Orange County’s newest park opened Tuesday with a ribbon cutting and open house.
The park, located at 17167 Mountain Track Road, was built on land already owned by the county. Board of supervisors chairman and District 1 Supervisor Mark Johnson said the county has owned the land off Mountain Track for more than half a century and aside from the refuse collection station and tower, hasn’t done anything with it except grow trees.
“We decided we want to up our game in terms of parks and recreation facilities,” Johnson said. “This property has been owned by the county [and is] not too far from [the towns of] Orange and Gordonsville.”
The park currently has walking trails, a playground and a technical-style disc golf course. The course was designed by Spotsylvania-resident John Biscoe. Biscoe is a member of the disc golf course designers group and is one of several designers with Prodigy Disc Golf Course Design. He is also a professional disc golf player. Johnson said he approached Biscoe about creating the course at a tournament three years ago. Biscoe agreed and created the course, which sits near the entrance of the park, across from the playground and is heavily wooded with 18 holes.
The walking trail at the park was created by parks and recreation with assistance from the Central Virginia Regional Jail Workforce Inmates. There is a hidden geocache box near the end.
Johnson said the park in its current iteration is just the beginning with plans to install a picnic shelter and expand the trails.
“We have approximately 80-90 acres to work with so we’re not pinched for room,” he said.
District 5 Supervisor Bryan Nichol said he was excited to see the park open.
“This is a great day for Orange County,” he said. “Parks and recreation thought of this, we talked about it on the board, it’s great to see it come together.”
Mountain Track Park is open from dawn to dusk. For more information, visit https://www.orangecountyva.gov/1188/Mountain-Track-Park.
