Landscape Information
NOTE: Contact the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation about using park facilities. The information below is for informational purposes. TCLF does not own or maintain the park.
Located high on a ridge overlooking Washington, D.C., from the northeast, this park was designed as the active recreational component of the Fort Lincoln New Town residential community. Conceived under the Johnson administration as part of a 1969 plan to offer housing and amenities for a racially and economically balanced community, the neighborhood development was never completed. The six-acre park occupies one of 68 former Civil War ramparts, now known as the Fort Circle Parks, and was designed by M. Paul Friedberg and Associates to interpret the site’s military history and its elevated position. Five open-air pavilions, with clusters of honey locusts growing through the wood-latticed structures, provide extensive views of the surrounding area from atop the historic earthworks. The center of the park sits lower than the perimeter earthworks, with a mix of small berms, lawn, rubberized turf, and paved areas for different types of play. Shaded benches face a brick climbing pyramid with a moat. Built into the grade, another play area references the historic battlements and has varied scales for climbing, sliding, and scrambling. Permanent seating and tables designed for board games are situated on the perimeter, near a concrete stair-step amphitheater that connects to a school. The park’s many levels are all connected by ramps. Following the 2020 demolition of the Thurgood Marshall School, the park’s rehabilitation efforts led by Lee and Associates include the construction of a new recreation and childhood center (by Studios Architecture), which helps to unify the 27-acre campus.
