Explore a Park: Backlick Park

This article is part of our series on parks in the Annandale/Mason District area. The last piece in the series explored Green Spring Gardens.

Backlick Park, at 4516 Backlick Road in Annandale, provides recreational opportunities for residents of nearby single-family homes, townhomes, and apartments.

Features: The 9.9-acre park has two playgrounds, one for children ages 2-5 and one for ages 5-12; a picnic pavilion with four tables, two tennis courts plus a practice wall, basketball court, fitness structures, paved trails, and open green space.

Access: The entrance to the parking lot is on Backlick Road. There are two paths from the Elan Mews/Royal Courts community. There’s also a crosswalk on Backlick Road at Falcon Street, and there are benches on Backlick Road at Falcon for those waiting to cross.

Improvements: Constructed in the 1980s. Backlick Park had been deteriorating for years. Local resident Binod Gupta launched a persistent campaign, beginning in 2016, to urge Fairfax County and the Park Authority to fix it up. Gupta and his neighbors complained about broken and unsafe playground equipment, overgrown trails, and the lack of maintenance.

Stories by Annandale Today and WJLA’s Seven on Your Side helped get the ball rolling on the need for improvements. As a result, the Park Authority made some limited repairs.

The Park Board ultimately approved $1 million, mostly from park bonds, for major improvements, which were celebrated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in November 2018.

The improvements included a new playground, fitness equipment, pavilion, tennis courts with lights, asphalt trails, and landscaping.

Local residents host cleanup events periodically to collect litter and keep the park nice for the community.