1. Fairy Stone State Park

    1. Fairy Stone State Park

    0

    Stuart, VA

    Fairy Stone State Park

    4.0 (23 reviews)

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    Picnic shelter
    Sarah E.

    What a beautiful tucked away nature spot. We came just for the day to wrap up the summer. Parking is $7 and it gets you into the park where there is a swimming beach, playgrounds, hiking trails and picnic shelters. The park was exceptionally clean. The beach was immaculate and we were the only ones there. None of the shops were open but that was fine. The beach is a short walk from the parking lot downhill, if bringing chairs and other supplies I would recommend bringing a wagon. It is shallow and roped off so perfect for my small children who are inexperienced swimmers. No lifeguard on duty so keep a watchful eye. There are sand showers for when you leave your shower off the sand. The area is beautiful and it is private. Two playgrounds, cabins and yurts for rent. A perfect way to spend the last day of summer.

    Cabin 19 beds were horrible
    Wes A.

    Just a great place to unplug! We rented a cabin ! Every thing was perfect except the bed was excruciating hard ! Cabin 19 ! Ranger Martin was a great story teller! We went in October so not really beach time! We didn't see any wildlife but loved bed the screen in porch and rocking chairs! Great staff!

    Footprints in the mud.. canine and... raccoon-ine....
    Grace D.

    What a beautiful spot!! I stayed in Cabin 22, and it was recently redone with beautiful features. I had a lovely view of the lake from my porch, and still could see water from the screened in section. The road to get up to the cabin was steep and gravel, but the parking was fine. Some of the others may do better with better horsepower than my sedan. If you go after a rain, your fairy stone hunting will be more successful! The park wasn't terribly busy during the week, and I had a trail access right across from the cabin, so hiking was easy! You're about 40 minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway give or take, and can get on near Mabry Mill, the most photographed spot on the parkway, or Chateau Morrissette for a dog-friendly wine flight experience, maybe with live music!

    So many fawns this trip up!
    Charon R.

    We own a cabin just down the road and have been coming to Fairystone for 14 years now to hike the trails, swim in the lake, enjoy the frequent programs the park puts on. Clean and well kept, if you come once you will become a regular. Cabins are being overhauled at the moment but there are still yurts and the campground. We love Fairystone!

    Deer sightings next to our cabin every day.

    We stayed at FAIRYSTONE St. Park in the two bedroom cabins for 6 days. Nice beach area for kids . You can rent cabins, camp in a tent or cabin, or a yurt. Campsite for campers available too. We stayed in a cabin. Cabins recently renovated and very nicely done. Handicap accessible cabins are well set up. Check their website for more details. Don't come if you cannot live without phone service. We found it very peaceful. Beach area has available wi fi. Lots of wildlife and hiking trails. Park puts on programs on history and wildlife. I will go back!

    Cabin #7
    Amber R.

    Beautiful park!!! The cabins are so cute and have everything you need to unplug and relax.

    Tim D.

    We went to Fairy Stone State Park this past weekend for a family vacation. The park itself is very peaceful and quiet. It is gigantic (4500+ acres) with many hiking options. The beach area had a nice setup for swimming, plus that's where you can rent canoes, row boats, kayaks, and paddle boards. There are many programs held throughout the day (at least, there were while we were there). You can also rent the conference center for events. A wedding was being held the Saturday when we were there. Parking is free if you are staying at the park, otherwise there is a small fee. There are many options if you want to stay for multiple days (cabins, yurts, tents, campers, and the lodge). We chose to stay in a cabin down near the water. The view was fantastic! Each cabin has a good amount of space between the next so you have a lot of privacy. The cabins have an outdoor standing grill. Inside they vary with # of beds, but ours had a single queen bed, bathroom with shower, a couch, chair, fireplace, 4 person dinner table, refrigerator, stove, microwave, coffee maker, and a small number of utensils, plates, pots, pans, etc. We did nearly all of our cooking outside at the grill although it was nice to have a few modern luxuries inside the cabin. There are no TVs, you won't get cell service (if you're on AT&T anyway), and no wifi. It's fantastic. =) The fishing outside of our cabin is strictly float fishing. There are waaaaay too many submerged hazards to try anything other than that. The kids caught a number of panfish which they enjoyed, although they were all way too small so they were all released. There are plenty of boat rental options if you want to try for something larger. If you need to purchase any groceries, supplies, etc, it's a quick trip back down 57 (make a left out of the park). You'll find some local convenience stores and if you drive a few additional miles you'll find a family dollar. The nearest wal-mart is 30 minutes (or so?) away near Stuart, VA. There is a larger convenience store at the intersection of 8 and 58 (Howell's Grocery) which is closer and was pretty well stocked. While we were there we went to the Fairy Stone Hunt, which is just outside the park (3 miles away). It was a fun time. =) There are also two nearby wineries (30 - 45 minutes) away which are a nice diversion if the weather turns bad or you want to see what else is in the area.

    Nick L.

    The rating on this park is way too low. Just got back from this SP and it was beautiful. Another reviewer posted pictures that do it justice. Very remote but only 2:15 from Raleigh. Only drawback is no WiFi and no cell service for 90% of the campsites. Sometimes it's good to disconnect

    Thank you Ranger Danny & Sam
    Denny K.

    Had a wonderful two night stay at Fairy Stone State Park. We are traveling with friends and both had 25 foot travel trailers. We made a last minute reservation in the middle of summer and lucked out getting two spots side by side. The reservation attendant on the phone was so courteous and helpful which was a breath of fresh air. Once we got to the park and settled in, we were visited by Ranger Danny and his associate Sam. They came by to give us the rules of the park which was nice to hear instead of reading the flier and they were very courteous as well. Ranger Danny came by a couple of times throughout our stay with education on the various animals/reptiles in the area using flash cards and also gave us a flashcard demonstration/education on Moonshine stills which he had on a wagon (defunct) as a show and tell. They also had lectures in the different shelters throughout the park that you could attend if interested. There was a beach area for children if you wanted to get away from the camp for a few hours. Fairy Stones were found outside of the park as Ranger Danny said we would not find any here. I can't say anything bad about the park. It was lovely and we will be back. Thank you Ranger Danny & Sam for making our stay even more enjoyable. Two thumbs up!

