Belle Isle visitor center completed page
Copied from Free Lance Star
LIVELY
–When visitors to Belle Isle State Park have questions about the pristine, 733-acre facility on the Rappahannock River, it's a good bet that manager Tim Shrader will know the answer.
Since 1993, not long after the site with six miles of shoreline was purchased with state park bond money, Shrader has been on site in Lancaster County in the Northern Neck.
In the beginning, said the friendly, soft-spoken park chief, he was a one-man staff, spending many a night on the property in a building that had no running water.
In the years since, the facilities and staff have grown slowly. There's now a campground with 28 sites, boat ramps and a snack bar, a restored mansion and guest house rented out for weddings and vacations, trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding, and several picnic shelters.
A new visitor and educational center has been completed. So far, only its administrative offices and educational room are open to the public.
Because funding is still in the works, the green building that cost just over $2 million is still a work in progress.
The center is built with windows and big porches along its waterside to maximize river-gazing.
A high-pitched roof and open beams provide a large, beautiful space for displays that Shrader said will probably partly be made up of information about the Native American population that called the Northern Neck home long before European settlers arrived.
The visitor center has nuts-and-bolts facilities as well: offices for park staff, space for a gift shop, restrooms, a place to welcome visitors and space for meetings and educational programs.
Shrader said it was important in the design of the visitor center to have an environmentally friendly profile and landscaping to fit into the environment.
To that end, the building with long-lasting concrete siding was constructed with dark hues and earth tones, with gutters that empty into large rain barrels for watering plants, and light tubes that save energy by filtering natural light into the center.
Another feature that Shrader and the rest of the staff likes: windows on the ground floor and in the peak of the exhibit space that open and have both screens and shades for managing air flow and sunlight.
"The building is also built to use as little energy as possible, with eight to nine inches of Styrofoam in the walls for insulation," said Shrader.
Native plants and bushes were used in the landscaping, with long grasses and wildflowers planted a little farther out.
"We want to make it an animal-friendly environment but still maintain the view of the river," said Shrader, who noted that the building's architect went as far as checking the center's location from a boat on the river to put the building in the right spot.
Shrader said that as the park expands its staff, it will be able to take advantage of the park's rich wildlife and diverse ecology in educational programs.
With fields, forests, riverfront and marshes on the grounds, and wildlife that ranges from a small heron rookery to deer, foxes and more, the park can be the perfect outdoor classroom.
"We've come a long way from the park's first years," said Shrader. "This new visitor center will help us to continue that growth."
Aside from the Native American history, the land has more recent history as well.
The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. John Bertrand, a Huguenot, first acquired the property in 1692.
The Downman family operated Belle Isle plantation on the site throughout the 19th century.
dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/bel.shtml
Rob Hedelt: 540/374-5415
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com