Folly Mills Creek Fen Natural Area Preserve

Folly Mills Creek Fen is a 28-acre protected wetland area in Augusta County that supports a water system fed by artesian springs rising through limestone bedrock. These natural conditions allow rare plant communities to thrive in this managed preserve.

Elizabeth and Robert Mueller established this preserve in 1998, making it Virginia's first privately owned Natural Area Preserve. This creation marked an important step in protecting this rare wetland type from further loss and degradation.

This place represents a vanishing type of wetland habitat that was once common across the Shenandoah Valley region. Visitors can observe how artesian springs and limestone geology create the specific conditions needed to support plant communities found nowhere else nearby.

Access to this preserve requires arranging a guided field trip through the Department of Conservation and Recreation, as it remains under private ownership. Visitors cannot explore the area independently and must visit as part of an organized group.

One of only two Virginia populations of bog buckbean grows here, alongside prairie sedge and queen-of-the-prairie plants found in few other locations. These specialized species thrive only in the artesian spring conditions created at this site and make it botanically significant.