DC SUMMER MANSIONS
The “Shepherd” in Shepherd Park is Alexander Robey Shepherd, governor of Washington, DC, from 1873 to 1874 at the dawn of the Gilded Age. The original land for the neighborhood was the site of “Bleak House,” Shepherd’s summer mansion.
Housing developments arrived in Shepherd Park in the first decades of the 20th century. Grand and gorgeous single-family homes began to arrive as the neighborhood took shape—all while maintaining the sense of natural splendor from Rock Creek Park which first drew Shepherd to the area. The arrival of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 1909 also spurred on more development.
The year 1917 saw the arrival of the still-flourishing and still-passionate Shepherd Park Citizens Association. The association hosts frequent neighborhood events, including garden tours, planting parties, picnics, and yard sales.
THE PARKS AT WALTER REED
In 2011, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus shut down. Five years later, the DC government took over its share of the 60-plus acre site. What’s currently in the works: The Parks at Walter Reed.
This massive new development project is designed to draw even more attention to this charming neighborhood, as well as to provide residents with access to major retail without disrupting the peace of their tree-lined streets. It’s set to be a micro-village of its own, with townhomes and apartments, green spaces, a hotel, a big-box grocery store, a medical care clinic, and more.
The result, expected to be delivered over the stretch of several years, promises to change for the better the character of the upper Georgia Avenue NW corridor. Not only that, The Parks at Walter Reed will make Shepherd Park an even more coveted neighborhood than it currently is.
