DC Round Two – Part 1: Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Theodore Roosevelt Island, and LBJ Memorial Grove

Work would take me to Washington, DC once again, so I knew I had to make the best of it, and finish out the remaining National Park Service (NPS) units I had not visited during my previous trip in 2022. Unlike in 2022, a lot of sites that were closed for renovation were reopened and I would be staying over on a Friday and Saturday, which greatly assists with seeing some sites with limited opening hours.

September 12, 2023

I took a fairly early flight from DEN to IAD, which necessitated a 4am wakeup. We ended up landing 30 minutes early, and after enjoying the odd monster trucks that can be driven from either end at IAD to shuttle between terminals, I was to my hotel for the first three nights in Foggy Bottom, ARC Hotel, way ahead of check-in. They kindly stored my luggage, and I took off to kill some time as my tour at of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site would not begin until 4pm.

Staying in Foggy Bottom meant things were quite walkable, so I wandered down to the Lincoln Memorial, where I grabbed some passport stamps from the ranger station at the Vietnam Memorial before wandering to find a snack (I kick myself for not swinging into the bookstore at the Lincoln Memorial, as they have a German-American Friendship Garden stamp that’s new… woe is me). I ended up with a pricy basket of fries and chicken tenders as the sweltering humidity left me dripping with sweat, hair plastered to my face. I then nabbed an Uber to take me over to Frederick Douglass NHS, which is in Anacostia, and definitely not walkable from my hotel.

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site is the site of Douglass’ home on Cedar Hill, where he lived the last seventeen years of his life. Who was Douglass? Well, I think the best way is to read it straight from NPS, but in the cliff notes version, he started life as enslaved and became a renowned activist and abolitionist. Douglass purchased the Cedar Hill House in 1877.

I arrived about forty minutes before my 4pm tour (the last of the day), so after checking in with a ranger, I took to stamping my passport (there is an impressive amount of passport stamps found here!) and then she started the park film for me. I found the film to be a worthwhile watch since I was mostly unfamiliar with Frederick Douglass’ life and background. After the film I wandered up the hill to the house, where I would wait for my tour – the house is only available on guided tours.

My tour started promptly with Ranger Helen, who gave a fantastic tour. I really enjoyed her personal insight into topics, such as how many enslaved people ended up with European names when they took the name of someone who helped them and this is how she came to be named Helen as it was passed down through her family.

We first toured the first floor before heading up to the second floor, and then out to Douglass’ cabin out on the grounds (a man cave, essentially!). I did not take very many photos (a rarity!) as I was engaged in the tour, so alas… not a lot photographic evidence to share.

The tour lasted about thirty minutes, so I headed back to the visitor center to explore the gift shop. As a warning, they were already preparing to close for the day, so if you plan on visiting later in the day (you can explore the grounds without a guided tour during opening hours, or if you’re on a later tour), they appeared to be shutting everything down ahead of 5pm. I was able to buy a magnet (credit card since the cash was counted up for the day already), and made sure I nabbed every unigrid in sight.

It took an alarming amount of time to find an Uber back to my hotel, and as everyone else on my tour must’ve nabbed them, leaving me all by myself on the street outside the now locked up site. A family from North Carolina was concerned about leaving me alone, but I assured them my ride was on their way, and I was okay. (According to the rangers, Ubers are a bit more rare in this part of DC as “they [Uber drivers] think this is a bad part of town” but I did not feel like it was too bad in the immediate area of the site. I think this goes to show everyone has their comfort levels… plenty of people would never camp in a tent alone, and plenty of people feel unease in urban areas.)

Once back to my hotel I opted for Roti for pick up, a restaurant I will liken to a Chipotle, but for Mediterranean food. It turned out to be super good. (Spoiler alert – I made all sorts of culinary plans ahead of my trip… and didn’t eat at any of them, opting for fast and cheap instead.) It was one long day of travel, couple different time zones, Ubers, and park chasing!

September 13, 2023

After my work duties for the day wrapped up, I headed back to my hotel to quickly change and headed out towards Theodore Roosevelt Island via Uber (and forgot to put a snack in my bag…).

Purchased in 1932 by the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Association, this island in the Potomac River was designed and rehabilitated into a natural landscape by the Civilian Conservation Corp. There’s three habitats they built: a swamp, the uplands, and woods, which all have corresponding trails of the same names. I ended up walking the Swap and Woods Trails on my visit, enjoying a bit of nature mixed in with commercial airline traffic above me thanks to Reagan National Airport.

With only about an hour-ish until sunset, I had a conundrum about heading down the Mount Vernon Trail to Lyndon B Johnson Memorial Grove on the Potomac. I fiddled with the city bike rental machine, couldn’t get to work, and finally realized I just needed to start walking!

Whelp, I made it all the way to LBJ Memorial Grove, and had a good chuckle once I got there that I walked miles for this particular unit. I snapped a few photos, hailed an Uber, and watched the sunset over the Pentagon. All in all, I walked 4.6 miles. Not my most extreme hike, but coupled in with earlier walking in the day from my hotel to the conference and back, it was still remaining true that one walks their feet off in DC!.

When I got back to my hotel it was late enough I literally ate a giant chocolate chip cookie I received at check in for dinner. *shrug*

Septmeber 14, 2023

After work I opted to catch dinner at Whole Foods (hey, I had never eaten at a Whole Foods before, so it was an experience!) with Kate, who I had stumbled into figuring out was also in town for work. No NPS adventures, but it was quite alright!

Stay tuned for two more posts of my adventures in DC!