Buffalo Park Picnic Shelter

Buffalo Park is a small day use and campground park located on John H. Kerr Reservoir. The day use park is open year-around, and the shelter is reservable from April 1 through October 31. Kerr Reservoir, also known as Buggs Island Lake, is a 50,000-acre lake that extends 39 miles up the wooded, cove-studded shoreline of the Roanoke River in Virginia and North Carolina. It was created with the construction of the John H. Kerr Dam in 1952, and its 800 miles of wooded shoreline stretch across six counties in two states. The reservoir has approximately 48,000 acres of hardwood and pine forest alongside its 50,000 acres of water. Visitors to Buffalo Park will enjoy the lakeside views and the quaint park. The day use section has a swim beach, a picnic shelter and a boat ramp, along with picnic tables and a life jacket loaner station where you can borrow and return life jackets. The picnic shelter has a spectacular view of the lake, where the Roanoke (Staunton) River meets the Dan. Public lands around the lake are open to hunting with appropriate state licenses, with game species including whitetail deer, wild turkey, bobwhite quail, mourning dove, gray squirrel, cottontail rabbit, fox and raccoon. Resident waterfowl species include wood duck, black duck, mallard and Canadian geese. The Army Corps of Engineers manages 26 Wildlife Management Areas around the lake that provide year-round opportunities for hiking, wildlife viewing and birding, and Kerr Lake is widely known for fishing, with large-mouth bass, striped bass, crappie and catfish caught. Buffalo Springs Park, a Virginia state and national historic site, is located approximately 7 miles from Buffalo Park. Once a world-renowned source of bottled lithia waters, the little park now offers a picnic pavilion and solitude, and people still get their water from the fountain there. Gas and groceries are available in Clarksville, Virginia, about 15 minutes away — Clarksville holds the distinction of being the only town on Kerr (Buggs Island) Lake.