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NEVER GOING BACK

Since the 1990 Washington Post article that inspired the founding of Casey Trees, our city has been steadily restoring our tree canopy.

TREES ARE STILL THE ANSWER

Despite these setbacks, we know our work is still effective. Our planting and tree care efforts are more important now than ever. See the impact we have made in our community over the past several years.

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DC's Tree Canopy Faces Decline

  • Our mission is to restore, enhance, and protect the tree canopy of Washington, DC.

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    With our partners and thousands of local volunteers, we plant 4000+ trees every year to reach our collective goal of 40% tree canopy by 2032.

  • We’re currently at 38% tree canopy. Donate today to help us reach 40%.

Meridian Hill - Malcolm X Park

address 16th St NW &, W St NW, Washington, DC 20009

Ward 1 - Start Date 3/17/18 - partnership US National Park Service

In 1819, John Porter erected a mansion on Meridian Hill. The site was called Meridian Hill because it was on the exact longitude of the original District of Columbia milestone marker, placed on April 15, 1791. In 1829, the mansion became departing President John Quincy Adams' home. After its conversion to a public park, Union troops encamped on the grounds during the Civil War. The U.S. government purchased the grounds in 1910. Landscape architects George Burnap and Horace Peaslee planned an Italian style garden. The structures made revolutionary use of concrete aggregate as a building material. Source: NPS

Landowner Mary Foote Henderson persuaded federal officials to build the elaborate, European style, 12-acre Meridian Hill Park across 16th Street from her mansion. Its starlight performances drew audiences until the park began declining in the 1950s. In the 1960s it became a staging ground for political demonstrations, and in 1970 activist Angela Davis unofficially renamed it Malcolm X Park. Neglected by official Washington, the space became a scene of crime and vandalism. Then in the early 1990s, Friends of Meridian Hill and others worked with the National Park Service to evict criminal activity and restore the park as a cultural center. Source: Cultural Tourism DC

Read the timeline of our work at this site.

April 2016 Park Inventory with 51 attendees that inventoried 129 trees which laid the groundwork for our

March 2018 Community Tree Planting with 24 trees planted by 42 folks

April 2018 we held a Tree Identification class in the park with 16 people

Returned in October 2019 for an additional Community Tree Planting with 11 trees throughout the top portion of the park

Unfortunately follow up Community Tree Planting in July 2020 was canceled

Explore our related resources and articles.

Read our post - Watch Fireworks From the Shade of These Trees in the Leaflet for more.

See Historical Photos - Meridian Hill Park, Then and Nowfrom Curbed, Washington DC.

Peirce Mill

address 2401 Tilden St NW, Washington, DC 20008

Ward 2 - Start Date 12/30/19 - partnership with the US National Park Service

Isaac Peirce built Peirce Mill on Rock Creek in 1829. Using the moving water as a power source, the mill ground corn, wheat, and rye. Succeeding generations further developed the mill, sawmill, orchard, and tree nursery. In 1890, an act of Congress incorporated the mill and 350 acres of the property into Rock Creek Park. The mill operated until the turbine's shaft broke in 1897. At the turn of the century, park managers went to work improving the site, improving roads and bridges and adding a new dam that provided a nice aesthetic for picnickers. In the 1920s, the mill was converted into a tea room complete with electric lights. In 1933, New Deal legislation transferred Rock Creek Park to the National Park Service. The National Park Service restored the mill and grounds to their historic layout by 1936. NPS

Read the timeline of our work at this site.

October 2014 Community Tree Planting that brought together 72 people to complete a demonstration project re-creating a portion of the Peirce Plantation orchard in Rock Creek National Park. We also planted shade trees on the slope behind the orchard.

Returned in September 2015 for a tree care event to care for newly planted trees

Pair of tree planting in April 2019, started with crew only planting of 41 trees surrounding the parking areas and followed with large Community Tree Planting of 88 trees planted by 130 people along Rock Creek and the slope surrounding the Mill to prevent erosion and assist in stabilization

Followed up with a July and August 2019 tree care event watering, mulching, and pruning over 100 trees in vicinity of the Mill

Returned in October 2019 for an additional Community Tree Planting with 11 trees throughout the top portion of the park

Explore our related resources and articles.

Read our post - Celebrating the Founding of the Third Oldest National Park in the Leaflet for more.

