Chesapeake Arboretum

We absolutely love the trail here!! It's across the road from the parking lot, and has multiple paths you can take. We've been here 4 times and still haven't explored it all. I'm excited to see it in full bloom, but even in the winter months it's been a great place to take the kids and explore. There are tons of fallen logs and places to get close to the creek... who even knew we had a freshwater creek in Chesapeake?! There's even a little shelter that overlooks the creek at one spot and is a great place to stop for a picnic. So excited to explore the rest of this place.

An unassuming park/arboretum in the middle of a neighborhood that spans quite a distance. There is plenty of parking and one port a potty that I saw. There's a beautiful gazebo, but no seating provided. I visited two days in a row. The first day, it was HOT! Thankfully there is plenty of shade on the trails across the street. But then there were bugs to be expected that were relentless. We were mobile feasts. So like others have mentioned, bring your bug spray in the summer. It ended up raining hard, but because of the canopy of the trees we didn't get drenched. There are a lot of bridges and entrances. At least five near the parking lot and three or four that spill out to the Oak Brooke neighborhood, I too got lost a few times. There are maps peppered throughout the arboretum, to help keep you on track. The trails all somewhat connect to each other, if not you just back track. The access to the lake isn't that wide. The ground is super soft so it's easy on the joints, however one needs to be mindful of the roots and uneven terrain. There is slight elevation, nothing remarkable. I only saw a couple of picnic tables in the trails area itself. Near the the parking lot there are a lot more. Overall, I wouldn't say this is my favorite place to walk. But it is nice and quiet and shaded well. I saw several people walk their dogs on the trails. Dogs are permitted as long as they are on a leash. The trails combined are roughly 3.5 miles.On the second day, we happened to see a master gardener. She was very nice and friendly and showed us the garden and explained some of the herbs and produce planted. It's wonderful to know that they bring whatever is grown to communities that don't have the access to such food. I also didn't realize one could use recyclable mesh bags to grow things in, if you have limited space.

I went on a hike with a good friend of mine and I absolutely loved visiting. So much so that I failed to take all that many pictures at all. Parking is free and ample across the street from the entrance. I visited right before the trees and flowers began blooming. I have a feeling it looks glorious there now given the weather warming up. I really appreciated how clean the trails were too. No visible trash, dog droppings, or anything. The trails are in loops and hard to get lost in. Well, my friend and I are very directionally challenged so we still got lost. Once you hit the lake, it's time to loop back and every time we did, we somehow managed to end up at the same lake again. Like 3 times!! LOLI'm looking forward to trekking through with my beagles again in the future.

Recently a friend of mine and his wife had their babyshower there. It is truly a jewel tucked away and beautiful. Check out the landscape or nature trails nearby. Ions ago it seems I was just a young lady planting trees there in high-school with the Chesapeake Teen Council. Great times :)

Chesapeake Arboretum is quite small. The farmhouse was closed. However, the grounds and flowers were well kept. Not a lot of parking spaces. The trails for hiking is across the street.

Another great family time visiting the paths and having lunch at the picnic tables! Such a beautiful area to walk around and take in.If you cross the street for the path just don't forget bug spray they are bad during the summer! We love to grab some lunch eat at the picnic tables and them walk and enjoy the nature.

I can't speak for the Arboretum as I haven't fully experienced it. I've only walked the trails across the street. Overall I enjoyed myself, it was early morning and kind of gave off crystal lake woods vibes but I like I said, I enjoyed myself. I do think the trails are a little hard to read when coming to crossing or pathways. The color marks help but you definitely have to be vigilant.

This place really is a hidden gem. The area of the arboretum itself is fairly small. There's a really nice gazebo and a few benches and tables that make for a nice area to have a picnic. It's nestled in between a quiet little suburb area and across the street is a hiking trail that I've never been down. I like to go here to play games like Pokémon Go or Wizards United as it's a nice little hot spot for those games. But the grounds are well kept and it's a great outdoor area to take a pet and just enjoy pretty flowers and trees.

They have a 300 year old house and they supply all the trees for the whole city of Chesapeake. There are many snakes, deer and many animals. This place is also used for scientific purposes to test the water for the habitat . They lost 67 trees because of hurricane Matthew. They get their trees from the department of agriculture. They have just 50 acres of land and have about 135 species of trees. The Williamson mccoys family started it all. Caleb Williamson and family built the house and the property. It was in 1996 the place was donated. There are 45 acres of walking trails, lakes and wild life. Many benches were built from the pecan trees that were blown down from hurricane.This is an amazing place for field trips and a very educational experience. The people here were so generous to educate us about the place and we got to tour their garden as well. They have many volunteers and people that work here that keep this place running. They invest their time in making sure they maintain the outdoors.The trails are a must and it is a memorable experience in getting a taste of nature and the outdoors. There are many bridges on the trails. Unfortunately one was restricted. There are markings on the trees to indicate what color trail u would be hiking. We walked the white and yellow trail.I enjoyed the education experience. Seeing their ginkgo trees, fig trees and pecan trees had me learning more about the habitat and our ecosystem.My kids loved picking up leaves and finding interesting bugs and caterpillars. It's a nice serene location, a lot more smaller than the botanical gardens but nice place for nature exploring

Perfect area to go on a picnic, there was alot of shade, so it's enjoyable even on hot days. There was also alot of maps throughout the trails. Also a great area to take photo's in because of the pretty trees. The only downfall was that there was only some parking spots, not alot.