The NLT team recently met with the landscape architects at Moody Graham to continue the design process for the future of Rock Creek Park Golf. After an insightful public scoping period with the National Park Service, the team is continuing to refine the design proposals to best fit the needs of golfers and non-golfers in the local community.
This process has been labor-intensive, but the team is pleased with the direction of the design and look forward to sharing more about its proposal in the coming months.
In mid-January, National Links Trust publicly unveiled their vision for the future of Rock Creek Park Golf. This rehabilitation project is the first leg of its “Nation’s Capital Project” alongside the National Park Service (NPS).
This project will occur in two phases. The first phase will include the construction of a new clubhouse, driving range, maintenance facility, pavilion, Himalayas-style putting course, and short game facility. The second phase will involve the renovation of the golf course – creating a nine-hole regulation length golf course and a nine-hole par three course – and construction of ecological trails through the property. Click here to view the plan in its entirety.
The Rock Creek Park Golf Course opened in 1909 and started out as a nine-hole course. The popularity of the facility saw it expanded to a full 18-hole course. The course went through modifications and improvements over the years and was popular with presidents and statesmen. Today, extreme hills and narrow fairways define this course. Golfers can find putting greens, snacks and beverages, and a Pro Shop. Lessons are also available.
According to the National Park Service. The Rock Creek Valley wherein the Rock Creek Park is located has a long and varied history. For millennia, American Indians quarried rock outcroppings to make tools, fished the creek, and hunted wild game in the woodlands. In the 1600s and early 1700s, European Americans claimed title to the land. As tobacco farming and African American slavery became more widespread, Georgetown was chartered at the mouth of Rock Creek. In the late 1700s and into the 1800s, tobacco farming exhausted the soil, resulting in many farmers switching to wheat and corn production. Gristmills, the most successful being Peirce Mill, were constructed along Rock Creek to convert grain into flour.
The Rock Creek area was deforested during the U.S. Civil War. Logs and branches were felled and then laid out systematically throughout the soon-to-be park by Union soldiers to make a Confederate march through the valley impossible. Civil War fortifications in and around the valley bombarded General Jubal Early’s Confederate troops during the July, 1864 Battle of Fort Stevens.
In 1890, Rock Creek Park became one of the first federally managed parks.
The Civil Rights Movement is widely associated with activism in schools, churches, and public transportation. However, in Washington, DC, golf courses played an unexpected role in the fight for equal access to public facilities. African Americans engaged in community building, lobbying, and direct action in 1941 to challenge segregation on the greens, and their efforts contributed to integration in the nation’s capital city and parks.
At the start of the 20th century, the African American population in DC was the largest and most prosperous in the country, but public facilities like schools, parks, and playgrounds were still segregated. The post-World War I era saw a worsening of inequality, leading to the eruption of over 20 race riots across American cities in the summer of 1919, including Southwest Washington. The riots demonstrated the potential for strong, organized, and armed black resistance, foreshadowing the civil rights struggles of the following decades.
Washington, DC’s public golf courses were established with the intention of providing all Americans with access to sports and outdoor leisure activities. During the “Golden Age of Golf” from 1909 to 1948, eight public golf courses were built in the District by the federal government in response to citizen demand. Today, Rock Creek Park is one of three courses (East Potomac Park and Langston) which remain open to the public.
Contact Information:
Rock Creek Park Golf Course
6100 15th Street NW
Washington, DC 20011
202-882-7332
