Fort Drive: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Rock Creek Park
Torkelson J, Garrison S, Lester M. 2021. Fort Drive: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, Rock Creek Park. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 976170. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. National Capital Area Office, Washington, DC / CRIS-CL Database
Inventory Unit Description: The Fort Drive—Fort Slocum to Fort Totten component cultural landscape (or, Fort Drive component cultural landscape) (Reservation 497 and portions of Reservation 451) is an approximately 41-acre, discontinuous urban park in the northwest and northeast quadrants of Washington, D.C. It is bounded to the west by Kansas Avenue NW, Blair Road NW, South Dakota Avenue NE, 1st Street NE, and the D.C. Bilingual, Bridges, and Briya Public Charter Schools; to the south by Nicholson Street NW, McDonald Place NE, Riggs Road NE, and an asphalt trail connecting to Fort Totten Park; to the east by the Metro Red Line and 1st Place NE; and to the north by Oglethorpe Street NW. The cultural landscape is managed by the National Park Service, Rock Creek Park. The Fort Drive component cultural landscape derives local significance as a segment of parkland acquired for the development of Fort Drive and, later, the Fort Circle Parks. The cultural landscape was previously included in the National Register of Historic Places draft nomination for the Civil War Defenses of Washington/Fort Circle Parks [Additional Documentation and Boundary Increase, 2015], with significance based on Criteria A, C, and D. The period of significance for that draft nomination is 1861-1972. This CLI recommends that the Fort Drive component cultural landscape’s significance be refined to encompass the following two periods: 1.1930-1968, with local significance under Criterion A, based on the reservation’s association with the development of the Fort Drive and Fort Circle Parks, beginning with its earliest acquisition in 1930 under the Capper-Cramton Act and ending with the adoption of the 1968 Fort Circle Parks Master Plan; 2.1942-1945, with local significance under Criteria A, based on the Blair Road Community Garden’s association as a victory garden established within the cultural landscape during World War II.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Torkelson, Jacob; Garrison, Shannon; Lester, Molly
- Date of Issue
- 2021-03-15
- Publisher
- U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
- Units
- FOCI , NCR , ROCR
- Keywords
- 1930 Capper-Cramton Act, agriculture, American Women’s Voluntary Services, Andrew Ellicott, Blair Road Community Garden, Chillum Castle Manor, Civil War Defenses of Washington D.C., community planning and development, CWDW, designed landscape, Fort Circle Parks, gentleman farm, greenbelt, Mamie D Lee Community Garden, McMillan Plan, parkway, plantation, racial covenant, slavery, social history, suburbanization, transportation, U.S. Reservation 451, U.S. Reservation 497, victory garden, Washington D.C., William Dudley Digges, Woodburne