is always open and it's built for slightly older kids. However, the bright blue and yellows allured our 20-month-old there and she loved it. She was able to climb to the second level and go down the slides and steer the toy wheel. The third level requires climbing a ladder, but if you can get your kid to go up, it's worth it. They have two larger slides that adults would enjoy too!

This park has a basket ball court, swings and a play area for little ones. There is a pool that…read morelooks like it would be fun for kids when it is open as it has a mini water slide. Some benches under trees. Located across the street from a Shenandoah Joe's coffee house.

Just a few blocks from our apartment, The Park is a simple, yet great place. For students, they…read morehave recreational sports here, such as flag football and softball. I've watch many a law school softball games at the fields here. For the nonstudent like myself, the park is open for walking, walking or playing a sport. I spend most of my time here walking the half-mile loop that is paved around the softball and turf fields. In addition, I've played Frisbee at the end of the park in the grass. No matter the time of day, you'll see people of all ages coming and going from the area. I walk from my apartment to get here, but in the evening you could park in the parking lot. It's well lit at all hours. Along with the sports areas, it has picnic tables and water fountains throughout the park. Like I said, it's simple, but serves lots of needs.