Piscataway Park
| Piscataway Park | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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View of the Potomac River at Piscataway Park
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| Location | Prince George's County, Maryland, USA |
| Nearest city | Accokeek, MD |
| Coordinates | 38°40′43″N 77°05′34″W / 38.67861°N 77.09278°WCoordinates: 38°40′43″N 77°05′34″W / 38.67861°N 77.09278°W |
| Established | October 4, 1961 [1] |
| Visitors | 176,174 (in 2005) |
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Piscataway Park
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| Nearest city | Accokeek, Maryland |
| Area | 4,216.5 acres (1,706.4 ha) |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000144 |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
Piscataway Park, located 20 miles (32 km) southwest of downtown Washington, D.C., in and around Accokeek, Maryland, protects Marshall Hall the National Colonial Farm, and the Accokeek Creek Site. The park is located across the Potomac River from George Washington's Mount Vernon estate.
Piscataway Park is named after Piscataway Creek, itself named for a Native American tribe. The park is home to bald eagles, beavers, osprey, and other wildlife and encompasses areas of wetland, meadow and woodland. It is administered by the National Park Service and is managed by National Capital Parks-East.
In the mid-1950s, development threatened to destroy the beautiful landscape along the Maryland shore of the Potomac River. Instead of enjoying the same view that George Washington did more than two hundred years ago, visitors to George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate would have seen an oil tank farm, a sewage treatment plant, or housing developments.
Congresswoman Frances Payne Bolton of Ohio, a member of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, sprang into action. She purchased a 500-acre farm directly across the Potomac from Mount Vernon and next to the Moyaone Reserve, an environmentally conscious planned community. Bolton donated her farm for the creation of the Accokeek Foundation and, with a coalition of organizations that included the Alice Ferguson Foundation, Moyaone Association, and Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, launched an ambitious program to protect six miles of shoreline. This large-scale landscape conservation effort led to the creation of Piscataway Park, the first national park established to “preserve historic vistas.”
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Wikipedia