Bray Loves Parks: Local Park Reviews: Mid County Park

3793 Ironbound Road
Williamsburg, 23188
5 out of 5 swings

Well this is a bit unorthodox, because this is a local park review... but Bray decided to take his blog on the road. During our vacation to Williamsburg, VA, we saw this park from the street and just HAD to stop. The park was newly rebuilt in the summer. In talking with the locals, Mid County Park was a beloved park... but getting really old and expensive to maintain, as well as a bit of a safety issue. There were even talks of getting rid of it all together! It was an all wooden park accented by recycled tires to create obstacle courses. Thankfully the city opted to listen to their community's needs and decided to rebuild.

The first thing we noticed about this park were the stadium lights that lit the park like daytime when it started to get dark, allowing for a later closing time. The second thing we noticed was that it was massive.

When we stopped by Sunday afternoon, there were a ton of children at this park. Bray ran up to the entrance... stopped... and began to explore the park with his eyes. He was beside himself. "Where do i begin?", I imagined him thinking to himself. He tried to take it all in with one glance, but it was so large that he had to run all around to each section to scope it out!

In the larger section there was the biggest play center equipment I've ever seen in my park-hopping days. It seemed to go on forever. A HUGE ship, which had rope ladders, slides, fireman's pole, sails, flags and pirate's telescopes, was connected by multi-level bridges to a smaller boat which seated 6 people, and rocked back and forth when you moved it, as if fighting strong storm waves. More bridges beyond the small boat branched off into a plethora of curvy, wavy and zig-zaggy slides. Off in the distance there were even more play sets that we had never even gotten to. Bray loved running over and under all of the bridges. What he loved most about this area was that there were lively kids to keep him entertained. The kids weren't just sliding down the slides or swinging on the swings. They were role-playing. Pirates, captains and passengers of the ships were running around on their day's mission. And that's what makes this park so awesome. It not only provides great equipment for the kids to play on, but it also gives them a kick start to their imagination.

Unfortunately for Brayden ( but fortunately for mom and dad ) There were sections of the park designated for different age groups. After repeatedly almost getting 'pushed off the plank' by wild pirates, we decided to relocate our child so that he wouldn't be a pirate's pancake.

Past the large ship and over on the other side of a small fence, there were smaller structures to climb, jump into, slide down and run under. These included a small canoe, a cannon, a wooden painted campfire sculpture and much more.

And Kidsburg is just the playground area of the park. It was surrounded by a large grassy area with pavilions, sports fields including baseball, tennis, basketball and volleyball. Benches were scattered throughout scenic walking trails.

This park was large, functional and beautiful. It was certainly not slapped together in one day. The details you will see in the photos are the proof! We also loved that it stuck to the colonial Williamsburg theme. What a park! We give it 5 out of 5 swings. And now we wish we had more like this back home near us! Our journey to find such a park continues...

If you want to learn more about the park go to: http://www.jamescitycountyva.gov/recreation/parks/mid-county-park.html