In 1973, the National Park Service constructed the Mount Vernon Trail along the Potomac River, paralleling the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

With the river as your companion, you can ride your bike, jog, or walk the 18.5-mile trail from Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, to Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River near the Lincoln Memorial. Along the way, enjoy a view of the Potomac at Riverside Park, visit the fortifications at Fort Hunt Park, and take a side trip to the Dyke Marsh wildlife habitat or to Jones Point Park, which features a 19th-century lighthouse. You can then lunch on the wharf in Alexandria amid the 18th-century homes and shops occupied ever since the city was a tobacco and shipping port.

Beyond Alexandria, you can see the sailboats off Daingerfield Island, and view the Washington skyline from Gravelly Point, where you can also watch jet planes land and take off from Ronald Reagan National Airport. Once over the Columbia Island Bridge, you pass the Navy-Marine Memorial of gulls in flight above a wave. Next, you can rest in the greenery of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove in Lady Bird Johnson Park where you can view the Washington monuments from a distance. The trail passes Memorial Bridge that symbolizes the union of the North and South after the Civil War. Just past Theodore Roosevelt Island is the connection to the Arlington County trail system.

MVT Map

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