Fort Reno Six

address 4000 Chesapeake St NW, Washington, DC 20016

Ward 3 - Start Date 4/29/20 - partnership Fort Reno

Fort Reno was originally named Fort Pennsylvania, and was built during the winter of 1861 shortly after the disastrous defeat of the Union Army at the First Battle of Manassas. Brig. Gen. John G. Barnard, Col. of Engineers, U.S. Army, was in charge of construction of the defenses around Washington. Barnard chose the location of Fort Reno for its strategic importance in guarding the Rockville Pike (present day Wisconsin Avenue). Being the highest elevation in the city (429 feet above sea level), Fort Reno also served as a forward outpost and signal station for detecting enemy movement near the northern part of the city. Eventually, the fort was the largest and strongest of those defending the capital with a dozen heavy guns, three Parrott siege guns and nine 27-pounder barbette guns. A strength of three thousand men of the First Brigade made Fort Reno the stronghold of the northern defenses of the capital. NPS

Read the timeline of our work at this site.

We often say you can't protect what you don't know is there, which is why our work started with a Park Inventory. Due to its vast size, we held two Inventories at Fort Reno, one in May 2018, followed by one in October 2018. Volunteers were able to measure and identify over 160 trees throughout the park.

The information collected was used to inform a Community Tree Planting, which was supposed to held in late March 2020. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was unfortunately cancelled.

We still had trees that needed to be planted, so our crew returned to Fort Reno throughout the spring of 2020 to plant over 80 trees from mid April to early May in 2020.

Explore our related resources and articles.

Read our post - DC’s Parks through the Ages: Fort Reno Storymap in the Leaflet for more.

Armed Forces Retirement Home

address 3700 North Capitol St NW, Washington, DC 20011

Ward 4 - Start Date 3/10/18

By 1851 momentum had grown to fund a Soldiers’ Home in Washington, DC. General Winfield Scott was a hero in the Mexican-American War. He was paid reparations in lieu of ransacking Mexico City. So, Scott promptly paid off his troops and gave the rest to Congress—petitioning it to open a home for old and infirm soldiers. A rustic country¬ cottage owned by the prominent Riggs family was purchased as the site for such a home. This cottage sat high atop a breezy hill overlooking several hundred acres of farmland in rural Washington. The Old Soldiers’ Home began with just one “inmate”. Before long, more soldiers moved in, and they outgrew that cottage. So a larger “Scott” dormitory was built. The Scott was renamed the Sherman Building, and it serves as offices for AFRH corporate staff. The new Scott Building, which opened in 2013, is a model of moderretirement living. Today Residents actively contribute military memorabilia and original artwork to its hallways. AFRH-W

The Armed Forces Retirement Home (AFRH) is the oldest veterans retirement home in the United States. Established in 1851, it is located on 272 acres in Northwest Washington, DC. It seeks to lease 80 acres for private mixed-use development. To facilitate this, the AFRH issued a Request for Proposals in May 2018 and selected the development team of Madison Marquette, Urban Atlantic in July 2020. NCPC, AFRH, and the DC Office of Planning (DCOP) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). NCPC

Read the timeline of our work at this site.

We started to tackle this on-going project to reforest some of the more than 200 acres of wooded land that is showing signs of years without replanting lost trees. Our first tree planting was held in 2013, where we planted 57 trees with over 130 folks. This the laid the groundwork for our returning planting.

Due to the sprawling campus, we followed this planting up with an additional planting in April 2014 in partnership with the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

We had such a successful planting with the National Cherry Blossom Festival we returned the following year, in April 2015, to continue to restore the tree canopy along the western edge of the campus.

In April 2016 we continued planting an additional 50 trees throughout campus as well as holding a Tree care event to water and mulch existing trees. AFRH also hosted our Tree Planting Training Workshop in October 2016, where we trained lead volunteers on planting event procedures.

Our work has continued with two additional Community Tree Plantings in 2017 and 2018 to restore tree canopy, especially around the southern edge of the parking lot used for overflow VA Hospital parking and inside the fence along North Capital St.

Explore our related resources and articles.

Read our post - Urban Leaf Peeping in the Leaflet for more.

