Accokeek East Community Park offers multi-use / multi-dimensional recreational fields and picnic…read moreareas. There is a trail that runs the perimeter of the park. Also available is a playground area, basketball courts, a covered pavilion with grill capacity, and several seating areas sporadically placed throughout the park. The surrounding wooded area provides a pretty landscape / backdrop. Accokeek East is a nice place to just walk, sit and read a book, enjoy nature, have a family gathering or just take the kids to play. Handicapped/disabled parking is available and the paved top allows easy access and use for most.

It's closed for months to repair a sewage siphon in spring, which is ridiculous. There's a sewage…read morepipe that empties into the waterfall area, but people don't seem to care and they swim, even though you can smell the sewage. The whole place and even the forest is littered with hard lemonade and beer bottles, babies diapers, dog poop and all kinds of food wrappers.

Amazing hiking trails! Trails are pretty accessible for all levels…read more The trail maps need updating as there are some new trails.

Very friendly helpful staff…read more Reasonable boat rental rates 2 mile hike around the lake Beautiful beaver dam at far end of the park's lake

I was in the need of water therapy and found this hidden gem! The location is not too far, but far…read moreenough so that it's not a crowded, heavily populated park. They have ample parking all over, depending on where you choose to be, which I loved. Limits walking, especially if you are coming with grills etc, children. The lake itself was absolutely beautiful and very relaxing. I noticed they have paddle boats, so I'll definitely do that the next time I come back. Overall, I had a very peaceful and relaxing experience, especially seeing the joy from the little boy near me as he caught fish after fish!

This park is a very nice neighborhood park. It is relatively small and has a few parking spots…read morealong the circle. The park is buried deep behind a neighborhood. The park has a picnic shelter with picnic tables under it and a grill just outside of it. It has two picnic tables. One of the tables is rectangular and the other is a square table with a checkerboard on it. There is also a couple of picnic tables and a grill in a grassy area in the center of the park's circle. You will also find a nice full basketball court at the park and a nice paved trail passes through it. It is a really nice trail and very peaceful. The highlight of the park though, is its playground. The playground has a rubber mud free floor, which is in great shape. There are benches around the playground's perimeter where parents can sit and watch their little ones. The playground's equipment includes a small jungle gym with slides, a large net climbing structure with a slide. There is also a bank of swings with a toddler swing, An ADA compliant swing, and some traditional swings. This is a very nice park. I didn't know if I would make a special trip to visit, but it is still very nice. I ended up here because I had picked up some food from a carryout joint and needed a place to eat it. The park's picnic shelter was the perfect spot. So, if you are in the area, and looking for a park to visit. I recommend checking this place out.

Parks can make or break an outing with kids. I brought my nieces (7 and 4) and nephew (one) to this…read morepark since it looked like it had a good review. There is lots of space to park, very clean, and beautiful to look at. My nieces loved the blue color. There's a jungle gym, slides, swings for big kids and toddlers. The size is on the smaller side so it might get boring after an hour. My rec is 30-60 minutes stay. Also it's in a neighborhood which is a bit inconvenient when driving through. Stop by if you're already in the area but I wouldn't make a special trip again.

What a gem! Chessie's Big Backyard is such a great spot for kids (and grown-ups who like a good…read morewalk). The walking trails were really nice--well maintained with peaceful forest views. Perfect for a stroller, and some nature scavenger hunts. The playground itself is huge and looked really well cared for. The toddler area was unfortunately closed during our visit, but the rest of the space more than made up for it. There are tons of benches and seating all around, and you can see most of the playground from just about anywhere, which is so helpful when you're keeping an eye on kiddos. There's a massive covered pavilion area that would be perfect for group meetups or a picnic in the shade. And while it was still closed for the season, the splash pad/water park area looked like fun! Definitely planning to come back in the summer to check it out! Such a great spot to have in the area!

Would definitely come here again didn't know that it was a park with a waterpark next to it just…read morefor small kids nothing major nothing big but it's still amazing. Granddaughter had a blast.

For a State Forest, the park is not special; it has nice, easy to navigate flat trails which is…read morenice especially for novice hikers/trail walkers, but the park can be confusing to drive around, and during off season you need to call a park ranger for assistance. The park specializes in camping and seems like it would be nice for camping, but the park should have more signage for instructions/procedures during off season for more clarity. There are pretty trees and fall foliage to take advantage of. There should be more defined trailway and signs though for the different pathways. There is potential, but I would say that the park is average. I like the abundance of trees, (State Forests) and the pretty leaves during the fall time and the fact that this park is a lot better than Rosaryville, as the trailways are flat and not hilly and as dangerous as Rosaryville. There are regular parks that may not be state parks or forests that are more worth the experience. This is cool, if you are local to Brandywine or live in maybe Waldorf, Accokeek, Upper Marlboro or someplace, but if you are driving over half an hour coming from Bowie, Greenbelt, or other areas, than for a walking trail/hiking forget about it just not worth it. I don't know how the camping experience is never camped her but for trails nope.

