Hains Point

Hains Point is located at the southern tip of East Potomac Park between the main branch of the Potomac River and the Washington Channel in southwest Washington, D.C. The land on which the park is located is sometimes described as a peninsula but is actually an island: the Washington Channel connects with the Tidal Basin north of the park and the Jefferson Memorial. The island is artificial: it was built up from Potomac dredging material from 1880 to 1892.

In 1920, Girl Scouts obtained permission to operate a "tea house" at the Hains Point Park in Washington D.C. Traveling by car was still a new adventure and the teahouse was a pleasant destination, offering refreshments and restrooms for tourists.

Hains Point is named in memory of Peter Conover Hains, Major General, United States Army, who is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He designed the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., thus solving the drainage problems and foul smell of most of the Washington area marshlands. Hains was born in 1840 and died in 1921. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Hains Point was formerly known as the location of a sculpture called The Awakening, which was installed at the Point in 1980. However, the sculpture was moved to the National Harbor, Maryland development on February 19, 2008.

The confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers is at Hains Point. The point faces Fort Lesley McNair and the National War College, both of which are on the eastern shore of the Washington Channel, and Bolling Air Force Base, across the Anacostia River. Further northwest on the island is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. All of these points of interest lie within the District of Columbia. To the southwest, across the Potomac in Virginia, is Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

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