NATIONAL CAPITAL PARKS-EAST

WASHINGTON, D.C. & MARYLAND

National Capital Parks-East is nearly 8,000 acres of parkland that includes Anacostia Park, the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Fort Dupont Park, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, the Capital Hill Parks and the Mary McCleod Bethune House in Washington, D.C., and Fort Washington Park, Greenbelt Park and Oxon Hill Park in Maryland. The Park is also responsible for maintenance of the Suitland Parkway, which runs from the District of Columbia into Maryland to just north of Andrews Air Force Base.

Anacostia Park spans more than 1,200 acres and includes Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, the only park in the United States devoted to the care of water lilies. Anacostia Park is a multi-use recreational park, with shoreline access, a swimming pool, multi-use pavilion, ball fields, trails and picnic areas. The park also includes historic 18-hole Langston Golf Course, three marinas and a public boat ramp. The upper Anacostia is favored for kayaking and canoeing through natural areas, while the lower section is favored by sculling and rowing crews for its broad, flat water.

Nearby is the Frederick Douglass National Historical Site, home to the famous abolitionist who there lived while serving as America's Ambassador to Haiti. Known as Cedar Hill, this 1850s home contains many of Douglass' artifacts and books. Also in the District of Columbia, the Park operates the Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, which is the headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women and contains the National Archives for Black Women's History, the only location in the United States solely dedicated to this purpose.

In Maryland, Fort Washington provides insight into the efforts to provide for the Civil War defense of the nation's capital. Nearby, visitors can f eed chickens, make apple cider, husk and crack corn, gather eggs or milk a cow at Oxon Cove Park. "Inside the Beltway," Greenbelt Park contains 1,100 acres of woodland with facilities for camping, hiking, biking, picnicking and other outdoor recreation.

Sites administered by the Parkway include: Tupelo National Battlefield, Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site, and the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail.

DID YOU KNOW

• Frederick Douglass was an author, women's rights activist, owner-editor of an antislavery newspaper, a fluent speaker of many languages and a respected orator.
• Started shortly after the War of 1812, Fort Washington was used for various reasons through the end of World War II, most recently as an Army Training Center turning out 300 trained officers every 60 days in 1945.
• Raccons, squirrels, red fox, bluejays, cardinals and numerous other birds abound in Greenbelt Park, co-existing with hiking and biking trails, all located less than 12 miles from Capital Hill and the White House.
• A 12-foot-tall bronze statue of Mary McLeod Bethune graces Lincoln Park, located on Capital Hill, not far from the U.S. Capitol.

DON'T MISS ATTRACTIONS

• The Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens' annual Waterlily Festival in July attracts thousands of visitors at the peak blooming season. The area includes a boardwalk from the garden ponds that leads to a restored tidal marsh, the District of Columbia's last surviving tidal wetlands.
• Return to earlier times by watching teams of draft horses pull equipment to both plow and disc acres in preparation for planting and harvesting of crops at Oxon Cove Park.
• One of the widest, panoramic vistas of Washington, D.C., is available from the front porch of Cedar Hill, Frederick Douglass' home.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PRIORITIES

The Frederick Douglass Home is currently undergoing a series of repair projects that will focus on the continued conservation of this historic resource. Projects include window repair, shutter replacement, replacement of the reproduction historic wallpaper, painting of the interior and exterior, installation of a sprinkler system, and conservation of the Douglass book collection.

Click a photo to view larger version.

LINKS:

National Capital Parks-East»

Partnering & Managing for Excellence Report»

Previously Featured Parks»