A Virginia City's World-Renowned Community Park Is Named 'Mount Trashmore' For Exactly The Reason You Think

Despite our best efforts, we humans produce too much trash, and it's getting everywhere. Filthy beaches are all over America, including a Hawaiian beach that's considered one of the dirtiest places on earth. It's enough to make you want to simply bury your trash. Well, Virginia Beach is decades ahead of you, with Mount Trashmore. The world-renowned community park's name doesn't need much explanation. It's exactly what you think it is: a vibrant 165-acre park atop a 640,000-ton mound of trash that's an unexpected environmental wonder.

The Virginia city's park isn't simply a lovely grass field stretched over a landfill. It contains two peaks, which are accompanied by two lakes, offering a diverse spectacle and environment 15 minutes away from Virginia Beach. Within the park's grounds, visitors will be hard-pressed to know they're standing atop a decades-old pile of refuse. Ten fitness stations mix with a kids' playground, picnic shelters, volleyball courts, a skate park, and public restrooms, among other amenities. Smack dab at the top is the Water Wise demonstration garden, a low-irrigation botanical experiment that showcases how one can have a garden with nearly no watering required.

Ideally, visitors will incorporate Mount Trashmore into a trip to Norfolk, a bustling port town with sunset views. Those flying in should land at Norfolk International Airport, 20 miles away from Virginia Beach or 15 minutes by car. The city itself offers plenty of accommodations, at prices as low as $60 a night, depending on when you visit. Summers tend to get a bit muggy, so book your trip for the shoulder season.

The city converted the landfill into a park in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The 60-foot-high Mount Trashmore, the central peak, is an 800-foot-long slice of garbage lasagna, which mixes layers of compacted refuse with soil. It was the first such conversion of a landfill into a park, a feat that has been repeated several times over across the United States, perhaps the most famous being New York's 2,200-acre Freshkills Park, once the world's largest garbage dump. Researchers claim the repurposing helps trap harmful methane gases released by landfills. Don't be fooled, though. The park isn't just a gassy mound of rubbish.

Kids and adults can find plenty to keep them busy. The Kids Cove Playground, for example, offers 26,000 square feet of all the usual contraptions: slides, climbers, swings, and plenty more to help your children ignore the fact that they're playing atop a heaping pile of junk. The park's Lake Trashmore includes freshwater fish species that you can try to catch from land — if you have a Virginia freshwater license. Kayakers can take to the water on Lake Windsor, which allows visitors to float across its waters (but not in them). After a few hours at the park, be sure to hit the "World's Longest Stretch of Pleasure Beach," a 28-mile stretch of Atlantic shoreline that's a must-see.