What to Do

Park Gateway Area (Planned)
Little Bennett Park's beauty and protected state can appear somewhat elusive to those not familiar with the Park's surroundings. Except for the campground (which requires a fee to enter from March through October), there is no obvious "front gate" to Little Bennett Park. There are a handful of small parking lots around the edges of the Park, and the number and size of those lots are gradually being expanded. But unlike the four other regional parks in Montgomery County, Little Bennett lacks a place where a visitor can park for a little while, ask a few questions, grab a brochure, and learn something about what's in the Park that makes it a special place.

The Park today lacks a 'front door.'

In response to this glaring need, the Little Bennett Park Master Plan proposes the construction of a Park Gateway Area entrance off of MD 355. The proposed gateway would welcome people to a day use area and provide them an overview of the natural and cultural interpretive opportunities awaiting them. The proposed gateway would provide a welcoming entrance into the park that respects the natural terrain and preserves vistas of the natural landscape. Activities proposed for the gateway area are nature-based and largely unstructured and include:

  • Group picnic areas
  • Nature-based adventure playground
  • Group fire ring and amphitheater
  • Interpretive landscapes
  • Gardens, meadows, native plant education
  • Trail head links to hiker-only and multi-use trails.

Parking and Roads
Parking and roads must be carefully designed to be secondary to natural vistas. There are several knolls in the terrain where the Visitor Center would be situated. By curving the Park entrance road around these knolls and terracing smaller parking areas into moderately sloped areas, the parkway should provide views that are framed by the natural landscape.

Visitor Center
A Visitors Center with an interpretive focus has been proposed in the Master Plan. It would anchor the gateway to the Park and help orient people to the Park's natural and cultural features. The Visitor Center would be placed atop one of the knolls to provide overlooks into the adjacent forest and meadows and to create a welcoming feature as people turn into the Park. The Visitor Center should be constructed in accordance with "green design principles" and provide information on "green technologies" that can be used in homes.

Interpretive Center ("Nature Center")
The Little Bennett Park Master Plan says that "an interpretive center could be a part of the proposed Visitors Center OR could be a freestanding building. This decision needs to be guided by a comprehensive study of park interpretive centers. The Park Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Plan anticipates a need for two interpretive centers in the next 20 years. A county-wide study should help guide where these centers should be located and include recommendations as to building size, parking requirements and associated scope of services that would be delivered from the facility. Such a study should be initiated to allow the findings to guide future planning and design of the Visitors Center at Little Bennett Regional Park."

Natural Feature Focal Point
A key component of the entrance should be a "focal point" that reinforces the natural character of the park, according to the Master Plan for LBRP. It could be a pond, wetlands, or naturalized meadow. The objective is to assure that the entry into the Park underscores the special experience awaiting the visitor in terms of enjoying and understanding nature.

Landscape Buffer
The gateway area covers over 80 acres of mostly open land. The plan proposed adding landscaping to limit views of MD 355 from the gateway area.

Meadow and Garden "Previews"
Meadows and gardens would preview the types of plants, trees, birds and butterflies that may be found in the Park. This will help educate people about what they can see by following trails in the Park.

Recreational Opportunities: Focus on Outdoor Casual Enjoyment
In the day use area, visitors would enjoy a proposed adventure playground, nature paths, native gardens and picnic areas.

Below is MNCPPC's architectural drawing of its proposed Park Gateway Area Entrance complex as part of its Little Bennett Regional Park Master Plan.