Free things to do with your family in Virginia this summer
Explore the arts, science, nature, and history, or let your kids explore an inclusive playground
Looking for fun things to do with your family this summer and fall that won’t break the bank? Here are some ideas for free and entertaining activities across the commonwealth.
Smell the roses and meet the animals
If you love nature, Virginia is a great place to discover fauna and flora.
In Hampton Roads, the 51-acre Chesapeake Arboretum is home to 3.5 miles of trails to walk through a “mature hardwood forest with many varieties of trees and plants.”
https://www.cityofchesapeake.net/459/Chesapeake-Arboretum
The two-acre Williamsburg Botanical Garden and Freedom Park Arboretum boasts over 20 distinct garden areas and over 150 native shrubs and trees, as well as children’s educational programs each Sunday afternoon.
https://williamsburgbotanicalgarden.org/
Fairfax County’s Frying Pan Farm Park presents farm life as it was in the 1920s to the 1950s, with chickens, pigs, ducks, peacocks, goats, and horses.
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/frying-pan-park/
In Blacksburg, the Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech is home to six acres of teaching and display gardens, exhibiting living art as well as installations by local artists.
Family playtime
Children of all abilities will love Clemyjontri Park, a Fairfax County park in McLean. This mammoth playground sits on two acres with climbing structures, giant musical instruments, slides, swings, and a maze. The park is specially designed to include kids with wheelchairs, walkers, bracers, and sensory or developmental disabilities.
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/clemyjontri
In Richmond, children and adults with and without disabilities can enjoy Park365, a playground with an accessible treehouse and merry-go-round, swings, and physical fitness stations.
JT’s Grommet Island Park for EveryBODY in Virginia Beach, a fully accessible 15,000-square-foot park and playground right on the oceanfront. It’s the perfect place to play and build sand castles.
https://parks.virginiabeach.gov/outdoors/city-parks/grommet-island-park
Discover the arts and sciences
Like the Smithsonian’s main National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., its Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly is a magical place to learn about the history of aviation and space travel. Note: admission is free, but parking costs $15 per vehicle.
https://airandspace.si.edu/visit/udvar-hazy-center
Prefer the arts? The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria lets visitors journey through three floors of working artists’ studios housed in a converted munitions plant.
The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk is open every Tuesday through Sunday and is home to more than 30,000 works of art.
Roanoke’s Taubman Museum of Art is open Thursday through Sunday, with daily guided tours every day at 1 p.m. Its permanent collection features thousands of pieces of American, contemporary, regional, and folk art.
https://www.taubmanmuseum.org/
In Charlottesville, the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia is open Tuesday through Sunday and is home to nearly 14,000 objects.
https://uvafralinartmuseum.virginia.edu
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, open every day of the year, has in its permanent collection about 50,000 works of art from around the world.
See history come alive
Historic Blenheim and the Civil War Interpretive Center in the city of Fairfax is open each Tuesday through Saturday and provides free guided tours at 1 p.m. The site’s historic home provided lodging for federal soldiers during the Civil War, many of whom left signatures, pictographs, and messages still visible today.
https://www.fairfaxva.gov/government/historic-resources/historic-blenheim
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, open every day, serves as the burial ground for more than 400,000 service members, veterans, and eligible family members, including Presidents John F. Kennedy and William Howard Taft.
https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil
Just southeast of Roanoke, the Booker T. Washington Natural Monument in Hardy teaches visitors about the life of the founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now Tuskegee University in Alabama.
In Appomattox, the reconstructed Appomattox Court House National Historic Park is open daily and allows visitors to explore the end of the Civil War at the site where the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered on April 9, 1865.
https://www.nps.gov/apco/index.htm
Tour the State Capitol and Executive Mansion
Want to learn about Virginia’s government? Take a one-hour guided tour of Virginia’s historic Capitol building in Richmond, available daily, or a self-guided tour of your own. Advance booking is only required for large groups.
https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/virginiaStateCapitol.php?secid=7&activesec=1#ui-tabs-2
Steps away from the Capitol, you can take a free tour of the Executive Mansion every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
