What’s Out There Weekend – September 25-26– Free Two-Day Celebration of Washington, D.C.’s Parks, Gardens & Public Spaces

Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom, Wennerstrom Communications | T: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@wennerco.com

Free Tours of Twenty-five Free, Publicly Accessible Sites Throughout the Nation’s Capital; Special September 9 Launch Event at New Room & Board Store on 14th Street, NW

Washington, D.C. (August 24, 2010) – On September 25-26 in Washington, D.C., The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) will host What’s Out There Weekend, providing residents and visitors an opportunity to discover and explore twenty-five free, publicly accessible sites in the nation’s capital. Many are places people pass daily, but do we know their background stories?  Washington, D.C. has one of the nation’s great concentrations of designed landscapes – parks, gardens and public spaces – laid out by landscape architects or designers, an unrivaled legacy that stretches back more than 200 years. During the two days of What’s Out There Weekend, TCLF will offer free tours by expert guides to Meridian Hill Park, Pershing Plaza, the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, the National Gallery of Art East Building Plaza, Rock Creek Park, Congressional Cemetery and others. 

The Washington, D.C.-based TCLF’s goal is to make visible these sites and their stories just like the capital city’s great buildings, monuments and memorials. A companion What’s Out There Weekend Web site (tclf.org/landscapes/wot-weekend-DC) features downloadable information about all the locations and a schedule of tours. 

Pierre L’Enfant is well known for his overall plan for the city, but that’s just the beginning. Many of the nation’s most significant landscape architects and designers have helped shape the character and personality of the nation’s capital by creating broad spaces and intimate settings, including: Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. (U.S. Capitol grounds); Beatrix Farrand (Dumbarton Oaks); Dan Kiley (National Gallery of Art East Building Plaza); Lawrence Halprin (FDR Memorial); and, Oehme van Sweden & Associates (Federal Reserve Board Garden).

What’s Out There Weekend Sites

 Launch Event

A launch party for the weekend will take place Thursday evening, September 9, 5:30-7:30PM at the new 36,000 square foot Room & Board store (1840 14^th Street, NW). During the launch event an on-site drawing will be held for a $500 Room & Board gift certificate and a separate drawing for a voucher for a dinner for four at Hank’s Oyster Bar. 

Room & Board, Bartlett Tree Experts and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are the weekend’s presenting sponsors. Additional support comes from PNC Bank and Hank’s Oyster Bar. Partners include the National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation. 

What’s Out There Database

What’s Out There Weekend dovetails with the Web-based What’s Out There database(WOT), launched in October 2009, the first searchable database of the nation’s designed landscapes. The database spans more than two centuries of American landscape design and is searchable by landscape name, locale, designer, type, and style. It’s profusely illustrated and includes a glossary of 27 types, 58 sub-types, and 14 styles, hundreds of designer profiles and site entries, descriptions of some of our country’s most important cultural landscapes, and relevant links. The goal of the WOT database is to raise public awareness of the rich diversity and interconnectedness of our shared designed landscape heritage.

What is a cultural landscape?

A cultural landscape is a geographic area that includes cultural and natural resources associated with an historic event, activity, person, or group of people. Cultural landscapes can range from thousands of acres of parkland to small homesteads. There is a broad range of landscape types, including waterfronts, campuses, cemeteries, commemorative landscapes, and scenic highways. They exist in direct relationship to their ecological contexts. They are works of art, narratives of cultures, and expressions of regional identity.

Presenting Sponsors’ Remarks

“Room & Board is pleased to partner with The Cultural Landscape Foundation for the What’s Out There Weekend event,” said John Gabbert, founder and CEO of Room & Board.  “Originally a 1919 Ford Motors showroom, our historically preserved building and rooftop deck seems like the perfect venue to launch this inaugural event. Located at 14th and T Streets, the new Room & Board store is a great location to celebrate significant landscape design in our nation’s capital.”

"Historic landscapes add so much to the fabric of life in our cities and towns," said Scott Jamieson, vice president of Bartlett Tree Experts. "As a company that has been helping to preserve the integrity of these landscapes for more than a hundred years, Bartlett is pleased to be able to help build awareness of these special places in our midst."

“With beautifully designed landscapes and public spaces woven throughout our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. creates a distinct sense of place for all Americans, whether visitors or residents,” said Stephanie Meeks, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “’What’s Out There Weekend’ will provide the public with a fresh perspective and appreciation for the city through the lens of these rich and historic cultural landscapes.”

About Room & Board

Room & Board (www.roomandboard.com) is a Minneapolis-based furniture retailer offering unique home furnishings that combine classic, simple designs and exceptional quality using natural materials. Ninety percent of its furniture is manufactured in America. Room & Board is proud of its commitment to supporting American manufacturers and small, family-owned businesses. Room & Board professionals have helped many consumers furnish their homes, translating their passion for well-designed home furnishings into outstanding value for customers. Room & Board opened its eleventh store at 1840 14th Street, NW in Washington, D.C. in June, 2010 in the former Taylor Motors Building, which they restored to its original 1919 luster. With stores in Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, Orange County, San Francisco, Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles, Room & Board’s unique collection of home furnishings is also available nationally through their.

About Bartlett Tree Experts

For over a century, Bartlett Tree Experts (www.bartlett.com) has developed and implemented sustainable practices that help landscapes thrive. Founded in 1907, Bartlett is a research-driven, family-owned and operated tree care company with offices in 27 U.S. states, Canada, Ireland and Great Britain. Bartlett's services and products – all developed through our own tree research laboratory and experimental grounds - improve the preservation, management planning and care for trees. Bartlett is the only private company in the National Plant Diagnostic Network, a consortium of government agencies and universities providing rapid diagnosis of plant pests and diseases.

About the National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation (www.preservationnation.org) is a non-profit membership organization bringing people together to protect, enhance and enjoy the places that matter to them. By saving the places where great moments from history – and the important moments of everyday life – took place, the National Trust for Historic Preservation helps revitalize neighborhoods and communities, spark economic development and promote environmental sustainability. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., eight regional and field offices, 29 historic sites, and partner organizations in 50 states, territories, and the District of Columbia, the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy and resources to a national network of people, organizations and local communities committed to saving places, connecting us to our history and collectively shaping the future of America’s stories.

About The Cultural Landscape Foundation

The 12-year old Cultural Landscape Foundation (www.tclf.org) provides people with the ability to see, understand and value landscape architecture and its practitioners, in the way many people have learned to do with buildings and their designers. Through its Web site, lectures, outreach and publishing, TCLF broadens the support and understanding for cultural landscapes nationwide to help safeguard our priceless heritage for future generations. TCLF makes a special effort to heighten the awareness of those who impact cultural landscapes, assist groups and organizations working to increase the appreciation and recognition of cultural landscapes, and develop educational tools for young people to better connect them to their cultural landscape environs. 

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