Fort Washington Park: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Fort Washington Park, National Park Service
Laird ML. 2006. Fort Washington Park: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Fort Washington Park, National Park Service. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 600098. NPS National Capital Regional Office. National Capital Regional Office/CLI Database
Fort Washington Park is a 341-acre historical and recreational area located in Prince George’s County, Maryland, approximately 11 miles south of Washington, D.C. The park is under the administration of National Capital Parks-East. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the defined period of significance for the Fort Washington landscape is 1808-1921. The current landscape of Fort Washington Park is that of a typical recreational area, with large, well-manicured open spaces interspersed with lightly-wooded picnic areas and mature woodlands accessible by an extensive modern paved road system, as well as a number of service roads and foot trails. The park landscape retains good historical integrity from the various eras in which it served as the principal defensive post protecting the Potomac River access to Washington, D.C. The massive and imposing 1824 fortification overlooking Digges’ Point is the park’s most apparent built feature, and a handful of significant nineteenth-century structures beyond the fort remain from the pre-Civil War period, as well. Fort Washington Park also retains significant physical evidence of its service as an Endicott period Coast Defense installation from 1890 through 1921, including eight artillery batteries; a handful of command/fire-control, residential, and administrative buildings; and a variety of vestigial small-scale features. The integrity of these features ranges from good to poor.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Laird, Matthew
- Date of Issue
- 2006-09-18
- Publisher
- NPS National Capital Regional Office
- Units
- FOWA , NCR
- Keywords
- America Becomes A World Power 1865-1914, Architecture, Battery, Battle Site, Battles In The North And South, Campground, Coast Guard, defense, Digges' Point, Engineering, exhibit, Fort Warburton, Fortification, Government Office, Historic Designed Landscape, Masonry Construction, Military, military post, Museum, Outdoor Recreation, Parade Ground, Political and Military Affairs 1783-1860, Post-war Nationalism 1816-1828, Potomac River, technology, The Civil War, War of 1812, Warburton Manor