Page 145 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Washington, DC

F AR THER AFIELD  143

a Washington
National Cathedral The Shaw Neighborhood
This neighborhood is named for Union Colonel Robert Gould Shaw,
See pp144–5. the white commander of an all-black regiment from Massachusetts.
He supported his men in their struggle to attain the same rights
as white soldiers. Until the 1960s, U Street was the focus of black-
s Cleveland Park dominated businesses and organizations. Thriving theaters, such
as the Howard and the Lincoln, attracted top-name performers,
q Cleveland Park. and Howard University was the center of intellectual life for black
Cleveland Park is a beautiful students. The 1968 riots, sparked by the assassination of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., wiped out much of Shaw’s business district, and
residential neighborhood many thought the area could never be revived. However, the
that resembles the picture restoration of the Lincoln Theatre, the renewal of the U Street
on a postcard of small-town business district, and an influx of homebuyers renovating historic
America. It was originally a houses, have all contributed to the rejuvenation. In the part of
summer community for those U Street closest to the U Street-Cardoza metro stop, many
wanting to escape the less fashionable bars and clubs have opened.
bucolic parts of the city. In
1885, President Grover
Cleveland (1885–9) bought
a stone farmhouse here as a
summer home for his bride.
The town’s Victorian summer
houses are now much sought
after by people wanting to be
close to the city but live in a
small-town environment. There
are interesting shops and good
restaurants, as well as a grand
old Art Deco movie theater,
called the Uptown.
d Rock Creek Park
q Cleveland Park. Rock Creek Park
Nature Center: 5200 Glover Rd, NW.
Map 2 D1–D3. Tel (202) 895-6070. Mural in the Shaw neighborhood depicting Duke Ellington
q Friendship Heights. @ E2, E3,
E4. Open 9am–5pm Wed–Sun.
Closed Federal hols. 8 by appt. This 1,800-acre stretch of land with little eddies and waterfalls,
∑ nps.gov/rocr runs from the Maryland border but visitors are advised not to
south to the Potomac River go into the water because it is
Named for the creek that flows and constitutes nearly five very polluted.
through it, Rock Creek Park percent of the city. Rock Creek The Rock Creek Park Nature
bisects the city of Washington. Park has a feeling of the Center is a good place to begin
wilderness. Although the an exploration of the park. It
elk, bison, and bears that includes a small planet arium,
used to roam the park have and a 1 mile (1.6 km) nature
vanished, raccoons, foxes, trail, which is very manageable
and deer can still be found for children.
here in abundance. Pierce Mill near Tilden Street
The park was endowed in was an active gristmill, which was
1890 and is now run by the restored by the National Park
National Park Service. In Service in 1936. It was kept
addition to hiking and working as a visitor exhibit
picnicking, the park has a until 1993 when it was deemed
riding stable and horse trails, unsafe to work any more. There
tennis courts, and an 18-hole is a barn next to the mill where
golf course. On Sundays, a works by local artists can be
portion of Beach Drive – one bought. The Carter Barron
of the main roads running Amphitheater, near 16th Street
through the park – is closed and Colorado Avenue, stages
to cars to allow cyclists and rock, pop, jazz, and classical
Pierce Mill, the 19th-century gristmill in-line skaters freedom of the concerts, many of them free,
in Rock Creek Park road. The creek itself is inviting, during the summer months.

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