Dark Sky Parks
Sky Meadows State Park
Delaplane, VirginiaBortle 4 Best in Fall
Rural to suburban transition, with light domes glowing on the horizon.
Sky Meadows is the most accessible International Dark Sky Park for Washington D.C. area residents, sitting just 60 miles from the U.S. Capitol in the northern Virginia Piedmont foothills. Bronze Tier certified, it is the least dark of Virginia's certified sites, but its monthly Astronomy for Everyone events in partnership with NASA JPL volunteers make it the most programmatically active. Turner Pond is the designated observation area, open after regular park hours. A remarkable achievement for a site this close to a major metro area.
What's here
On the map
What to bring
Our picks for a good night under the stars.
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