Showing 1-11 of 11 results
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Benjamin Banneker Park
This park honors Benjamin Banneker, a free black, self-taught astronomer and mathematician. Banneker and another man, Andrew Ellicot, were hired by George Washington in 1791 to help lay out the 10-sq-mile plot that would define the District by using celestial calculations. Pierre L'Enfant then designed the city with Banneker and Ellicot's settings. It's a grassy circular spot near the Waterfront. You'll need to drive there.
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East Potomac Park
Locals flock to this waterside park for biking, running, fishing, golfing and picnicking. Undiscovered by tourists, it has a neighborhood feel. A 5-mile paved trail - great for biking or in-line skating - runs around the park. The center is the East Potomac Park Golf Course. At the park's southern tip, an eerie sculpture, the Awakening, portrays a giant emerging from the earth. Kids love climbing on it, as well as in the nearby playground.
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Freedom Park
Paying tribute to a free press, Freedom Park features a memorial honoring journalists killed on the job. Icons from political struggles around the world are on display, including chunks of the Berlin Wall.
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George Washington Memorial Parkway
The 25-mile Virginia portion winds past recreation areas and memorials all the way south to the first president's old estate at Mt Vernon. A national parkland, it passes remnants of Washington's life and works such as his old Patowmack Company canal and parks once part of his farmlands (Riverside Park, Fort Hunt Park). The road is a pleasant alternative to the traffic-choked highway arteries further from the river.
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Georgetown Waterfront
The Georgetown Waterfront is a favorite with first-daters, singles, strolling families and yuppies and bling-clad rappers showing off yachts in the Potomac. Between K St and the water south of the C&O Canal, it's home to parkland, shops, lofts and restaurants. Washington Harbor (east of 31st St) is a modern complex of towers around a plaza with fountains that light up like rainbows at night. It's loaded with restaurants and al fresco bars.
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Malcolm X Park
Unofficially dedicated to Malcolm X, this park scales a hillside from the Shaw neighborhood to Adams-Morgan's upper reaches, adding much-needed scenery to the area. Constructed when the area was fashionable, it has terraced walkways, a waterfall cascade and an eccentric mix of statuary, from Joan of Arc to Dante, enlivens its contoured lawns. It's lovely in springtime, when the dogwoods and azaleas flower, but it isn't safe to visit after dark.
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National Sculpture Garden
This is Washington's Central Park, sure to bring out the romantic in even the most cynical of lovers. The National Gallery of Art's delightful 6-acre garden is studded with whimsical sculptures like Roy Lichtenstein's House , a giant Claes Oldenburg typewriter eraser and Louise Bourgeois' leggy Spider . They are scattered around a fountain - a most welcome place to dip your feet in summer. Nov-Mar, the central fountain becomes the quaint Ice Rink.
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Theodore Roosevelt Island
This 91-acre wooded island in the Potomac off Rosslyn is a wilderness preserve honoring the conservation-minded 26th US president. A large memorial plaza and statue of Teddy dominate the island's center, and trails and boardwalks snake around the shorelines. The island's swampy fringes shelter birds, raccoons and other small animals. A fine place for a hike, it offers great views of the Kennedy Center and Georgetown University across the river.
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Tidal Basin
Beloved for the magnificent Yoshino cherry trees that ring it, the Tidal Basin attracts joggers, strollers and picnickers to its shady banks. The orchard was a gift from Japan in 1912; since then, every year in late March or early April the banks shimmer with pale pink blossoms.
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United States Botanic Garden
Resembling London's Crystal Palace, this iron-and-glass greenhouse provides a beautiful setting for displays of exotic and local plants. Highlights include cycad trees that produce 50lb cones, and the mammoth and smelly Titan Arum. Not technically part of the Smithsonian Institution, it is located at the eastern end of the Mall alongside the Smithsonian museums. Behind the conservatory, across Independence Ave, is the grand Bartholdi Fountain.
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United States National Arboretum
Way out in Northeast DC are 446 acres of blooming trees, ornamental plants and lovely verdant meadows. But because it's hard to access the national gardens - they're in a gritty area far from the Metro - they remain among DC's most hidden treasures and are a wonderful place to stroll and flower-peep in peace.
Showing 1-11 of 11 results
