Fort C.F. Smith Park

Fort C. F. Smith Park is a 19-acre historic Civil War fort with a historic museum and house, meadows, hardwood forest, nature trails, and a man-made bird creek. There are Champion native trees such as Alternate-leaved dogwood, Dwarf Hackberry, American Hazelnut, Eastern Red Cedar, American Spicebush, and Tuliptree in the forest along with spring ephemerals.

This nest box trail was the first in Arlington County and has been active since 2006. The nest boxes trail has five boxes along the main ½ mile of walking trail. Chickadees and Wrens usually nest on this trail. In the past, we also had Tree Swallows. In 2022, Bluebirds nested in a box on our trail but unfortunately, the nestlings did not fledge. The Virginia Department of Wildlife lists an array of birds seen here, including Bluebirds.

Our monitors include:

Mary McLean. Fort C. F. Smith nest box trail since about 2008, lead since about 2012, ARMN Class of ‘08, Master Gardener (MGNV 1998), Certified Interpretive Guide, National Association for Interpretation, 2012. marydmclean@verizon.net. Paul Mocko was the previous Trail Lead.

Blake Lindsey. Current park manager, Fort C. F. Smith Park Historian, Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation, Fort C. F. Smith Park, Nest Box Monitor 2025.

Joanne Hutton. Master Naturalist (Arlington Regional Master Naturalist-ARMN, 2009), Master Gardener (Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia-MGNV, 1995), Audubon Ambassador (Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, 2009)

Katherine Wychulis. Fort C. F. Smith nest box trail since 2021, ARMN Class of Fall 2021. Also co-designed our new online monitoring system.

Joyce Miller. Fort C.F. Smith nest box trail since 2019, ARMN class of 2015.

Trisha Gruesen. Trail Lead at Bon Air Park W&OD Trail and Columbia Gardens Cemetery nest box trails, Fort C. F. Smith nest box trail since 2018, ARMN Spring 2018.

Matthew Van Hook. Trail Maintenance. Co-lead Bon Air Park Bluebird Trail, ARMN 2017.

The Fort C. F. Smith Park Visitor Center is open:

Saturday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Sunday 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm