Unspecified/General

Stretching along the Potomac River shoreline at the foot of the historic Georgetown neighbourhood of Washington, the Georgetown Waterfront Park is a 10-acre federal national park that preserves a long and beautifully landscaped section of the river just downstream of Key Bridge. The park was formally dedicated in October 2011 as the final completion of a multi-decade restoration of the historic Georgetown industrial waterfront, transforming what had been a cluster of disused parking lots, concrete piers and warehouse foundations into one of the most heavily used small public parks in Washington. The site's long history reflects the broader history of Georgetown itself. The neighbourhood originated in the 1750s as a small Maryland tobacco-shipping port at the highest navigable point on the Potomac River. The waterfront site that became the park hosted a series of shipping wharves, warehouses and small industrial facilities throughout the nineteenth century. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, completed in 1850 with its terminus immediately north of the present park, made Georgetown a significant transhipment point between river and canal shipping. The waterfront fell into long decline through the twentieth century as river-and-canal commerce gave way to rail and highway transport. By the early 1970s the waterfront was occupied by a clutter of derelict warehouses, a freight rail yard and the dramatic concrete piers of a partially completed elevated freeway (the cancelled Three Sisters Bridge project, abandoned in 1971). The park is operated as part of the Rock Creek National Park unit of the National Park Service. The 4,000-foot-long Capital Crescent Trail, a paved pedestrian-and-bicycle path that connects downtown Washington with the Maryland suburbs of Bethesda, runs through the centre of the park. A large central plaza, the Georgetown Plaza, includes a celebrated 80-foot interactive water-jet labyrinth designed by the celebrated American landscape architect Linda Jewell, with the jets choreographed in continuously changing patterns that visitors are encouraged to walk through. The park's riverfront promenade provides one of the best views of the Potomac River downstream toward the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial. The popular sunset hour draws photographers, picnickers and casual visitors year-round.

Type: Outdoors

Address: Water Street Northwest, Washington, DC, United States

Telephone: 202-895-6000

Website: nps.gov/places/georgetown-waterfront-park.htm

Opening Date: 15/10/2011