Explore a Park: Luria Park is a green oasis on the edge of Holmes Run Stream Valley Park
This is the third article in the Annandale Blog’s Explore a
Park series. The previous stories were about Manassas Gap Park in Annandale and
Lillian Carey Park in Bailey’s Crossroads.
Luria Park is a 5.3-acre neighborhood park at 7624 Holmes
Run Drive in the Holmes Run Acres neighborhood in the Falls Church area
of Mason District. It’s adjacent to Holmes Run Stream Valley Park.
Features – Playground, basketball court, picnic tables, and a baseball backstop. A circular, grassy area, surrounded by a paved path, is a good place for throwing a frisbee or football.
There’s a short boardwalk trail, with a bridge over Holmes Run, that connects Luria Park to the Raymondale neighborhood. The boardwalk and bridge were rebuilt in 2013 with funds from a park bond approved by voters in 2008.
Access – The entrance to Luria Park is at the dead-end on Holmes Run Drive at the corner of Executive Avenue. The park is also accessible from the dead end on Hartwell Court in Holmes Run Acres and the dead-end on Fallowfield Drive in Raymondale.
Nature – Luria Park is popular among birders. The Birding Virginia website lists lots of sightings at the park. See more nature observations here.
The Friends of Luria Park group hosts cleanup events and removes invasive species.
History – According to the Holmes Run Acres website, construction
of the first phase of Luria Park was completed in 1955.
The land for the park was a former dumpsite donated to the
Fairfax County Park Authority by the Luria brothers.
Gerald and Eli Luria built about half of the 350 mid-century modern homes in Holmes Run Acres, beginning in 1951. In 2007, the community was approved for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The Luria Brothers also developed Pine Spring, a neighborhood
of similar wood-framed contemporary houses north of Route 50.
I wish we could get these bridges shown in the pic in our wonderful Holmes Run Trail III Park in Mason. It's one of my favorite places but the stepping stones to cross the stream in 5 locations are becoming a challenge. These 18" round platforms have eroded badly in some places and have become unsafe. It keeps an entire population of elderly and cyclists from using this beautiful oasis. I am pretty fit and I am finding the stepping stones becoming more of a challenge as these have chunks of concrete breaking off. At times the streams is almost to the tops of the platforms. We need bridges. We need our advocate Marie R to help and we need Penny Gross to do her job.