A Piece of Lorton Prison History / Occoquan Regional Park

I've been wanting to photograph this park on the Occoquan River for quite some time.  The park is next to Lorton Prison in Virginia and is tied to it's history.  We finally got out there for a short time and took a couple pics.  It's a very nice place and I will be back...

This kiln was used for over a hundred years by Lorton inmates to make bricks for structures in the area. 

Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, aka, "Bug City!"

This afternoon, we visited the 644 acre Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge which is located where the Potomac river meets the Occoquan River. 

The varied habitats are claimed to provide visitors a "unique opportunity to view a wide variety of wildlife species and habitats in a relatively small area." 

We saw bugs. 

Not to say it wasn't a beautiful place, it's just that we saw bugs and no wildlife. Oh, we saw a bird too!

This is one of those shots that looks better if you click on it!

This and the next pic are the closest we came to seeing the thousands of species of wildlife we were promised!  It's the remains of a dead turtle!  The skull is like 10 inches long!  This thing must have been huge!!!!!

In the refuge's defense, it was pretty hot while we were there and most animals stay hidden when it's hot.  Maybe I'll try again early in the morning sometime and have better luck.  Hopefully I'll get to do a part II of this page one day with some great animal photos...