Skip to content
Market Street Park, Charlottesville, VA

Photo: AgnosticPreachersKid, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sports & Outdoors

Market Street Park

A small downtown green in Charlottesville offering seating, tables, and flower beds for a midday break.

101 East Market Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902 · Charlottesville, VA

About Market Street Park

This compact city park occupies a downtown block in Charlottesville, Virginia, bounded by Jefferson Street, Market Street, and First and Second Streets Northeast. Paul Goodloe McIntire gave the land to the city in 1917 as a public park in memory of his parents. Its roughly one acre of elevated ground includes many benches, several tables, and colorful plantings, making it a convenient spot for a lunch break. The park was called Lee Park until 2017 and Emancipation Park for a period in 2017 and 2018.

  • #downtown
  • #urban park
  • #benches
  • #picnic tables
  • #historic land gift

What's around here?

The closest stops to Market Street Park, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Museums
    Rainy-Day Pick

    Fralin Museum of Art

    No admission fee

    Drop into the University of Virginia's free art museum on Rugby Road, a short walk from the Rotunda, for changing shows drawn from 14,000 works.

    1.3 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sightseeing

    University of Virginia Cemetery and Columbarium

    Check prices

    A historic burial ground tied to the University of Virginia, established in 1828.

    1.8 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Museums

    Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection

    No admission fee

    A University of Virginia museum devoted to art made by Indigenous Australian creators, with a large holding of works.

    2.1 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sightseeing
    Iconic

    Monticello

    $25–$50

    Tour Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home on a guided first-floor tour, then walk its gardens and grounds.

    2.1 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Outdoor Adventure

    Bear Creek Lake State Park

    Under $25

    Swim, fish or rent a kayak on a 40-acre lake built in 1938, then hike or ride into the 16,000-acre Cumberland State Forest around it.

    36 mi awayMore like this

  • Sports & Outdoors

    Short Pump Park

    Check prices

    Henrico County park with a dog park, a seasonal spray park, athletic fields, and a restored 1902 schoolhouse.

    54 mi awayMore like this

Near Market Street Park

More of the same kind

Keep exploring