McKinley Technology High School

address 151 T St NE, Washington, DC 20002

Ward 5 - Start Date 5/5/18 - partnership McKinley Technology High School

The United States Congress allocated $26 million in 1926 for the construction of the existing building at 2nd and T Streets NE, in the Eckington area. The school is named for William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States. Enrollment fell from a peak of 2400 in the late 1960s to approximately 500 in the mid-1990s. The school was selected for closure during the period of the congressionally authorized financial control board. The school was shuttered in June 1997. Mayor Williams pledged to bring a STEM focused school to DC. The school finally reopened on September 1, 2004, for grades 9 and 10. On August 28, 2006, the school had a complete program for grades 9-12 and an enrollment of 800 students. It was named a Blue Ribbon School in 2012.

Read the timeline of our work at this site.

We go way back at McKinley Tech, first planting here soon after our founding - in 2005!

A Park Inventory held in 2017 checked back in on the health of previously planted trees and illuminated additional room for new ones.

It took us a minute to get back, but returned to campus in 2018 for an additional planting where we added 50 trees with the help of students and faculty. Talk about hands on learning.

Explore our related resources and articles.

Read our post - Watch Fireworks From the Shade of These Trees in the Leaflet for more.

Mount Olivet Cemetery

address 1300 Bladensburg Rd NE, Washington, DC 20002

Ward 5 - Start Date 5/22/19 - partnership Mount Olivet Cemetery School

The largest Catholic burial ground in the District of Columbia, it was one of the first in the city to be racially integrated. (source: wiki) Following an 1852 ordinance by the Washington, D.C., city council limiting the creation of new cemeteries within Georgetown, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore purchased 41-acres of Fenwick Farm for use as a burial ground in the northeast section of the District of Columbia. Mount Olivet, modeled after Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery and named after the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, opened between 1858 and 1862 as a racially integrated cemetery. It is a rare example of a Civil War-era integrated cemetery still in operation in the capital. The cemetery began with 70 acres and has grown over the years with the addition of several acres in the northeast corner. More than 100,000 graves are laid out across approximately 80 acres of gently rolling hillside opposite the National Arboretum. In 2018, the cemetery partnered with the Nature Conservatory to replace rarely used access roads with grass, trees, flowerbeds, and bio-retention cells to help mitigate polluted runoff. As part of this project, a commemorative garden created by landscape designer Gwen Wolfgang was installed in honor of the enslaved men and women who were buried in unmarked graves. The garden consists of new plantings, including yucca, which traditionally marked the graves of the enslaved. The Cultural Landscape Foundation

Explore our related resources and articles.

Read our post - Announcing the 2019 Canopy Awards Honorees in the Leaflet for more.

“Cemeteries can play a unique and important role in urban areas and conservation... The new memorial green space will address multiple urban conservation needs while also providing visitors with a place to rest and connect with nature.”

- The Nature Conservancy in Washington DC and Maryland

Turkey Thicket Recreation Center

address 1100 Michigan Ave NE, Washington, DC 20017

Ward 5 - Start Date 3/23/19 - Partnership with Turkey Thicket Recreation Center

Early histories are not in agreement on the origin of Turkey Thicket. Some say it was part of a parcel of land originally purchased by settler Charles Beall in 1686 and designated Turkey Thicket by him. Others say it was originally a swampy forested area heavily populated by turkeys and informally named Turkey Thicket by local farmers before the land was drained, filled in and urbanized in the early 20th century. Portions of the area were purchased by Catholic University and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the late 19th century, then gradually sold to developers for housing. The land on which the present-day playground stands was bought in 1934 by the federal government, which built a baseball diamond, a softball field and a football field. Since then, the District acquired the playground and added tennis and volleyball courts and lights for nighttime sports. Washington Post

Turkey Thicket Recreation center hasn't made too much history yet. It's less than 20 years old and was built in early 2005. In March 2014, Turkey Thicket Park got a full makeover and several amenities added. There are both indoor and outdoor amenities/activities. The current outdoor attractions include: a basketball court, a baseball field, a track for walking and/or running, a playground, covered picnic areas, with tables, seating, and mini grills, tennis courts, and a spray park. DCPL

In 1632, the English King Charles I granted the charter for the colony of Maryland to George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore. Early land grants in Ward 5 dated to 1685 and included such whimsically named tracts as Turkey Thicket, Barbadoes and Cuckhold’s Delight. Native American settlements gradually gave way to farm homesteads and tobacco plantations with enslaved African labor. DC OP

Part of a land grant known as Turkey Thicket when it was purchased by Samuel Harrison Smith in 1800, the land was previously part of a larger tract called Pleasant Hills. CUA

Read the timeline of our work at this site.

