Exploring the Nature Trail at Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre

Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre is a 28-acre historic area with 5 historic buildings and a guided interpretative trail with a picnic area.

We visited to explore the trail, but did swing by to peek at the buildings, too.

Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre

There are 5 buildings at the Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre: a courthouse and jail from 1822, a log farmstead from the 1850s, a Union church from 1874, and a one-room schoolhouse that was in use from 1929 to 1944.

This area was the center of activity when it served as the county seat of Prince William in the 1800s.

The grounds are open daily and tours are available from 11:00AM to 4:00PM on select days. (We were not there during that time or we would have taken a tour!)

The Nature Trail

The Nature Trail is a 1-mile path that loops down to Broad Run and back to the Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre. The trailhead is clearly marked at the end of the main parking lot. You can’t miss it!

Though it is largely downhill in the beginning and uphill at the end, this course is not terribly steep or challenging. The steepest parts have steps built in.

It was an excellent walk with little ones. The steps kept it easy enough for them to walk and the loop was just long enough to keep their interest.

The middle part of the trail is relatively flat and follows the banks of Broad Run. Still, it’s hard to see the river through the trees. At this point, we thought we were in for any other woodsy walk.

Just around the half-mile mark, we entered a small clearing and could see benches and an observation deck in the distance! This is a trail with a view after all!

The view from the bench was partially blocked by foliage, so we moved to the observation deck.

The views here were perfect. Even though it was early in the season, we saw several birds in the surrounding trees, turtles swimming in the river, and evidence of a few fish that we were unable to identify.

The observation deck had a marker indicating it was built by Eagle Scouts nearly 15 years ago.

The trail from here circles back to the parking lot. It is fairly uninteresting, much like the path down to the water. We’d hoped to see interesting flora, but it was too early in the season. The only fauna we saw were a few grey squirrels.

Returning to the parking lot did prove to be a bit of a challenge. The trail diverged by the Haislip-Hall Farmhouse and we took the wrong path. We ended up back on Bristow Road, about 200 feet from the Historic Centre entrance. The road has a good bit of traffic and no sidewalk, so we cautiously backtracked to a place where we could safely change course and return to the parking lot.

Plan Your Visit

Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre
12229 Bristow Road
Bristow, Virginia 20136
website