What a gem of a campgrounds, so glad I found this spot in PG County…read more The online reservation system is great and easy to use. I like how there are pictures of each campsite so we were able to select a site that was just right for us. Checking in the day of the our trip was a breeze also, since we paid ahead for the site we just had to sign a few documents and get on our way. I will say, that charging $1 for a trails map caught us a bit offguard -- $1 hardly broke the budget but why charge us for a map if we're already paying for a campsite for the weekend? All the general family campsites are found in nice sized loop towards the back of the park. We went in early October and were pleased to see a good number of families and couples also out camping for the weekend. Generally, folks abode by quiet hours so no issues there but man were the kid campers chatty in the mornings. Neighboring kids seemed to get up an sunrise full of energy which woke us up a couple of times. Our site was clean and free of debris and we were able to set up camp within an hour or two. As we were setting up, the friendly camp ranger made rounds to come say hello and to ask if we needed anything which was a nice touch. The ranger made a few rounds around the camp loop each night just to make sure things were swell. Cedarville is great in that you don't have to buy wood only from the camp ranger (as is the case with many other sites that we tried to stay at). We were allowed to use fallen wood for campfires. We did buy one bundle of wood for $5 (got about 8 pieces) just to have as backups but our site was a goldmine of fallen limbs. I had a bow saw with me, so I just spent about an hour ear day cutting wood for the morning and evening fires. Feels so much more like camping when you gather and cut your own wood! We went for a long hike on Saturday through the blue, white, and orange trail areas. Remember to pack some water and a snack for those long hikes. The trails were well cleared and decently marked -- there were a couple of times where we were unsure exactly which trail we were on but we soon figured it out (with the help of that $1 map). The views from the trails were quite nice, definitely stopped to take a photo or two! Overall, a great camping experience for a getaway weekend. Just out of the way enough to allow you to take a break from it all, but still close enough to major roads like 301 to stock up on food, drinks, ice, etc. Definitely check Cedarville out!

Piscataway Park is steeped in history and offers a unique connection to the past. The trails…read morethemselves are a bit limited (and don't forget insect repellent!), but the river view of Mount Vernon Estate across the Potomac was clear. The park has a working farm feel -- the livestock were out during my visit -- and the butterfly garden was a delightful surprise. The river trails don't offer much unless you're fishing, so this isn't really a hiking destination or photography in September. What makes it worthwhile is the history and atmosphere. It's a peaceful place to reflect, take in the landscape, and enjoy a slower pace just outside the bustle of DC.

On the Potomac River in Maryland, Piscataway Park showcases natural landscapes, cultural history,…read moreand views of the river and Mount Vernon. Established in 1961, the park preserves the historic view of George Washington's Mount Vernon and the surrounding area. Piscataway Park houses the National Colonial Farm, a recreation of a small 18th-century Maryland tobacco farm. Operated by the Accokeek Foundation, the farm includes historic buildings, heirloom crops, and livestock breeds typical of the colonial period. We visited Piscataway Park towards the end of the day. We walked the path through the farm and saw the Hog Island Sheep. This is a heritage breed the park seeks to preserve....there are less than 2000 of them left worldwide. The park is fairly small and there wasn't a ranger on site when we were there. The passport stamp is in the gift shop. The interpretive signs have seen better days, but still it was a lovely, albeit brief, visit.

Dinosaur Park in Laurel, MD (near DC) is the perfect educational gem, family affordable admissions,…read morescientifically significant fossil site. Open regularly, but best visited on the first/third Saturdays for supervised digs, it features authentic, healthy outdoor exploration and paleontologist-led learning for kids, making it a priceless activity. Happy & Active: Kids love finding fossils, exploring the outdoor, fenced-in site.

Unless you go to one of their interpretive programs on the first and third Saturdays of the month…read more (What they said) ...It was pretty much only a few fact boards to look at/read, and like one thing for kids to climb around. So just because the stated hours are open during the week, doesn't mean there's anything going on and you can't like go behind the fence and there's no digs or anything, or even any place to walk. Sure there's picnic tables if you wanna just sit and eat your lunch with a bunch of corporate office buildings all around but it's definitely not something I would drive 45 minutes to unless you're actively going to one of the scheduled interpretive program.

Took my daughter for an afternoon stroll and play and the new park is officially open and I love…read morethat it has disability inclusive. Every kid can enjoy this park and they have a clean bathroom.

What a great park so close to Washington, D.C.! With clear signage and large parking lots, the park…read morehas a little lake, trails, a large playground, a nature center, and one of the few skating parks in the area. It's open from dawn to dusk every day.

Loved this cute little playground. It's definitely a woodland wonderland…read more I appreciated all the cute details around, my kids were so excited every time they spotted a woodland statue around. There is a play area with water spray structures, this was a hit on a hot summer days. There are bathrooms conveniently located near the playground and I was pleasantly surprised that they were clean. There are so many hidden fun things so keep your eyes open while you walk around! Can't wait to be back.

I hate it it's so boring an it's no sports that u can do there…read moreAn there no water or drinks an it was so hot outside an it's not entertaining they need to fix some rides up like the big red sliding board it had a huge cut in it an I almost fell I recommend not to come