Leesburg residents finally have a place to launch a canoe straight into the Potomac River. Veterans Park at Ball's Bluff, an 86-acre riverfront property the town bought back in 2001, opened after a ribbon-cutting ceremony as the first municipal park in Leesburg with direct access to the river.
The town paid $2 million for the land a quarter-century ago, holding onto it for more than two decades while officials worked out plans and waited for funding, according to DailyVoice.com. Leesburg and NOVA Parks acquired the property specifically to prevent future development along the riverfront and preserve its natural and historic significance, the outlet reports. That patience paid off this fall with the completion of Phase 1, a $4.2 million build that Loudoun County helped fund with a $4 million contribution.
What Phase 1 Actually Delivers
The new park provides vehicle access to the Potomac along with parking near the water, letting visitors launch canoes, kayaks, and other non-gas-powered watercraft directly into the river. A second parking area connects to the park's trail system, which links up with the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail and nearby NOVA Parks routes, per the station's report. A picnic pavilion is expected to open next spring.
Getting to this point wasn't simple. Town project updates show construction originally began in June 2025 but needed deadline extensions into early fall 2026 because of weather-related delays, with minor finishing work on drainage and bollards continuing into late September, according to the Town of Leesburg. Municipal project records identify Alpha Construction and Engineering Corp. as the design engineer and Madigan Construction Inc. as the general contractor that built the park.
Officials Took to the Water Themselves
At the ceremony, Leesburg Mayor Kelly Burk and Loudoun County Supervisor Kristen Umstattd canoed on the Potomac before the event ended. Burk said she hopes the park becomes a place where residents can fish, hike, paddle, picnic, or simply spend time along the river, telling the outlet that Veterans Park gives residents a new place to gather.
The park sits at 42314 Ball's Bluff Road and is currently open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., though those hours will shift with the seasons. Town facility guidelines describe a seasonal schedule of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. during peak summer months from May through August and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. in winter from November through March, per the Town of Leesburg. A 0.75-mile paved two-lane access road connects Ball's Bluff Road to the riverfront, though trailer parking is restricted in the park's designated lots.
Civil War History Next Door
The Ball's Bluff Battlefield Historic District is a National Historic Landmark spanning Loudoun County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland, according to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The October 21, 1861 battle there resulted in nearly 1,000 Union casualties or captured soldiers, including the death of U.S. Senator and Colonel Edward Dickinson Baker, a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln, as detailed by History.com. Baker remains the only sitting U.S. Senator ever killed in combat during the Civil War, and his death helped prompt Congress to create the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War.
The trail network at Veterans Park connects with the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail, which the National Park Service describes as a corridor. Veterans Park's trails add a local connection to that route.
More Is Coming, Just Not Soon
This opening is only the first phase of a much longer build-out. Town project documentation lists completion of Phase 2 for Fall 2029, with plans for additional parking, roadway upgrades, a second picnic pavilion, trail improvements, and adaptive-reuse renovations turning the property's existing farm silos into new facilities, under Capital Improvement Project No. 21203. Long-term master plan listings in the town's park directory go even further, outlining eventual additions including a non-motorized boat storage facility, a visitors center, a mountain bike trail, a disc golf course, open play meadows, and created wetlands.
Veterans Park joins Leesburg's municipal park system, which includes passive natural open space and active athletic complexes. For now, the headline news along the Potomac is simpler — after 25 years, Leesburg residents can finally paddle away from their own riverbank.
