Visitor Center at Fort Washington Park

OPERATING HOURS

The Fort Washington Park Visitor Center is housed in the former Commanding Officer’s quarters. It is open on Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 AM to 4:30 PM, except when Fort Washington Park is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Keep in mind that times can always change, so be sure to get the current schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for the park.

Entrance to the Fort Washington Park Visitor Center

AMENITIES

• Ranger-staffed information desk where you can pick up a free park brochure and self-guided fort tour brochure
• Book and souvenir store
• Exhibit Area

Book and souvenir store at the Fort Washington Park Visitor Center

EXHIBITS

Hallway exhibits at the Fort Washington Visitor Center

There are two rooms of exhibits and a few in the main hallway of the Fort Washington Park Visitor Center. One room covers the history of the area before Fort Washington, with much of the focus being on slavery. The original European settler to own the land was Charles Digges, and he established a plantation in 1717 that he named Warburton. As with most large plantations owners, Digges had numerous slaves.

Pre-Fort Washington exhibit room in the Fort Washington Park Visitor Center

In 1808, the Digges Family sold four acres of land to the United States government for the construction of the first fort on the property, Fort Warburton. The fort was operational the next year. When the British defeated the Americans at Bladensburg and burned Washington, D.C., in August 1814 (War of 1812), the commander of Fort Warburton, Captain Samuel Dyson, feared the fort would be next, so he ordered its destruction so that the British could not use it against the Americans. Dyson was eventually court-martialed and discharged from the Army.

The focus of the second room is the history of Fort Washington, from its creation in 1814 until its decommission in 1946. It became part of the National Park system in the 1960s.

Exhibits on the history of Fort Washington in the Fort Washington Park Visitor Center

World War II exhibit featuring the WACs inside the Fort Washington Park Visitor Center

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