Pocahontas State Park in southern Chesterfield County features a water park, camping sites, plenty of hiking trails and numerous summer musical performances.

Swift Creek Mill Playhouse, located in an historic mill, is a popular dinner theater offering plays and musicals. And Henricus Historical Park in Chester is where John Rolfe first grew tobacco and married Pocahontas.

The Chesterfield County Museum, located in a reproduction of the original 1749 county courthouse, highlights exhibits on the county's Indian heritage, coal mining and agriculture. Historic homes include Castlewood Plantation House and Magnolia Grange.

Built in 1822 by William Winfree, Magnolia Grange is a handsome Federal-style plantation house named after the circle of magnolia trees that once graced its front lawn. It was originally part of a large land grant to John Worsham in 1691.

Noted for its distinctive architecture, Magnolia Grange contains elaborate ceiling medallions as well as sophisticated carving on mantels, doorways, and window enframements.


Theme Parks & Zoos — such as Busch Gardens Williamsburg — voted “The World’s Most Beautiful Theme Park” for 15 consecutive years — and Paramount’s Kings Dominion — home to one of the largest coaster collections on the East Coast.

The historic James River borders the county on the northeast and the Appomattox River forms the county's southern boundary.

Presquile
National Wildlife Refuge
Environmental Education
Fishing
Hunting
Interpretation
Photography
Wildlife Observation

The county's rich history includes many historic "firsts," such as:

1611 -- Citie of Henricus was established as the second permanent English
settlement in the new world
1612 -- Tobacco was first cultivated in America at Bermuda Hundred
1614 - -Bermuda Hundred was the first incorporated town in America
1619 -- Falling Creek was the first iron furnace in the New World
1622 -- Mount Malady, near Dutch gap, was the site of the first American hospital
1709 -- Midlothian produced the first commercially mined coal in America
1807 -- Midlothian Turnpike was the first paved road in Virginia
1831 -- The Midlothian to Manchester Railroad was the first in Virginia
Drewry's Bluff, which overlooks the James River, was a Confederate stronghold during the Civil War. Cannon and sharpshooter fire from the site prevented a Union raid on Richmond in 1862 that may have shortened the war.