Benjamin Bannekar Park
During today’s bike ride I found myself riding in a traffic circle near the south end of L’Enfant Promenade and the intersection of Interstate 395 and Maine Avenue (MAP), in Southwest D.C. Located within the traffic circle is a little used and rather neglected park. Although I had been there before, I knew almost nothing about the park other than it’s name, Benjamin Banneker Park. So I decided to find out more about it.
Operated by the National Park Service, it was designed by modern landscape architect Dan Kiley and constructed in 1967. But the small park that comprises the terminus of L’Enfant Plaza initially had no name. However, after Congress passed legislation in 1998 authorizing a memorial in D.C. to Benjamin Banneker, the park was chosen and named in his honor.
The 200-foot wide elliptical park sits atop a hill with grassy expanses surrounding it. It’s elevated location offers of the D.C. Waterfront to the south, including The District Wharf and the Maine Avenue Fish Market. The park’s circular plaza forms a conical central water feature of more than 30 feet in height when in operation, and combined with concentric rings of London plane trees and low concrete walls make the setting makes for a nice respite from the city, especially to workers in the numerous office buildings along L’Enfant Plaza.
The park’s namesake, Benjamin Banneker, was born on November 9, 1731, in Baltimore County, Maryland, to Mary Banneky, a free black, and Robert, a freed slave from Guinea, who became a primarily self-taught astronomer, mathematician, naturalist, farmer, almanac author, abolitionist, writer and surveyor. Banneker’s knowledge of astronomy helped him author a commercially successful series of almanacs. He also corresponded with Thomas Jefferson on the topics of slavery and racial equality. Abolitionists and advocates of racial equality promoted and praised his works. Unfortunately, most of his written works were lost due to a fire that occurred on the day of his funeral.
What he is best known for, and the reason for a memorial in his honor here in D.C., is that Banneker was part of a group, led by Major Andrew Ellicott, that surveyed the original borders and set the original boundary stones of the District, thus helping Pierre Charles L’Enfant design the national capital city.
Sadly, years of neglect have caused Benjamin Banneker Park to fall into a state of severe disrepair. And the numerous renovation discussions that have occurred in the past have not resulted in any significant changes.
But that is now changing. With the opening of the first section of The District Wharf, the National Park Service, in cooperation with the National Capital Planning Commission, began constructing an improved pedestrian connection between the National Mall and Memorial Parks and the waterfront along Maine Avenue, which includes a stairway and ramp between the overlook at Benjamin Banneker Park and the southwest waterfront. The rest of the renovation project, which is currently underway, also includes landscaping, improvements to pedestrian crosswalks, lighting installation, universal accessibility, and stormwater management. If all goes as proposed, the park will not only be restored to it’s former glory, but exceed it. I look forward to going back and seeing it again once the renovation is completed.
[Click on the photos to view the full-size versions]
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