Fort Hunt Park: Cultural Landscape Inventory, George Washington Memorial Parkway - Fort Hunt Park, National Park Service

Fanning, Kay

The national park site known as Fort Hunt Park is a recreational area of 190 acres in Fairfax County, Virginia. The park, under the administration of the George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP), adjoins the west side of Mount Vernon Memorial Highway (MVMH; this is the southern half of the road currently known as GWMP). Fort Hunt Park is situated 11.5 miles south of Washington, D.C., and 2.5 miles north of Mount Vernon. A successional woodland of varying density surrounds the park on the east, south, and west, while on the northern edge a thin row of trees extends along a fenceline just south of Fort Hunt Road (the eastern half of this road lies within park boundaries). The belt of trees surrounds an open central area, comprising about 1/2 to 2/3 of the total acreage. The park's central area is encircled by a loop road and composed of grass-covered picnic areas and playing fields, which are subdivided and demarcated by lines and groupings of trees, many following historic road alignments. A few service roads cross the open area. A second, shorter loop road runs through a wooded picnic area at the southwest end of the park. The integrity of the landscape related to this period remains good. The majority of the characteristic features which serve to define this landscape are in fair condition. The period of significance for Fort Hunt Park extends from 1893, when land was first acquired here by the federal government for a Coastal Defense fortification, to 1942, when the Civilian Conservation Corps was disbanded and the camp that had been station at the fort was removed. Fort Hunt is significant under Criterion A, association with events that have made a significant contribution to U.S. history, for its use during the 1890s-1942, which collectively represent distinct changes in American military, economic, and social life. The landscape is significant for its development as a Coastal Defense Fortification, a companion fortification to the older Fort Washington on the Maryland shore of the Potomac River directly opposite. Both forts were placed along the river several miles south of Washington, at a point where the channel narrows, to help protect the city from enemy vessels. Fort Hunt was part of an improved system of Coastal Defenses erected throughout the United States in the 1890s following the recommendations of the Endicott Board, which had been convened to assess the changing needs of modern naval warfare and the United States’ new role as an international power.

Fort Hunt Park: Cultural Landscape Inventory, George Washington Memorial Parkway - Fort Hunt Park, National Park Service

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