In the early 1970s, Virginia Beach compacted 640,000 tons of garbage into a 60-foot hill; the dump became America’s first landfill park and now spans 165 acres
In Virginia Beach, one of the city’s most recognisable parks began with something most communities would rather hide: a mountain of garbage. According to the City of Virginia Beach, a 640,000-ton pile of garbage was converted into a 60-foot-high hill that became Mount Trashmore Park. What had once been a landfill was transformed into a 165-acre public space with lakes, trails, playgrounds and recreational facilities. The City of Virginia Beach describes Mount Trashmore as the nation’s first landfill park. The unusual project began in the early 1970s and demonstrated how land associated with waste could be given an entirely different purpose. Today, visitors can climb the artificial mountain, walk around its lakes, use the park’s trails and spend time in green spaces without necessarily realising that the landscape beneath them was once a landfill.
Turning waste into a hill
Mount Trashmore was created during a period when Virginia Beach needed a solution for handling large quantities of municipal waste. Instead of leaving the landfill as an abandoned dumping ground, the city developed a plan to reshape it. The garbage was compacted and covered with soil, allowing the material to form a large artificial hill. The resulting mound became Mount Trashmore, rising about 60 feet above the surrounding landscape.The project was not simply an effort to conceal an old landfill. The site was deliberately redesigned as a public recreation area, creating a new use for land previously devoted to waste disposal. The city converted the landfill into a public recreation area, and Mount Trashmore Park opened in 1973. Its transformation made the site an unusual example of landfill reclamation and gave the city a large area of recreational land.
A 165-acre transformation
Mount Trashmore Park today covers approximately 165 acres. Its most recognisable feature remains the main mountain, but the park has grown into a much larger landscape containing water, greenery and recreational facilities. The park includes two man-made lakes: Lake Trashmore and Lake Windsor. Lake Trashmore is a freshwater lake, while Lake Windsor is a brackish-water lake connected to Thalia Creek.These lakes are now part of the park’s recreational environment rather than being associated with its former use as a landfill. Fishing is permitted from land at Lake Trashmore, subject to Virginia’s fishing regulations. Kayaks are permitted at Lake Windsor, while boats, swimming and wading are not allowed in the lakes.
Trails around the mountain
The artificial mountain is also designed for recreation. Visitors can walk or exercise along trails that pass through different parts of the park. The park also has walking trails that take visitors around the mountain, lakes and surrounding landscape.The main mountain is not the only elevated feature. The park also contains a smaller mound called Encore Hill, adding another distinctive element to the landscape. What makes these features unusual is their origin. Instead of being naturally formed hills, they are part of a landscape created through the redevelopment of a former waste site.
A space for families
Mount Trashmore has also become a destination for families. One of its major attractions is Kids Cove Playground, a large play area designed for children of all abilities. The playground covers nearly 26,000 square feet and includes climbing structures, slides, elevated walkways and swings. According to the City of Virginia Beach, the playground includes a wheelchair swing.Elsewhere in the park, visitors can find areas for skating and BMX riding, along with open spaces suitable for picnics and outdoor activities. The combination of trails, playgrounds, lakes and recreational facilities has helped turn the former landfill into an everyday community space.
More than a covered landfill
The transformation of Mount Trashmore is significant because the city did more than close an old dump and cover it with soil. The landfill became the foundation for a carefully planned public landscape. The park also includes environmental features such as a water-wise garden that uses xeriscaping, a landscaping method intended to reduce the need for irrigation.The result is a landscape where the history of the site is largely hidden beneath recreational spaces. Visitors see grass-covered slopes, lakes, trees and playgrounds rather than the landfill that once occupied the area.
From garbage to public space
Mount Trashmore’s history illustrates how former waste sites can potentially be repurposed when redevelopment, environmental management and public recreation are brought together. The project also explains why the park’s name has endured. Mount Trashmore is a playful reference to its unusual origin, but the site represents a substantial transformation: approximately 640,000 tons of garbage were compacted into an artificial hill that became part of a 165-acre public park.Today, people come to Mount Trashmore to walk, play, exercise, fish, picnic and enjoy the outdoors. Few modern park landscapes make their history quite so obvious in their name. What began as a waste disposal problem eventually became one of Virginia Beach’s best-known recreational spaces, a landfill that was given a second life as a park.