A neighborhood staple nearby our Headquarters in Brookland, we started our work at Turkey Thicket Rec in 2019. Our Pruning Corps held a training session at the rec center, learning the proper way to prune trees to promote healthy growth.

We returned many times throughout the year: first at a Community Tree Planting, where we added over 50 trees, shading the walking path, baseball diamond, and splash park walkway

we returned in the summer to care for those newly planted trees providing water and mulch; and our final 2019 Turkey Thicket activity was an inventory to mark the health, size, and status of trees throughout the rec center for our own knowledge and to share with our partner, DPR who owns and operates the site.

We took a bit of break in 2020 and returned in 2021 ready to rock. Post coronavirus pandemic, our planting protocols have shifted a bit, so throughout four smaller, more intimate plantings, we have added an additional 50 trees with approach to beautify area and achieve canopy coverage objective.

Congressional Cemetery

address 1801 E St SE, Washington, DC 2000

Ward 6 - Start Date 5/4/19 - partnership The Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery

The original four and one-half acre tract of Congressional Cemetery was purchased from the Government for $200 on April 4, 1807 as a private burial ground. On March 30, 1812, several years after Christ Church was built, Ingle, one of the buyers, deeded this tract to the church under the name of “The Washington Parish Burial Ground.” On May 30, 1849, the vestry changed the name to “Washington Cemetery” which is its correct name today, although it has long been known as Congressional Cemetery because of its associations with the national legislature.

From the time of its establishment in 1807 until the end of the Civil War, three Presidents, two Vice Presidents, seventy-five Senators and Representatives, as well as many high-ranking executive, judicial and military officers and Native Americans were interred in Congressional Cemetery. There are perhaps more early historical figures buried within this “American Westminster Abbey” than in any other cemetery in the country.

For a time in the 20th century, Congressional Cemetery was forgotten and neglected. The grass grew waist high, the stones crumbled and toppled, and the back corners of the property were dirty and dangerous. By 1997, Congressional Cemetery had the dubious distinction of being added to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of the most endangered historic sites.

A stubborn group of dedicated Washingtonians knew the cemetery was worth saving. Local Capitol Hill neighbors who walked their dogs on the grounds began taxing themselves to pay for grass mowing. Today, the K9 Corps at Historic Congressional Cemetery has hundreds of members who pay an annual fee to walk their dogs off-leash on the grounds. Their resources and volunteer work keep the cemetery clean and secure as well as lively and well loved. Other volunteers-including members of the armed forces, school groups, church groups, service associations, and descendant organizations-put in thousands of hours of work each year. They accomplish tasks the cemetery could never afford to pay for. Private donations, Congressional appropriations, foundation grants, and proceeds from gravesite sales have all allowed the cemetery to rebound from neglect and vandalism.

Now a National Historic Landmark, Congressional Cemetery is flourishing. The brick pathways and slate walks are restored to their original beauty. New trees are being planted and new gardens bloom. The cemetery stages regular educational events, tours, fundraisers, and even 5k races. Marching bands, including the world-famous US Marine Band, regularly play at the grave of John Philip Sousa. Genealogists, photographers, historians, dog walkers, birders, joggers, anthropologists, and Victorian scholars can all find something to love among the old stones. Congressional Cemetery

Explore our related resources and articles.

Watch this video on the reclamation of cemeteries as greenspaces.

“We recognize what a unique place the cemetery is - you look around and you've got nature and all its sounds, you've got headstones, and the dogs. It's unusual to have that kind of space anywhere, let alone here.”

Marvin Gaye Park

address 5200 Foote St NE, Washington, DC 20019

Ward 1

Formerly called Watts Branch Park, the area was officially rededicated as Marvin Gaye Park on April 2, 2006, what would have been the singer’s 67th birthday. It’s Washington’s longest municipal park, stretching nearly two miles across Northeast Washington. The park occupies a stretch of green stream valley along Watts Branch—the largest tributary to the Anacostia River within the District. Led by community members and organizations, the park has undergone numerous transformations and revitalizations. Today, visitors can find a mosaic with Marvin Gaye’s image that graces the entrance of Lady Bird Johnson Meadows. Many other features that are themed around the timeless hits of his storied music career. One of the playgrounds is designed in the shape of a piano and has equipment shaped like musical notes. The park also features a splash pad, community stage, performance plaza and winding bicycle trail that runs throughout the park.

