Forest Hills Park

Address

Forest Hills Park, Forest Hills Avenue, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Best Nature Play Themes

• Collecting & Trading
• Hill-rolling

Park Narrative Summary & Directions

The park features a large hill which descends from the main park entrance near the playground through a sparse but robust set of trees to a flat, grassy clearing at the bottom of the park. The best feature is certainly hill rolling possibilities, though the flat area at the bottom is good for a home base to hang out and picnic and use collected items from the wooded hill. Distinct topography in the park allows you to get to good vantage points, and there is even a vista of the mountains from the top of the hill just above the trees. Parents should have no problem viewing their child playing especially from top of the hill but also from the flat space at the bottom. There is a wide variety of stick sizes and seed pods for collecting, mainly from the large trees dotting the hill. The park is easily accessible from Prospect Hill public housing community by foot via a paved sidewalk that runs the length of the park on the southeastern side, though the path corridor is narrow and isn’t particularly suited for nature play. There is also a water feature at the bottom of the park which looks like it runs dry the majority of the year.

All Nature Play Themes

• Building with natural materials
• Collecting & Trading
• Digging/Sand/Mud Play
• Experience Plantlife
• Hiding
• Hill-rolling
• Home Base
• Picknicking
• Prospect & Refuge
• Running
• Surveying
• Tool Play/Making
• Wildlife Watching

Risk Play Opportunities

The steepness of the hill makes for an opportunity for risk play.

Transportation Infrastructure

Walking, Biking, Street Parking, and Public Transit (nearest stop is the CAT 9th at Buford Middle School stop)

Accessibility Considerations

The park has a long, fully paved path that runs the length of the park, though the slope of the wooded hill would be prohibitive to access with a wheelchair, for example.

Safety Factors

The park’s proximity to neighborhoods on all sides, as well as its excellent visibility make this park feel quite safe.