Arlington Ridge Park: Cultural Landscape Inventory, George Washington Memorial Parkway - Arlington Ridge Park, National Park Service

Fanning, Kay

Arlington Ridge Park is situated on a ridge above the Potomac River in Arlington, VA. The 27.5-acre site lies within a larger national park, the George Washington Memorial Parkway. To the west of Arlington Ridge Park stand high-rise residential buildings. Route 50 and Route 110 bound the park on its north and east, with Route 110 separating the park from a direct connection to the parkway and the river. To the south across Marshall Drive lies Arlington National Cemetery, bordered by a historic red sandstone wall. The parcel provides the western backdrop for views from the National Mall and West Potomac Park. With its elevated view of the District of Columbia, the site has been regarded as a prime location for several memorials. The national Shrine of Freedom, intended to celebrate 175 years of the nation’s history, was planned to occupy the center of the site. These two structures were realized, while the central shrine never received funding and has been largely forgotten. Today, Arlington Ridge Park contains two major memorials set within two distinct landscape treatments. To the north is the 1954 U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, a monumental realistic sculpture by Felix de Weldon, based on the iconic WWII photograph by Joseph Rosenthal showing five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima. To the south is the 1960 Netherlands Carillon, designed by Dutch architect Joost W.C. Boks as a Modernist steel framework containing a memorial carillon. This was presented to the U.S. by the people of the Netherlands in gratitude for American aid given during WWII. The different precincts around each memorial divide the park into halves. The de Weldon statue is the main feature of a symmetrical, formal landscape developed by architect Horace Peaslee. The statue stands on a raised plaza, paved in a decorative concrete developed by the John J. Earley Studios. North of this plaza lies the parade ground, a rectangular area of lawn used by the Marines for “sunset parades” held during the summer months. On the far side of the parade ground rises a reviewing stand. Plaza, parade ground, and reviewing stand are linked by tree-lined paths and surrounded by a loop road. Behind the stand, a line of sour gum trees is ranged in front of a grove of white pines planted on a berm. The sour gum’s fall coloring, in combination with the dark green of the pines, acts as a backdrop that throws the statue into relief when viewed from across the river. The Netherlands Carillon, stands in the center of a plaza at the top of a slope. Surrounding the carillon are open lawns planted with irregular lines of ornamental trees, which create a naturalistic framework for the structure. The tree-planting plan was prepared by National Capital Parks landscape architects in the early 1960s. In front of the carillon at the entrance to the plaza is a pair of stylized lions by Dutch sculptor Paul Doning. Views are integral to all aspects of Arlington Ridge Park, as it is located on axis with the National Mall, and just north of Arlington National Cemetery. Certain vantage points within the park were calculated to dramatize this visual connection, though invasive vegetation, highway signage construction, and heavy traffic interfere with some of these critical views. The park is one of the most heavily visited park sites in the nation’s capital, with thousands traveling there yearly. It also functions as a neighborhood park for nearby residents. However, highway construction and cemetery expansion have isolated the parcel and diminished its public accessibility to the point that it has adopted more of the characteristics of community use rather than national interest. The U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial invites solemn contemplation of the sacrifices made in battle by Marines since the inception of the corps over 200 years ago. More casual activities are enjoyed on the lawns around the Netherlands Carillon.

Arlington Ridge Park: Cultural Landscape Inventory, George Washington Memorial Parkway - Arlington Ridge Park, National Park Service

Series

Collections