Another feature of the park? Trees, native grasses and plants! The Lady Bird Johnson meadow was mentioned, and we’re grateful to be a small part of the park’s revitalization through our replanting and education efforts.

In 2020, we were happy to add serviceberries to the Marvin Gaye Community Garden. This simple addition pales in comparison to our mammoth crew planting back in 2018. We were able to take the extra trees from our Fall 2017 season and plant them through the park and along the bike trail. Working with Washington Parks and People and the DC Department of Parks and Recreation, we added over 55 trees. These included typical towering favorites like Oaks, Elms and Magnolias as well as lesser known urban workhorses like American Hornbeams and Hackberries. But what would a park, especially named after the Prince of Soul, be without a little pizazz? We also added numerous ornamental trees like Redbud, Dogwood, and some Fringetrees. Planting wasn’t our first time in Marvin Gaye Park, though. In 2017 we worked with three Student Conservation Association Crews to document tree species, height, diameter of the trunk, width of the crown and more. Over three weekends in July they measured each and every tree in the Park. Our Park Inventory Program is a crucial step before planting because it gives folks an idea of the health and make-up of the trees in the park so you can determine shortcomings or gaps in planting plans. In August 2015, we introduced the magic and beauty of trees to community youth through our nature and place based summer education program TreeWise. 16 kids ages six to 14 became Junior Urban Foresters and worked to get their official stamp by learning how trees are beneficial, how to best care for trees and what they need to survive, how they fit into ecosystems and habitats, and how to identify some common trees throughout the city.

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Celebrating Black History Month through DC's parks, Marvin Gaye Park in the Leaflet.

Fort Dupont Park

address Minnesota Ave SE, Washington, DC 20019

Ward 7

This 376 acre wooded park was once home to an earthen fort built to protect Washington, DC, during the Civil War. Fort Dupont was erected as part of the Eastern Branch Line Defenses (Anacostia River). Constructiobn commenced between Ocotober and December of 1861, and "completed" in the spring of 1862. The fort was built to protect a critical Ridge Road (Alabama Avenue) intersection and was supported by Forts Meigs and Chaplin to the north and Fort Davis to the south. In April 1864, Brigadier General John G. Barnard, Chief Engineer, advised the abandonment of Fort Dupont. The army officially abandoned the fort in 1865. The grounds reverted to its original landowner, Michael Caton.

Although its garrison and guns never saw battle, Fort Dupont served as a lifeline of freedom. Runaway slaves found safety here before moving on to join the growing community of "contrabands" in Washington. The barracks and guns are gone, but the fort's earthworks can still be traced near the picnic area on Alabama Avenue.

In the 1930s, the National Capital Planning Commission acquired the old fort and surrounding land for recreation. A golf course was constructed and as the city grew, golf gave way in 1970 to the sports complex along Ely Place that now includes tennis and basketball courts, athletic fields, a softball diamond, and an indoor ice rink. Once where soldiers viewed farmlands, park visitors now grow fruits and vegetables in the community garden. NPS

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Read our post - Urban Leaf Peeping in the Leaflet for more.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help

address 1600 Morris Rd SE, Washington, DC 20020

Ward 8

Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a Roman Catholic Community serving the Black Catholics of Washington DC for more than 100 years! As far back as 1911, after years of having to sit in the last two pews of the church, being excluded from an active role in the Mass, participating in church organizations or having religious education for their children, the “Colored” Catholics of St. Teresa Church decided they wanted their own parish church. Fast forward a couple of years and the hopes of many years began to be realized, and plans began to take shape. On Sunday, April 30, 1916, the first High Mass was sung in the remodeled church basement of St. Teresa, which served the newly formed “Colored” Catholic Community of Anacostia. On May 11, 1918, Cardinal Gibbons granted permission to purchase property for a church to be built. Seven months later on May 8, 1921, the church was blessed with an overflowing crowd for the occasion of its first service, a Solemn High Mass. The dream was now a reality. The formation of a strong Catholic community was taking root on “The Hill.” The first field Mass was celebrated on the grounds of our church on September 24, 1922 and all the organizations from the Black parishes in the city attended.OLPH

The actual church building as gone through several incarnations: the most recent was built in 1976, the previous church in 1935, and the first in 1920, back when Anacostia was primarily rural — and white. Members of the black community decided to break away from Church of Saint Teresa of Avila and form their own church. The Archbishop of Baltimore granted them permission to purchase land in 1918.

