History

The Virginia Avenue Park is sandwiched between the crossroads of a lot of American history. In the Southeast quadrant of Washington, DC, once called "Pipetown" it was described by Greater Greater Washington historically as:

East of 11th Street SE to the Anacostia River, this neighborhood was made famous by Pipetown Sandy (1905), John Philip Sousa’s semi-autobiographical young adult novel about the neighborhood where he grew up. One Post article described Pipetown as “a community of extensive commons, of ash dumps, of tumble-down houses and shacks of nondescript architecture, a place where goats browsed among the tomato cans and the travelling fair pitched its weather-beaten tent.”

The neighborhood has evolved over the past 200 years and is home to a wide range of residential, business, and government properties. The VADP is on the dividing line between the historic neighborhoods of Capitol Hill and Navy Yard, just north of the Washington Navy Yard military campus, the National Museum of the United States Navy, and south of the Marine Barracks and the Marine Commandant's house. It's a block away from the Barracks Row dining and entertainment district, and a couple blocks from the Anacostia Riverfront.