    These are some of the stones we found.
    Evelyn N.

    Don't go to the park and expect to hunt for Fairy Stones. It's $4-$5 to get in the park and like $3-$4 per person to use the beach. To find the stones head south on 57 past the park and about 3 miles down on the left there is a service station. The Fairy Stone hunting area is to the left of the station, there are small signs. Have fun.

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    3 years ago

    It's a beautiful place to camp It has swimming, fishing, boating and the campsites are shaded, it's clean and the patrons are respectful.

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    7 years ago

    My family and I go here every summer, the kids have a blast swimming with the water playground and it's very relaxing. We love it

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    Ask the Community - Fairy Stone State Park

    Review Highlights - Fairy Stone State Park

    The park wasn't terribly busy during the week, and I had a trail access right across from the cabin, so hiking was easy!

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    Recreation Acres - Playground

    Recreation Acres

    4.3(3 reviews)
    37.8 mi

    This park is awesome!!!!!!! And definitely worth the drive. They have everything imaginable for…read morekids of all ages and it's huge! It's like a big castle clubhouse with so many things to climb, swing on, use their imagination, etc. I haven't seen a better design for a public park. The little kids playground, adjacent to the larger one, is just as wonderful. Plenty of seating and picnic tables for parents and shade in some areas, along with covered shelters. It's even handicap accessible. It's next to a little league field and has a walking path around the whole field if you enjoy walking. The only reason I give them 4 stars is because of the bathroom. They don't have a dedicated bathroom for the park, you have to walk a LONG way to the bathroom that's under the snack bar near the baseball fields. Trying to convince a toddler to leave the playground to walk that far is such a battle. If it wasn't for that I'd probably go more regularly. Winston salem needs playgrounds like this!! See for yourself and you'll agree I'm sure.

    This was such acute place to have a birthday party. They had a few tables we with bench seats on…read morethem. A playground that the children can play on. The only thing that I can issue with was the bathrooms were to fast away. Plus it was dirty, I guess it's a park and everyone uses it. But other then that cute place to have a birthday party.

    Photos
    Recreation Acres - Little kids playground

    Little kids playground

    Recreation Acres - Playground

    Playground

    Recreation Acres - Wheelchair swing! Awesome stuff!

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    Wheelchair swing! Awesome stuff!

    Mcafee Knob Appalachian Trail

    Mcafee Knob Appalachian Trail

    4.9(27 reviews)
    35.2 mi

    My husband and I like to hike so on our recent visit to Roanoke we started exploring options. We…read morelearned that McAfees Knob is the most photographed spot on Appalachian trail. We were a bit nervous about an 8 mile hike, but decided we were going to take it on. That hike was no joke, it kicked my butt. However, I did it and I am not someone in amazing shape by any means. There were some very steep/uphill parts and some stretches that were mostly flat. Trail was well marked. I was happy for the variation and we stopped as needed. It is doable, its just long. They say it takes you about 4 hours, which was accurate for us as we arrived around 10am, finished about 2pm. We did the AT trial up and decided to go for the fire road (runs basically parallel but isn't as strenuous) back as we were already tried. I highly recommend this if you not a serious hiker. Most everything I read kept saying you need to get their early as it gets so busy. That wasn't our experience, but it was an unseasonably colder, windy day so that probably deterred people. We also went on a Thursday to help reduce crowd as recommended. Note there are no bathrooms near parking. We found an outhouse near one of the camping sites about 2/3 way up, which we were grateful for. I am not sure it is being maintained regularly, so bring your own TP and hand sanitizer. Now, the view once you get to the top is absolutely beautiful. You can see out so far while you sit/stand on the rocky overlook. I even slowly inched my way out to the very tip of the rock to get the full 360 view. Breathtaking! We brought some snacks to eat up there to replenish (do this) and enjoy the views. We didn't stay up there as long as I would have liked as it was quite cold with the wind when we no longer had the tree cover. Dress appropriately! After we finished the hike, we took a long nap at our Airb&B. I am not sure I would choose to do it again, but I feel very accomplished that we completed this trail and enjoyed the views and our picutres very much.

    What an awesome hike. Our new Thanksgiving tradition has been to go on a hike and this was our pick…read morethis year. We got there around 10am since it's a 3 hour drive from Charlotte. I thought it would be empty on Thanksgiving, but it was pretty crowded. We got a parking spot just fine, but the lot was fairly full. The hike is rated as strenuous, but I thought it was moderate. It's about 4 miles to Mcafee Knob from the parking lot making it 8 miles round trip. We took the Appalachian Trail on the way there and the fire road on the way back. The fire road is flatter and wider--an easier hike overall. Parts of the AT were covered in leaves making it a bit hard to hike. Everyone says the last mile is hard. It's uphill but I didn't find it to be too steep. The views at the end are gorgeous. Luckily it wasn't too crowded and we didn't have to wait to get our picture. We didn't stay at the top long because it was incredibly windy which made it pretty cold even though the rest of the hike was comfortable. The whole hike with stops took us just under 4 hours. With views and difficulty combined, we thought it was a great hike!

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    Mcafee Knob Appalachian Trail
    Mcafee Knob Appalachian Trail
    Mcafee Knob Appalachian Trail

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    Fairy Stone State Park - hiking - Updated July 2026

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