The land they sought to buy was called Chichester; it was owned by a black physician named J.C. Norwood. He planned on selling his parcel to this breakaway group from Saint Teresa for $12,000. “When he found out what they wanted the church for, he sold it to them for $9,000. And they had only collected $1,400. But different things happened and evolved and they were able to come up with the money.” From there, they started building the church — with their own hands. WAMU

Read the timeline of our work at this site.

With a commanding view of Washington, Our Lady of Perpetual Help reached out to us for help with adding trees to shade their parking lot, provide beauty year round, and aid with stormwater along Morris Road SE. We held a pair of Community Tree Plantings in October 2019 adding almost 100 trees throughout the congregation's property.

Like so many of our Community Tree Plantings in 2020, our follow up planting was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Thankfully, we were able to return in November 2021 to complete our restoration work, filling in a ring of about 20 trees along the wooded edge of the property.

Anacostia High School

address 1601 16th St SE, Washington, DC 20020

Ward 8

Sitting immediately east of the Anacostia River, the neighborhood known today as historic downtown Anacostia took shape in the 1850s as a Washington, DC suburb named Uniontown, a working-class residential community exclusively for whites. Just southwest was an area known as Barry Farm/Hillsdale, established in the aftermath of the Civil War when formerly enslaved African Americans purchased one-acre lots from the Freedmen’s Bureau.

These two communities—one black and one white—existed side-by-side for nearly a century, occupying their own worlds with segregated schools, recreation facilities, and civic organizations. Then, at the onset of the Civil Rights movement, a fight for educational equity and equal opportunity began to dismantle the deep-seated segregation that had defined life in Anacostia and ultimately transformed the neighborhood’s demographics.

Built in 1935, with subsequent additions in the 1940s, 50s, and 70s, Anacostia High and other schools were the epicenter of desegregation. When John Philip Sousa Junior High opened East of the River in 1950, African American students and parents challenged the whites-only policy. They joined a citywide protest of schools for black children that were run-down, overcrowded, and underfunded. The resulting legal case, Bolling v. Sharpe, went to the Supreme Court and ultimately overturned segregated schooling in the District of Columbia in 1954. When black students were denied admission to Sousa, the Consolidated Parent Group filed a legal case naming Spottswood Bolling the lead plaintiff. Bolling v. Sharpe became a companion case to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, with decisions handed down in May 1954. Since the Brown decision relied on the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which applies only to state laws—and hence not to the Federal City—Bolling v. Sharpe is the case that officially desegregated DC’s public schools. Smithsonian

Read the timeline of our work at this site.

In March 2013 we were excited to add trees in the student courtyard and in front of the school. Better yet? we planted with two dozen 11th & 12th graders.

We returned in October of 2021 to add an additional 12 trees. While we were planning for the installation of these trees, we got to chatting with school administrators, teachers, and students and realized there was an opportunity to do something never before done at Casey Trees...

...a courtyard garden installation! In October of 2021 we paired our tree planting with the very first garden installation. In the interior courtyard of the school, with the help of students, we installed a garden complete with a walking labyrinth, food forest, and pollinator garden.

Frederick Douglass National Historical Site

address 1411 W St SE, Washington, DC 20020

Ward 8

Born into slavery in 1818, he escaped as a young man and became a leading voice in the abolitionist movement. People everywhere still find inspiration today in his tireless struggle, brilliant words, and inclusive vision of humanity. Douglass's legacy is preserved here at Cedar Hill, where he lived his last 17 years, from 1877 until his death in 1895. The centerpiece of the site is the historic house, which sits on top of a 50-foot hill and eight acres of the original estate. Restored to its 1895 appearance, the house is furnished with original objects that belonged to Frederick Douglass and other household members. NPS

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Highlighted, Famous and Unusual DC Trees in the DCist