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

Traucht M, Bailor A, Schneider R, Watts K, Albee C, Polglase C, González K. 2023. East Potomac Park: Cultural Landscapes Inventory, National Mall and Memorial Parks. Cultural Landscapes Inventory Report. 600105. National Park Service. NPS National Capital Regional Office, Washington, D.C. / CRIS-CL Database

East Potomac Park, known also as Reservation 333 and consisting of approximately 329 acres, comprises much of the constructed island that extends southerly into the Potomac River from the southeast side of the Tidal Basin to the Potomac’s confluence with the Anacostia River. The island is the intervening constructed landmass that separates the Potomac River from the Washington Channel, a navigable watercourse that provided access to wharves south of the Capitol in the nineteenth century. Some documents refer to the landmass as a peninsula; however, it is, in fact, a landform surrounded by water (Potomac River, Washington Channel, and the Tidal Basin) and is connected to the mainland by two principal structures, namely the Tidal Basin Inlet Bridge and the Tidal Basin Outlet Bridge, as well as several highway and rail bridges. The East Potomac Park landform is the result of numerous land reclamation projects overseen by the US Army Corps of Engineers between the 1870s and 1912. The mechanical deposition of solids dredged from the Potomac River—completed to improve navigability of the Potomac River and its channels and to improve sanitation in the area—are complemented by miles of stacked-stone seawalls that resulted in the formation of some 730 acres of land that would become East and West Potomac Parks. With the passage of Senate Bill 3307 on March 3, 1897, the “entire area known as the Potomac Flats, and now being reclaimed, together with the tidal reservoirs be, and the same are hereby, made and declared a public park, under the name of the Potomac Park, and to be forever held and used as a park for the recreation and pleasure of the people” (Senate Bill 3307 1897). In 1909, the section of Potomac Park west of the railroad embankment that traversed the reclaimed landform was transferred from the jurisdiction of the US Army Corps of Engineers to the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds, eventually becoming known as West Potomac Park and the Tidal Basin. On August 24, 1912, the constructed landform east of the embankment was transferred to the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds for development. This area would become East Potomac Park. For over one hundred years, the area that is now East Potomac Park has evolved into a maintained and carefully managed setting for recreation.

Type
Published Report
Authors
Traucht, Matthew; Bailor, Alexander; Schneider, Rachel; Watts, Katie; Albee, Carrie; Polglase, Christopher; González, Kerry
Date of Issue
2023
Publisher
National Park Service
Units
EAPO , NAMA , NCR
Keywords
automobile tourist camp, cherry, CLI, Cultural Landscape, Cultural Landscapes Inventory, East Potomac Park, East Potomac Park Golf Course, Engineers' Storehouse, Entertainment/Recreation, golf, Hains Point, Hain's Point, Harbor Flats, Landscape Architecture, L'Enfant, long bridge, McMillan, Mission 66, National Capital Region Headquarters, National Mall and Memorial Parks, NCR, Outdoor Recreation, park police, Politics/Government, Potomac Flats, Potomac Park, Potomac River, Reclamation, Reservation 333, tea house, teahouse, The Awakening
Subjects
Ecological Framework: Human Use | Cultural Landscapes | Cultural Landscapes , NPS.gov Subject Site: Cultural Landscapes , CRIS-CL: 600105: East Potomac Park

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