West Potomac Park: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, National Mall and Memorial Parks

Traucht M, Bailor A, Schneider R, Watts K, González K, Albee C, Polglase C. 2023. West Potomac Park: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, National Mall and Memorial Parks. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 600007. National Park Service. NPS National Capital Regional Office, Washington, D.C. / CRIS-CL Database

West Potomac Park, which encompasses 409 acres in Washington, DC’s monumental core, is an artfully choreographed, complex site with inestimable historical, aesthetic, and planning significance that speaks to the role of Washington, DC, as the nation’s capital (Figure 1 and Figure 2). West Potomac Park also extended and built upon the planned vocabulary of the National Mall. The Park, which was built primarily on constructed land reclaimed from tidal flats between 1882 and 1912, extends the visions of both the L’Enfant Plan for the City of Washington (1791) and the McMillan Commission’s refinements of that plan (1901-02). Utilized for both commemorative and recreational purposes, this large urban park represents the cumulative talents and work of a vast range of engineers, planners, artists, architects, and landscape architects. The West Potomac Park cultural landscape serves as the uniting framework for several significant cultural landscapes within its boundaries. These cultural landscapes include the Lincoln Memorial Grounds, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Tidal Basin, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the DC War Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the George Mason Memorial, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and Constitution Gardens (Figure 3–Figure 8). Each of these landscapes, except for the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, are component landscapes within the West Potomac Park parent cultural landscape. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial is a parent cultural landscape. West Potomac Park lies along the eastern shoreline of the Potomac River and adjacent to the Washington Monument Grounds. The historic designed landscape is an integrated complex of recreational and commemorative areas where naturalistic, classical, and modernist aesthetics coexist and complement one another. Recreational fields for organized sports lie in harmony with formal memorials that commemorate nationally significant figures and events. The role of West Potomac Park as an area of focused commemoration has grown dramatically since World War II. During this period, memorials to Thomas Jefferson, to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence, to veterans of the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and World War II, to Franklin D. Roosevelt, to George Mason and to Martin Luther King have been incorporated into the park. These commemorative spaces, the National Mall, and the recreational resources within West Potomac Park draw extraordinary visitorship.

Type
Published Report
Authors
Traucht, Matthew; Bailor, Alexander; Schneider, Rachel; Watts, Katie; González, Kerry; Albee, Carrie; Polglase, Christopher
Date of Issue
2023
Publisher
National Park Service
Units
NAMA , NCR , WEPO
Keywords
CLI, Constitution Gardens, Cultural Landscape, Cultural Landscapes Inventory, DC War Memorial, Entertainment/Recreation, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Garden, George Mason Memorial, Jr. Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, Landscape Architecture, L'Enfant, Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King, McMillan, National Mall and Memorial Parks, Outdoor Recreation, Politics/Government, Potomac Park, Reclamation, Reservation 332, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Tidal Basin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, West Potomac Park
Subjects
Ecological Framework: Human Use | Cultural Landscapes | Cultural Landscapes , NPS.gov Subject Site: Cultural Landscapes , CRIS-CL: 600012: Constitution Gardens , CRIS-CL: 975436: DC War Memorial , CRIS-CL: 976123: George Mason Memorial , CRIS-CL: 600010: Lincoln Memorial , CRIS-CL: 600004: Thomas Jefferson Memorial , CRIS-CL: 600007: West Potomac Park

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