NATIONAL PARK SERVICE General Information Regarding National Capital Parks: Washington ca. 1933

OTHER PARKS

While the aforementioned areas are the principal units of the National Capital Parks system, there are many others of outstanding interest. No tour of the National Capital Parks would be complete without a visit to Garfield Park at Virginia Avenue and Third Street, southeast, the Union Station Plaza with the Christopher Columbus Memorial, and Montrose Park in old Georgetown, one of the real beauty spots of the Capital City.

The remaining parks consist chiefly of small squares, circles and triangles at multiple street intersections, but many of them contain monuments and memorials of national character and interest. Among these reservations are McPherson Park, Farragut Square, Logan Circle, Sheridan Circle, Sherman Circle, Grant Circle, Rawlins Park, Chevy Chase Circle, Truxton Circle, Folger Park and Marion Park.

MOUNT VERNON MEMORIAL HIGHWAY

At the western extremity of Arlington Memorial Bridge, on Columbia Island, the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway begins and extends approximately 15 miles along the Virginia shore of the Potomac to the Mount Vernon Estate.

Winding through the beautiful Virginia countryside and affording lovely vistas of the Potomac, this highway passes many places of historic interest. The ruins of Abingdon House, originally the home of the Alexander family, for whom the city of Alexandria was named, and the birthplace of Nellie Custis, overlook the highway and the Potomac at the highest point between Washington and Alexandria. In Alexandria the highway passes Christ Church, where Washington and Lee worshipped. A few blocks away is Gadsby's Tavern, where Washington recruited his first troops, the historic Carlyle house, the Ramsaye house, the old Presbyterian Meeting House and churchyard where the unknown Soldier of the American Revolution is buried, and many other places of historic and patriotic interest. Below Alexandria the highway passes Wellington, the former home of Tobias Lear, Secretary and advisor to the first president. and Fort Hunt, one of the Civil War defenses of the National Capital now vacated and soon to be developed as a park. Across the Potomac is Fort Washington, designed by L'Enfant and still an active military reservation.

The Mount Vernon Memorial Highway is the first unit to be completed in the proposed George Washington Memorial Parkway along the Virginia shore of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon to Great Falls, crossing the river there, and making the return trip along the Maryland shore through Rock Creek Park and the City of Washington to Fort Washington. When this great national parkway from the home of the Father of our country along the historic Potomac, affording views of the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol, the White House. and other shrines and important public buildings, is completed it will constitute, for citizens of the United States, the most interesting drive in all the world.

In addition to its historic and civic importance, this parkway will be one of outstanding scenic beauty. It will include panoramas of the rolling hills of the Maryland and Virginia countryside, the beautiful gorge and falls of the Potomac River, and sweeping vistas of the river as it widens out on its way past Georgetown, Washington, and Alexandria to Mount Vernon and the Chesapeake Bay.

HISTORIC STRUCTURES

Opposite each other on Tenth Street between E and F in the heart of the business district of Washington are two unpretentious structures closely connected with one of the great tragedies in American history. One is the old Ford Theater, where Abraham Lincoln was shot, now filled with relics of the Great Emancipator and called the Lincoln Museum. The other is the house in which he died and it also contains a wealth of historical treasures.

In addition to these two historic buildings, the Lee Mansion in Arlington National Cemetery also became a charge of the National Park Service by authority of the Executive Order of June 10, 1933. This fine old home overlooking Washington from a bluff on the Virginia side of the Potomac River, was built by George Washington Parke Custis, foster son of George Washington and grandson of Martha Washington, on land that was a part of the original Washington estate, Robert E. Lee, Commander-in=Chief of the Armies of the Confederacy, became master of Arlington when he married the daughter of George Washington Parke Custis. The Mansion, which was seized by Federal troops in the early part of the Civil War, has been restored in so far as possible to its original furnishings. On a slope a short distance from the portico of the Mansion, overlooking the city he planned, is the grave of L'Enfant.

ADMINISTRATION

The National Capital Parks are operated as a branch of the National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior. The chief administrative officer is C. Marshall Finnan, Superintendent, Room 1052, Navy Building. Operation and maintenance work is divided among five divisions; Administration, construction, horticulture, protection, and recreation.

HOTELS AND TOURIST CAMP

There are approximately 50 hotels and many first class rooming houses offering accommodations for visitors. A modern public tourist camp is operated under the supervision of National Capital Parks in East Potomac Park.

Information relative to hotel rates and reservations can be obtained by writing the Washington Hotel Association, Investment Building, Washington, D.C. For information regarding the Tourist Camp, write to the Welfare and Recreational Association of Public Buildings and Grounds, Inc., Room 1711, Navy Building. Washington, D.C.

Narsissus time in East Potomac Park

STATUES AND MEMORIALS

Following is a list of national statues and memorials located in the National Capital Parks:

RECREATION

The following recreational facilities are provided in the National Capital Parks: