Lincoln Memorial Grounds, Washington, D.C.
Press Releases

What’s Out There Weekend Washington, D.C. June 18-19 Features Free, Expert Led tours of Park, Gardens and Open Spaces in the Nation’s Capital

Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553  | M: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org

Part of a nationwide program that reveals the stories of places that are part of our daily lives

Washington, D.C. (May 10, 2022) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) announces What’s Out There Weekend Washington, D.C. June 18-19, 2022, featuring more than two dozen free, expert-led tours of parks, gardens, campuses,  and open spaces throughout the nation’s capital.  These tours enable people to discover the design history of places they may pass every day but don’t necessarily know about. Expert guides provide rich stories, personal anecdotes, and keen observations about each site, landscape architecture, city shaping, and garden design (all tours are free, but attendance is limited and registration is required). Washington, D.C.’s landscape legacy includes myriad parks and plazas, cultural institutions, and historic sites and neighborhoods, including American University, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Dumbarton Oaks, Smithsonian Gardens, and The Wharf. TCLF will produce a printed guidebook for What’s Out There Weekend Washington, D.C. that includes most of the tour sites (available for purchase and free as a downloadable PDF).  TCLF has recently expanded and updated its ever-growing digital Washington, D.C. City Guide, which currently features nearly 100 sites and 100 designer profiles, and a digital Cultural Landscapes Guide to D.C. Modernism, the latter in partnership with the National Park Service. TCLF maintains both guides in perpetuity.

Research gathered for the tours will have a long-lasting legacy, becoming part of TCLF’s permanent What’s Out There database of more than 2,400 sites across North America. The GPS-enabled database is a go-to resource for everyone from schoolchildren to scholars seeking trustworthy online information. 

TOUR SCHEDULE – All tours are free, but attendance is limited and registration is required.

SATURDAY June 18

  • Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land - 10:00-11:30am | led by Patricia Cunniff (Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild)
  • Howard University - 10:00-11:00am | led by Bradford Grant (Howard University Professor of Architecture)
  • Fort Lincoln Park - 10:00-11:00am | led by Adrienne McCray (Lee & Associates)
  • Washington National Cathedral - 10:00-11:30am | led by Don Partlan (Michael Vergason Landscape Architects) with members of the National Cathedral All Hallows Guild 
  • Hillwood Estate, Museum, and Gardens - 11:00am-12:30pm | led by Jessica Bonilla (Hillwood Estate Head Gardener)
  • Langston Terrace Dwellings - 11:00am-11:45am | led by Melvin Mitchell, FAIA (Bryant Mitchell Architects)
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library Rooftop - 1:00-2:00pm | led by Diane Murdock (D.C. Public Library Docent) and Sara Downing (Oehme, van Sweden Landscape Architects). Option for participants to continue with a tour of the Library's interior.
  • The Wharf - 3:00-4:30pm | led by Robin Lollar (Michael Vergason Landscape Architects) with Paul Josey (Wolf Josey Landscape Architects). Tour of Phase I and Phase II developments along the Wharf. 

SUNDAY June 19

  • Alethia Tanner Park - 9:00-10:00am | led by Jeffrey Aten and Bradley Odom (Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects)
  • Smithsonian Gardens: Mary Livingston Ripley Garden and Enid A. Haupt Garden - 10:00-11:30am | led by Janet Draper (Smithsonian Gardens)
  • Black Lives Matter Plaza - 11:00-11:45am | led by Keyonna Jones (Congress Heights Arts and Culture Center)
  • Dumbarton Oaks - 1:00-2:30pm | led by John Beardsley (historian, curator, former Director of Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks)
  • American University - 2:00-3:00pm | led by H. Paul Davis (American University Landscape Project Manager)
  • Gallaudet University - 2:00-3:00pm | led by Meredith Peruzzi (Director of the National Deaf Life Museum at Gallaudet University) and university archives staff
  • Tregaron Conservancy - 2:00-3:15pm | led by Lynn Parseghian (Tregaron Executive Director) and Tamara Belt (Tregaron Landscape Chair)

Tour times soon to be announced for:

  • C&O Canal National Historic Park
  • Lincoln Memorial
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
  • National World War II Memorial
  • Eisenhower Memorial
  • Lockkeeper's House
  • Capitol Park Towers
  • Harbour Square
  • Watergate Complex
  • Roosevelt Island
  • National Arboretum

What’s Out There Weekend Washington, D.C. dovetails with TCLF’s web-based What’s Out There, the nation’s most comprehensive searchable database of historic designed landscapes. The database currently features more than 2,400 sites, 12,000 images, and 1,100 designer profiles. What’s Out There is optimized for iPhones and similar handheld devices, and includes What’s Nearby, a GPS-enabled feature that locates all landscapes within a given distance, customizable by mileage or walking time. 

“The first What’s Out There Weekend was held in Washington, D.C., in 2010, and since then Weekends have been held in dozens of cities across the country and in Canada,” said TCLF president and CEO Charles A. Birnbaum.  “We’re pleased to collaborate with the Potomac Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and other local partners in organizing the What’s Out There Weekend Washington, D.C. tours and in the creation of new print guide.”

What’s Out There Weekend Washington, D.C. is made possible by Lead Sponsors the National Endowment for the Arts and Select Trees; Presenting Sponsors, ABC Stone, Bartlett Tree Experts, Landscape Forms, LAPITEC, Lee and Associates, Inc., Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Oehme, van Sweden, and Victor Stanley; Educational Partners, ASLA Potomac and the National Building Museum; and additional Supporting Sponsors and Friends.

About The Cultural Landscape Foundation

The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1998 with a mission of “connecting people to places.” TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. Through its website, publishing, lectures and other events, TCLF broadens support and understanding for cultural landscapes. TCLF is also home to the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize®.

 

#   #   #