MACHICOMOCO STATE PARK
Locatedin the southern part of Gloucester County along the York River, Machicomoco State Park isapproximately 10 miles downriver from Werowocomoco. The landscape of Timberneck was most certainly associated with Tsenacommacah and Powhatans extensive Chiefdom.
An open-air interpretive pavilion provides information on the culture, landscape and movement of Virginia Indians through displays and a walking path in the landscape. A paved trail follows along the main park road for walking or bike riding. The surrounding land provides diverse wildlife habitats, from open fields to woodlands and waterfront/marsh areas supporting deer, turkey, and many species of songbirds and birds of prey.
Other amenities include a campground with sites for vehicle camping and hike-in tent sites, three overnight yurts, two picnic shelters, a car-top boat launch pier with an accessible boat entry structure, and a set of small floating docks on Timberneck creek for daytime boat tie-ups and fishing.
Archaeological evidence on Timberneck ranges from the Middle and Late Woodland Period. It includes two ancient shell middens, one dating from 100BCE to 500CE, and various procurement sites -camps used as a base for fishing, oysteringand hunting by Virginia Tribes. Located approximately 10 miles downriver from Werowocomoco, the landscape of Timberneck was most certainly associated with Tsenacommacah and Powhatan's extensive Chiefdom. The English likely settled Timberneck around 1639, when George Minifye was granted a patent on the land. In 1792, the land was sold to John Catlett, and it remained in his family for the next two centuries and has been continuously commercially farmed since that time. The site is bountiful in natural resources, including land used for agriculture, maritime forest, marsh, uplands, wetlands, and estuarine habitat.
This park wasdeveloped as part of the Surry-Skiffes Creek Transmission Line Project memorandum of agreementmitigation stipulations. This mitigation agreement provided funding for land acquisition, visitor interpretation facilities, archeological investigation and preservation associated with Werowocomoco. The Conservation Fund purchased the Timberneck tract as part of this stipulation. Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects developed the design and managed construction for the site. The property was transferred to DCR on Oct. 9, 2020.