The Virginia Capital Trail

Sherwood Forest Section

Since moving to Williamsburg I've been waiting, waiting, waiting for the unfinished Virginia Capital Trail to be complete. Finally, finally, finally the Sherwood Forest section has been completed! The official dedication took place on October 15th, but the trail was open to biking a few weeks before the 15th. The Sherwood Forest section runs along Route 5 from just west of the Chickahominy River Bridge to Charles City. I took some pictures along this wonderful new trail on a sunny fall morning. Share the scenery with me as we ride westward from Chickahominy to Charles City.

The newly completed trail begins with these views after crossing the Chickahominy River Bridge.

The trail runs parallel to Route 5, sometimes very close to the highway.

Historic signs are posted just before the intersection with Wilcox Neck Road (623). The intersection itself is not particularly busy.

The next segment, between Wilcox Neck Road and Sandy Point Road, has some nice wooded sections, although it never strays far from Route 5.

After passing Sandy Point Road wooden bridges become more common.

At Sturgeon Point Road another set of historical signs are nicely placed beside the trail.

A beautiful tree-lined stretch brings the trail past the entrance to Sherwood Forest.

One of the prettiest parts of the trail is just past Sherwood Forest. Fields of ripening soybeans glowed yellow in the late morning sun. Long open lines of sight look out over farmland.

Within a few miles of Charles City more wooden bridges appear.

After crossing the wooden bridge above a long open section passes fields surrounding the Burlington Plantation on the left.

Charles City is not far away now - just beyond this long bridge.

The trail crosses to the south side of Route 5 just before Charles City and then passes through this brief scenic stretch.

At the intersection of Route 5 and Route 155 the trail swings up into Charles City on a concrete sidewalk.

Charles City is not what most people would call a city. It's a small collection of county administrative buildings and a visitor center at the historic Charles City Courthouse. Here's the historic old courthouse.

There seems to be a conflict between the construction dates on the two signs. Was the old courthouse built in 1730, or 1757? Across the road from the old courthouse is the Courthouse Grill.

A short ride down this road through Charles City leads to the continuation of the Capital Trail which goes on for about another 7 paved miles at this time.

Charles City is just about at the 20-mile point along the Capital Trail. The zero-mile point is located at the Jamestown Settlement. It's a beautiful ride on a sunny fall day!