![]() At that time, Washington was experiencing postwar growth and some prosperity, so in 1867 the old Porter estate's land was subdivided into smaller lots. ![]() Shortly after the war, a fire badly damaged the mansion, and the home ultimately was razed. At times, this location was referred to as being "on Georgetown Heights". Following his presidential term, John Quincy Adams briefly lived at Meridian Hill.Īfter the onset of the American Civil War, and with a strategic location overlooking the city, the Meridian Hill estate and mansion, along with the land of neighboring Columbian College (founded 1821, later moving and becoming George Washington University), were taken for use as an army encampment named Camp Cameron. Meridian Hill Park today shares this view. The home faced south with a dramatic view of the White House and the Potomac River. On the brow of this prominent hill on his new estate, and close to the marker, Porter then built a large and famous mansion which he also named Meridian Hill. After the War of 1812, David Porter, a commodore and naval hero of that war, acquired the hill in 1816 as part of a 110-acre (450,000 m 2) tract of land that he had purchased he named this property Meridian Hill. Centered exactly north of the White House, this marker helped to establish a longitudinal meridian for the city and the nation: the " White House meridian". In 1804, president Thomas Jefferson had a geodetic marker placed on this large hill. ![]() The tablet states that a Washington Meridian marker stone was formerly located 52 feet 9 inches (16.1 m) west of the tablet.Īt the time of Washington, D.C.'s creation in 1791, the land beneath present-day Meridian Hill Park was owned by Robert Peter, wealthy Georgetown merchant, and was known as Peter's Hill. Meridian Hill Park is of cultural and historical significance and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark.Tablet facing 16th Street, NW, on west wall of Meridian Hill Park. When the park opened, it contained five statues and memorials (today, there are four), including one for a US president a 13-basin water cascade created on the 75-foot natural slope and an elaborate structure that used a newly perfected construction medium called architectural concrete. ![]() It had taken 26 years-from 1910 to 1936-to complete and cost more than $1 million to construct. In October 1936, Meridian Hill Park officially opened. Prior to becoming a national park, the area had been part of an estate called Meridian Hill home to Columbian College, precursor to George Washington University a Civil War encampment a seminary and the site of nature poet Joaquin Miller’s cabin. Meridian Hill Park is a 12-acre neoclassical park reminiscent of an Italian villa garden. One of the most unique parks in the National Park Service is located one and a half miles north of the White House in the middle of the northwest quadrant of Washington, DC. ![]() Meridian Hill Park (Images of America) was published on May 1, 2017, by Arcadia Press, and adds to a growing number of books about Washington, D.C. The only book about Meridian Hill Park is out now. ![]()
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