Explore a Park: Annandale Community Park
This article is part of our Explore a Park series on parks in the Annandale/Mason District area.
The 52-acre Annandale Community Park at 4030 Hummer Road, Annandale, includes the Hidden Oaks Nature Center. the Fred M. Packard Center, and a park maintenance facility.
Features: Two softball fields, tennis courts, a basketball court, a playground, trails, and a picnic pavilion available for rent. There are restrooms that are open from late March to late November.
The nature center (covered in a previous article in this series) has live animals, two classrooms, an outdoor play space called Nature Playce, and a full calendar of children’s activities.
The Packard Center houses the Artisans United Craft Gallery, a shop that sells handmade items – jewelry, wearable art, photography, ceramics, wooden toys, and more – by local artisans.
Several organizations are also based at the Packard Center, including the League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area, the Japanese Americans’ Care Fund, and the Fairfax Choral Society.
Access: The parking lot at Annandale Community Park is at 4030 Hummer Road. The park is also accessible via trails from the parking lots at the Hidden Oaks Nature Center and the Packard Center.
Related story: Explore a Park: Hidden Oaks Nature Center
Improvements: The old playground was replaced with a new one with a butterfly and caterpillar theme in 2020. There are separate play areas for children ages 2-5 and 5-12.
The $260,000 project was funded by park bonds passed by voters in 2012 and 2016.
History: A 38-acre tract where Annandale Community Park is located was purchased by the Park Authority on July 1, 1959, from Malcolm Morrow.
The property included a house, which was used for the first Park Authority headquarters and later transformed into the Fred M. Packard Center.
Packard was the county’s first Park Authority director. He started the job on Jan. 1, 1959, and left in 1961.
The Hidden Oaks Nature Center was dedicated on Oct. 18, 1969.
There’s a plaque at Annandale Community Park dedicating one of the ballfields to Ralph Moyers, who served as groundskeeper/foreman for the Park Authority from 1966 to 1975.
Interesting stuff. Thanks for passing along
Walking in the park and shopping for crafts by local artists are highlights of this park. It’s all so invisible from the street but definitely worth the effort to visit.
Awesome gifts, made by local artists, are for sale in the Packard Center at the Artisans United Craft Gallery. I have learned that they are open daily during November and December until Christmas!
Many happy memories at this park during my childhood and more recently I have used the picnic pavilion for outdoor meetings for work, especially when COVID numbers were higher. It’s a great community resource!
Whenever I go outside I wear two surgical masks. We all do our part because it’s our patriotic duty.