About Our Favorite Parks
This article is a part of Washingtonian’s feature: Our Favorite Parks. Our editors and staff pulled together the best regional parks where you can take a walk, have a picnic, play with the kids, and enjoy the great outdoors.
Hidden gems around DC.
If you like: Great Falls Park.
Try: Riverbend Park, just upriver and a good option for a walk when the Great Falls parking lot fills up. 8700 Potomac Hills St., Great Falls; 703-759-9018
If you like: Clemyjontri Park.
Try: Lee District Park, with a new kids’ sprayground, a playground, trails, and a tree house—all accessible and with a Chesapeake Bay theme. Opens May 25; $5 to $10. 6601 Telegraph Rd., Alexandria; 703-922-9841
If you like: the National Arboretum’s eagle cam.
Try: Fort Bennett Park, near the George Washington Parkway and the Potomac River, where you often can get a closer, bird’s-eye view of an eagle nest in spring. 2220 N. Scott St., Arlington; 703-228-6525
If you like: The wildness of Dumbarton Oaks Park and the cultivation of Dumbarton Oaks garden.
Try: Tregaron Conservancy, 13 acres with wooded paths, a lily pond, stone bridges, streams, and native meadows. Entrances at 3100 Macomb St., NW, and 3031 Klingle Rd., NW
This article appears in the May 2019 issue of Washingtonian.
Sherri Dalphonse joined Washingtonian in 1986 as an editorial intern, and worked her way to the top of the masthead when she was named editor-in-chief in 2022. She oversees the magazine’s editorial staff, and guides the magazine’s stories and direction. She lives in DC.
