First Landing State Park preserves the spot where the English colonists of the Virginia Company first came ashore on April 26, 1607, before sailing up the James River to establish Jamestown. That landing happened nearly three weeks before the settlement was founded, making this the literal starting point of permanent English colonization in North America. The historical weight sits lightly here — the park is more about what the land looks like today than what happened on it — but a marker at the bay shore acknowledges the event.
The landscape is the real draw. The park covers 2,800 acres along the Chesapeake Bay, with nineteen miles of trails threading through maritime forest and cypress swamps that feel genuinely wild for a place within a major city. The combination of Spanish moss, bald cypress, live oak, and longleaf pine creates an environment that resembles the Deep South more than coastal Virginia, a result of the moderating influence of the bay. The swamp trail is the most atmospheric, passing through stands of cypress draped in moss with reflections in the dark water below.
The park has a campground with electric hookups on the bay shore, popular enough that reservations are essential in summer. The beach along the bay — calm, shallow, and far less crowded than the Atlantic oceanfront — is excellent for kayaking and paddleboarding. The park entrance is on Shore Drive in the northern part of Virginia Beach, a fifteen-minute drive from the boardwalk.