Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Visitor Center

GENERAL INFORMATION

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site has its own parking lot, so there is no need to park on the street. If traveling down W Street from I-95 and passing the Douglass House on your right, the parking lot is past the house at the corner of 15th Street. The Visitor Center is located right next to the parking lot—you can’t miss it. Just look for the ugliest building in the National Park system. It looks like an underground bunker, and it is actually built into the side of a hill. The reason for this is to camouflage the building so that it does not detract from the Douglass House and grounds. I’m not sure if that was accomplished.

OPERATING HOURS

• Open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays
• April through October: 9 AM to 5 PM
• November through March: 9 AM to 4:30 PM
• Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day

Times can always change, so before making travel plans be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.

AMENITIES

• Ranger-staffed information desk where you can pick up a free park brochure
• Obtain tickets for the Douglass House tour, or sign in for the tour if you got tickets in advance
• Small book and gift store
• Small exhibit area
• Park film
• Restrooms

Book and gift store inside the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Visitor Center

PARK FILM

A 20-minute film about Frederick Douglass titled Fighter for Freedom: The Frederick Douglass Story shows on demand in the Visitor Center auditorium. While it certainly conveys the life of Douglass effectively, it is an odd presentation. It looks like somebody took a feature length 1970s Hollywood B-movie about Douglass and cut snippets from it to illustrate the documentary, then added narration and interspersed historical photos with the film footage to fill in the gaps. However, I stuck around for the credits and found that the entire thing was shot for the National Park Service. A Ranger told me it was made at the park in the 1980s. Its dated-ness shouldn’t really matter since the story of Frederick Douglass probably won’t change, but with today’s climate of political correctness, who knows what spin may one day be put on the Douglass story.

The film does discuss slavery and has a scene of Douglass’s bloody back while he is being whipped as a slave, so be sure your kids are old enough to understand what is going on. There is also a fight scene, but other than that, there is no objectionable material. You can watch the film via a YouTube link on the Frederick Douglass Documentaries web page here on National Park Planner.

EXHIBITS

There is a small exhibit area in the lobby of the Visitor Center that has a few information panels, a statue of Douglass standing in front of a wall of quotes attributed to him, his death mask, and a few other personal items. Most of Douglass’s belongings are on display in his house.

Frederick Douglass statue inside the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Visitor Center

Frederick Douglass death mask on display in the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Visitor Center

Inside the auditorium where the movie is shown are six more information panels about Douglass. The only problem with this location is that you can only read them when the film is not showing. There is no set schedule for the film, but if people keep showing up and wanting to see it, it could literally run non-stop (though that probably isn’t going to happen).

Information panels about Frederick Douglass inside the auditorium of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Visitor Center

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

Allow at least a half hour at the Visitor Center just to see the film and either get Douglass House Tour tickets or sign in with a park Ranger if you got tickets in advance online. You can read through all of the lobby exhibits in ten minutes; ditto for the auditorium exhibits. Thus, if you are really into Frederick Douglass and want to read everything in the exhibit areas, plan to spend around one hour at the Visitor Center.

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