Rock Creek Park: DC's Own Central Park

Rock Creek Park is like Washington's own Central Park, only more woodsy and less lavish or crowded -- a natural setting in an otherwise bustling metropolis for locals to get away. Rock Creek Park is filled with running and hiking paths, tennis courts, a golf course, fields, streams, a nature center and the National Zoo. It's a great setting to unwind with some favorite recreations.

Rock Creek Park proper covers about 1,750 acres, beginning on the Maryland border and ending at the Potomac River. It divides the northern half of Washington into two parts. Several roads wind through the park, including the popular Beach Drive, which is closed on weekends so people can bike, run or skate through the park. It's a popular way for people to commute by bike to work. There is a tennis center that also hosts major national tournaments, a boating center which rents out canoes and kayaks, and also a horse center.

The park was established in 1890, though already enjoyed by locals as a retreat from the city. It is the National Park Service's oldest park and was established the same time as Yosemite National Park. Today it is Washington's favorite place to play, whether with a bike ride or run on its 25 miles of trails, a ranger-led hike through the woods, a concert in the amphitheater, a fishing afternoon, a family picnic or a pick-up game of football.

Inside the park is also a nature center and planetarium, offering nature programs and star gazing events, as well as the historic Peirce Mill, which was one of several mills that existed in the park. Today it is undergoing repairs so that visitors may eventually tour inside.

Rock Creek also manages some outlying parks and sites, including the Francis Scott Key park, the Old Stone House in Georgetown, Meredian Hill Park, Georgetown Waterfront Park, Montrose Park and Dumbarton Oak Park. The park also manages several Civil War sites.
 

Rock Creek Park Washington DC nature