Washington Parks & People invites everyone to consider how this month embraces the earth. Join us as we Think Outside this Spring! Continue reading Think Outside this Spring
All posts by Washington Parks & People
Find your health, find your park on National Park Rx Day
National Park Rx Day’s flagship event will be held in Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park (2437 15th St. NW) on April 24th, at the closing of National Park Week! The goal of Park Rx is to prescribe nature to patients and families to encourage good health in one of the 350+ parks and green spaces across Washington, DC.
The event will feature the National Park Service, Surgeon General (invited), Dr. Robert Zarr of Park Rx, US Health and Human Services, DC Health Department, local health providers, and patients and families from across the District. Community partners will be activating the park with drum circle, yoga, walks and other activities that help us stay healthy and connect to the earth and each other outside!
Illuminate the city at Lights of Freedom on April 16th
DC Emancipation Day “Lights of freedom” to Feature Candlelight Tribute to Freed Slaves on Saturday April 16, 2016. Community residents will join with the National Park Service and DC Parks and Recreation to light over 2,000 candle luminaries in honor of thousands of African Americans who were buried in what is now Adams Morgan after they gained their freedom during the Civil War.
Each illuminated candle will be a tribute to four of the people who were buried under Walter Pierce Park and parts of the adjoining National Zoo and Rock Creek Park, which comprise the largest unmarked African American cemetery in the capital. At least 8,428 African American men, women, and children were buried in the Mount Pleasant Plains Cemetery between 1870 and 1890. More than half of the graves are children.
All are invited to join in the program at Walter Pierce Park, located off of Calvert Street, NW at the east end of the Ellington Bridge. Lighting of the candles will begin at 6:00 p.m., with music provided by area church choirs. There will be a period of silence as dusk settles in at 8:00 p.m. The candles will be displayed until 9:00 p.m.
A study of archaeological research about the cemetery has been completed, including information from ground-penetrating radar and magnetometry to help document the most sensitive areas of the site. The report from the archaeologist has allowed us to engage the community and others in the master planning to permanently protect, honor, sustain, and program the cemetery and park. We are now able to tell the stories of those buried there, and to provide a way for future generations to honor them.
For more information or to volunteer to help this event, please contact Washington Parks & People at [email protected], or at (202) GO-2-PARK.