Fort Bunker Hill: Cultural Landscape Inventory, National Capital Parks- East, National Park Service

Lester, Molly

Fort Bunker Hill, Reservation 443, is a 6.32‑acre park located in northeast Washington, D.C, approximately 3.4 miles northeast of the United States Capitol and approximately 2.67 miles west of Bladensburg, Maryland. The Fort Bunker Hill cultural landscape is a component landscape of the Civil War Defenses of Washington. Fort Bunker Hill is bordered on the west by 14th Street NE, on the south by Otis Street NE, on the east by 13th Street NE, and on the north by Perry Street NE. Fort Bunker Hill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the 1974 Civil War Fort Sites nomination and the 1977 Defenses of Washington revision of the 1974 nomination as a contributing feature. The nomination lists Fort Bunker Hill’s period of significance as 1861‑1865, and for its military significance (Criteria A). This CLI argues that the Fort Bunker Hill cultural landscape is eligible under National Register Criteria A, C, and D, and that the period of significance should be expanded to include the years 1902‑1937. Expanding the period of significance will recognize Fort Bunker Hill’s role in the development of parks and recreation in Washington, D.C, as well as the Civilian Conservation Corps’ involvement in landscape beautification and restoration projects at the site from 1935‑1937. Fort Bunker Hill was one of the 68 forts built as a defensive ring around Washington at the start of the Civil War. It was among the first of the fort sites to be surveyed and acquired, with construction underway by the fall of 1861. It was constructed by General Joseph Hooker’s Brigade (including the First and Eleventh Massachusetts, Second New Hampshire, and Twenty‑Sixth Pennsylvania volunteer regiments), which was part of the restructuring of General Irvin McDowell’s army into General George B. McClellan’s Army of the Potomac. The hilltop earthwork, erected on the acquisitioned property of Jehiel Brooks, received its official designation as Fort Bunker Hill on September 30, 1861, by order of McClellan. It was part of the northern arc of the Defenses of Washington, which were selected and constructed in anticipation of a possible attack from the north, as Washington, D.C had faced during the War of 1812. This CLI finds that Fort Bunker Hill cultural landscape retains integrity from the 20th century period of significance (1902‑1937), and retains limited integrity from the Civil War‑era period of significance (1861‑1865). Fort Bunker Hill displays the seven aspects that determine integrity as defined by the National Register of Historic Places (location, design, setting, feeling, materials, workmanship, and association) through the retention of landscape characteristics and features

Fort Bunker Hill: Cultural Landscape Inventory, National Capital Parks- East, National Park Service

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