Address:
557 Leesville Road Lynchburg, VA 24502
This 59-acre site provides recreation for both school and park users. Extensive hiking and mountain bike trails are found in Heritage Park, which is located behind Heritage High School. You can access this park from Leesville Road, near the telephone company building.
Heritage Park’s bike trails are for beginner, intermediate, and advanced riders, so make sure to pick an appropriate trail for your skill level. Look for signs and steps marking the entrance to the trail system; parking is on the side of the road.
History
Heritage Park was opened in 1976 as part of the Heritage High School project. For years, the park remained undeveloped except for a few walking trails. A partnership was formed in 1996 with the Central Virginia Mountain Bike Club (now GLOC—Greater Lynchburg Off-Road Cyclists), and extensive mountain bike trails were constructed. Because of the construction of several new mountain biking facilities in the region, GLOC’s focus has shifted to the bike trails at Peaks View Park.
Conceptual Plan
Heritage Park lies on land that is shared between the City Parks & Recreation Department and City Schools. The northern section of the park lies within the FEMA regulatory floodplain, which somewhat limits the types of activities that should be planned in that location. Currently, there is an open area on the northwest side of the park that includes a general-purpose field, practice field area, parking lot, and a building with storage and bathroom facilities. The remainder of the park is primarily wooded with unimproved hiking trails currently in use along a small drainage stream.
Click the photo below to open a PDF (large file size) of the latest conceptual plans.
Small Multi-Purpose Field
Parks & Recreation plans for the playing field to remain, to add to our inventory of playing fields for the general public, partner groups, and Lynchburg City schools. We will implement improvements to the playing surface, turf program, and drainage. We are also considering installing field lights to extend the hours it can be used.
Park Recreation Area:
Parks & Recreation staff desires to convert the current “practice area” south of the playing field into a park recreation area. This may include, but is not limited to, the following improvements:
- Paved walking trail
- Shade structure(s) with picnic tables and built-in grills
- Playground structures
- Exercise equipment
- Removal of some of the existing fencing to open up the area to be more inviting for public recreation.
In the wooded area, improvements to the disc golf course are needed and should be completed as part of this project. Additional recreation activities and improvements to the overall Plan will be considered based on feedback from the public.
Building Facilities:
Parks & Recreation wishes to keep the building structure footprint as it exists. An evaluation of its current state will likely lead to remodeling. Currently, it is primarily a storage area with bathrooms. Once evaluated, we may use some of the interior for classrooms and programming that would be open to the public, or for additional shop or office area.
Citizen Engagement:
Please look at the maps and Concept Plan and think about what you’d like to see happen at Heritage Park. Then click on the link to participate in the survey to record your interest and let us know what sort of improvements would work best there to address the interests of the neighboring citizens.
Current Images
