Visitor Center
You’ll want to be sure to make the Visitor Center a part of your next trip to Banshee Reeks. In 2015, the display room was refurbished with museum-quality specimens of local flora and fauna. A Honeybee display and visible hive provide an exciting inside view of the colony at work. Visitors can watch the bees enter a special tube from outside and observe seasonal activity in the pollinator garden. The pollinator garden has been tended by volunteers over the years. We always welcome your help with the garden most anytime of the year. Families and children can enjoy the books, games, and puzzles located in the reception area of the Visitor Center. Our museum-quality collections of taxidermy, animal bones, skulls, and eggs can be excellent subjects for artists and students to practice their drawing skills.
What Will I Find?
The preserve is fortunate to have a variety of both historic and contemporary buildings on the property. The manor house contains the staff offices and is the home of the Visitor Center. Next to the Visitor Center you will find two classrooms — the Education Annex and the Carriage House. Also located on the property is an 1830’s log cabin and bank barn which are original to the farm property
Designated as a Virginia State Treasure in 2016, the preserve consists of 695 acres of forests, successional fields, ponds (including a 1-acre catch-and-release fishing pond), and streams. The Goose Creek, a State Scenic River, flows for over two miles along the southern border of the property. There are 20 miles of mowed hiking trails. Preserve staff and volunteers strive to protect the natural habitats and wildlife populations of Banshee Reeks, to conduct and coordinate ecological, historical, and other scientific research (including numerous citizen science programs and projects), and to provide the public with an opportunity to enjoy and learn from this area.
Animals of the area include: deer, beavers, foxes, bears, coyotes, bats, numerous species of birds, amphibians, reptiles, and insects. Many of the plants you find at Banshee Reeks are native, however some are non-native and invasive, such as the Autumn Olive abundant in the meadows.
As part of the Piedmont ecosystem, Banshee Reeks protects many different types of habitats, including:
- River bottomlands (riparian zones)
- Successional fields and forests
- Ponds
- Mixed hardwood forests of oak/hickory
- Hedgerows and tree lines
- Meadows
- Wetlands
Friends of Banshee Reeks 