District of Columbia

Join National Park ranger, author and historian Scott Einberger as he traces the human, natural and urban history of Rock Creek Park, the largest park in the nation's capital.

Washington, D. C. 's Rock Creek Park stands as a wild and wonderful natural gem among a burgeoning metropolis. But while local residents flock to its trails and roads on weekends to hike, jog and bicycle, they are largely unaware of its diverse history. The park's grounds were the site of the bloody Civil War Battle of Fort Stevens, and presidents like Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson exercised and picnicked in the park the same way many visitors do today. From the cabin of eccentric poet Joaquin Miller to the oldest house in Washington today, the many stories and legends surrounding the park are sure to entertain and inform.

One of the most unique parks in the National Park Service is located one and a half miles north of the White House in the middle of the northwest quadrant of Washington, DC. Meridian Hill Park is a 12-acre neoclassical park reminiscent of an Italian villa garden. Prior to becoming a national park, the area had been part of an estate called Meridian Hill; home to Columbian College, precursor to George Washington University; a Civil War encampment; a seminary; and the site of nature poet Joaquin Miller's cabin. In October 1936, Meridian Hill Park officially opened. It had taken 26 years--from 1910 to 1936--to complete and cost more than $1 million to construct. When the park opened, it contained five statues and memorials (today, there are four), including one for a US president; a 13-basin water cascade created on the 75-foot natural slope; and an elaborate structure that used a newly perfected construction medium called architectural concrete. Meridian Hill Park is of cultural and historical significance and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark.

In the nineteenth century, Commodore David Porter built his mansion on a prominent hill sitting directly north of the White House, and the rest of Meridian Hill's history is indelibly tied to the fabric of Washington. John Quincy Adams once resided in Porter's mansion. Union troops used the estate and its lands during the Civil War. Later, part of the old estate was famously developed by Mary Henderson into a noted group of embassy mansions, and the extraordinary Meridian Hill Park was created. The rest of the land became a diverse, thriving residential neighborhood. Join local author Stephen McKevitt as he chronicles the fascinating story of this interesting urban locale in the nation's capital.