Moving to Lake Ridge VA
Lake Ridge was developed as a planned community, along with Dale City, in the 1960s and 1970s. Both Dale City and Lake Ridge were annexed into Woodbridge and are considered part of Woodbridge.
Lake Ridge is set on 4,700 acres. The Lake Ridge Association maintains 1,200 acres. There are 7,278 property units that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, two apartment complexes and commercial properties. Lake Ridge isn’t as accessible to the highways, but has other benefits and perks which just may outweigh that for you.
Location
Lake Ridge is in Prince William County, just south of the Occoquan River and west of I-95. It has a much more residential and suburban feel than the rest of Woodbridge, which is more commercial and has lots of retail and restaurants.
Transportation
Lake Ridge is not as congested as life along the highway because it has a more residential feel, but commuting to 95 by car can add another 20 minutes to your morning commute. This is important to consider since once you get onto 95, you might also be sitting in traffic to get where you’re going. This area of 95 is a real bottleneck, and there are always slowdowns here – and not just during rush hour. There rarely seems to be a day free of incredible congestion on 95 in Woodbridge.
Lake Ridge is close to the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) Woodbridge Stop off of Route 1 and this option is great for a lot of commuters. The VRE terminates at Union Station in DC and has stops in Old Town Alexandria and Crystal City. I refuse to call it National Landing and funny enough, so does Amtrak on their website!
Commuters also have the option to take the OmniLink Bus. The Lake Ridge pickup and drop off goes to Downtown DC, Rosslyn, and the Pentagon. The Dale City pickup and drop off location goes to Downtown DC, the Pentagon, Rosslyn, Old Town, and the Navy Yard. You also can ride share, also known as slugging, from the Horner Rd parking lot.
Some residents of Lake Ridge commute southeast to Quantico. This is where the largest Marine Corps base is, the FBI Academy and NCIS, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Real Estate
Single family detached homes are $500,000 – $700,000 in Lake Ridge. Townhomes are high $300,000’s to high $500,000’s. Condos start at $200,000 and go into the mid $300,000’s. Because Lake Ridge was developed in the 1970’s there are a lot of split level and split foyer homes here. There are also ranch/rambler styles as well as the 1980’s ubiquitous colonial.
Lake Ridge also has some great water view homes that are a hot commodity. You will also see a good amount of duplexes in this area, which isn’t as common for Prince William County because the developers have historically favored traditional townhome communities in the county. The neighborhoods of Lake Ridge are incredibly lush and beautiful. It is historically the most sought after community in the Woodbridge area.
Fun Fact: Cecil D. Hylton is the most well known developer of most of Woodbridge and was originally a sod farmer when most of Prince William County was dedicated to sod farming. Once the development boom happened in the county, he switched over to the construction business and became the largest developer in the county. It is estimated that he built over 18,000 homes in Prince William County.
Food
Lake Ridge has a really great local food and brewery scene that is definitely worth checking out. Layla’s Lebanese restaurant is one of the best Lebanese restaurants in the entire DMV area and their Garlic Whip is to die for! They actually sell it by the container and it is incredibly popular. It’s one of Michael’s favorite foods in the DMV area. It is located in the Tackett’s Mill Shopping Center, which also features another amazing restaurant, Hector’s of Lake Ridge, a really delicious Mexican restaurant. Los Toltecos is also another great restaurant with awesome margaritas and tacos. If you are more in the mood for pizza, Presto! Pizza is really great pizza.
Water’s End Brewery is a fantastic brewery with so many great beers and they have a Beer Club, which gives you a lot of discounts and perks at the brewery. They offer snacks at the brewery but for more substantial food options, they host local food vendors or you can pack your own food and bring it with you! In the same shopping center is Brittany’s which also has excellent food.
You are also close to so many restaurant options in Old Town Occoquan, Stonebridge at the Potomac Town Center, and all around Potomac Mills Mall. We break these options down in our other videos on Woodbridge so check those out.
Grocery store options include Lidl, Aldi, Giant, Food Lion, and Safeway. You are also not far from a massive Wegman’s at Stonebridge at the Potomac Town Center, the Harris Teeter on Spriggs Rd, and My Organic Market (MOM’s) near Potomac Mills Mall. MOM’s is a wonderful local chain of natural grocery stores that has been around for so many years. If you haven’t been to one yet, you should definitely go check it out. Walmart and Target have grocery stores here, and there are several international grocery stores as well.
Family & Fun
There are all kinds of classes and clubs for Lake Ridge residents. There is a monthly meeting for the Art Society in Canterbury Woods Community Center and Jazzercise also meets here. Jazzercise is dance, not to be confused with Jazzagals, which doesn’t exist here, however, there is a Choral Group! They meet at Westminster.
At Tall Oaks Community Center you could join the book club if it wasn’t full. But you could join the Bridge or Bunco group or even the Garden Club – all also at Tall Oaks.
There’s a Lake Ridge Mom’s Club also out of Tall Oaks Community Center. I looked at this wistfully then remembered I can’t stand most other moms.
There’s also Toastmasters, a Paint Nights and an Amateur Radio Group.
Lake Ridge has 5 pools in their Association plus a splash pad for the little ones. Pools are open Memorial Day to Labor Day and are located at Canterbury Woods, Edgewood, Oakwood, Ridgewood and Tall Oaks. The Splash Pad is on Hartlake Street.
Lake Ridge has a “Learn to Swim” Program where you can sign up for swimming lessons. And of course there’s Water Aerobics at the Oakwood Pool.
Other sports are also well represented here – there are courts for tennis and pickleball, volleyball and basketball. There are sports leagues for the kids that run in fall and spring. And they have an adult kickball league.
If you’re looking for playgrounds, there is the awesome fantasy playground which is a wooden castle structure with tons of places to swing, climb and have fun. There are 18 other smaller playgrounds or tot lots throughout the rest of Lake Ridge.
Lake Ridge also has their own boat ramp where you can launch into the Occoquan Reservoir.
You can canoe, kayak, stand up paddle boarding, pedal boats and boat in the Lake Ridge Marina. Or fish from the bank or a boat on the Marina but you have to have a valid fishing license. The Marina has a concession stand just in case you forget your drinks or snacks for your outing on the Marina.
If you want hiking, the Occoquan Greenway is a system of trails that connect to the Town of Occoquan.
Lake Ridge even has a dog park for your 4-legged kids.
Everything discussed is on the Lake Ridge HOA Website, which is a wealth of information.
Schools
Lake Ridge has their own pre-school, called Creative Pre-School. Depending on your little one’s age, it goes from 9 to 1 or 2 p.m.
Lake Ridge is part of Woodbridge and they are in the Prince William County School District. The elementary schools in Lake Ridge score pretty well – average to above average on Great Schools. Lake Ridge Middle School is a 7 which is pretty good for a middle school score. Woodbridge High School unfortunately is a 4, but again, these are solely based on test scores.
Conclusion
Lake Ridge is a popular suburb with affordable housing options and pretty solid schools. The commute by car to DC can be difficult but there are public transportation options and not everyone who moves here commutes to DC. Quantico is a huge employment center with the FBI Training Academy, the largest U.S. Marine Corps Base and NCIS – the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
