Meridian Hill Park is an inner city Washington, D. C., park located between 16th and 15th streets on the west and east sides and Euclid Street and W Street on the north and south ends. All parking is along the street, and spots are hard to come by because most are reserved for local residents and diplomats. Non-permit parking is allowed along 16th Street, but you can’t park from 7 AM to 9:30 AM and from 4 PM to 6:30 PM. There is no parking on Euclid Street. I had to circle the park many times before finding a spot.
Meridian Hill Park was authorized in 1911, but due to an inconsistent flow of funding, it took twenty-six years to complete—dedication was in 1936. The park takes up perhaps three city blocks and is situated on a large hill that changes 75 feet in elevation from one end to the other. As a result, the park was built as two levels, with a staircase known as the Cascades connecting the two. Located at the southern end of the park, the Cascades is an immense architectural piece designed in the Neo-classical and French Renaissance style. Water flows down thirteen basins before emptying into a reflecting pool.
To keep the sides of the hill from collapsing, a street level retaining wall was built around the entire park, and a much taller wall was built around parts of the interior. Some sides of the park are at least two stories above street level. The earth between the two walls was covered in trees and shrubs to hide the inner wall as much as possible. Entrances are located on all sides, with some being very ornate, making it feel like you are entering something special like an amusement park, not a typical inner city park.
Nearly all entrances have stairs, so Meridian Hill is not the easiest park to visit if you are handicap. There is a ramp-type entrance to the upper level at the corner of 15th Street and Euclid. Ramp entrances to the lower level are located at the southern end of 15th Street, but I’m not sure how far you can get before hitting stairs. There is no way to go between the upper and lower levels in a wheelchair.
Meridian Hill Park was designed to resemble the grounds of a typical Italian villa from the 17th century. Sculptures, fountains, pools, and ornate architecture dominate the landscape. The sculptures were commissioned before the park was completed, so the inclusion of art was not an afterthought. Concrete walkways lead through the park, and there are benches to sit on.
A statue of Dante was installed in 1921. It is a replica of a statue that was sculpted by Ettore Ximenes. The original is located in New York City and was dedicated in 1921 as well.
A marble sculpture called Serenity, now without its nose and left hand, is the work of Jose Clara. It was dedicated in 1925.
A bronze statue of Joan of Arc was unveiled in 1922. It was sculpted by Paul Dubois and was a gift from France.
A memorial to President James Buchanan was designed by William Gordon Beecher, and a bronze statue of Buchanan was sculpted by Hans Schuler. The memorial was dedicated in 1933. Buchanan, who served as president from 1857 to 1861, is the nation’s only bachelor president. His niece Harriet Lane Johnson, an orphan, served as his unofficial first lady. In her will she set aside funds for a memorial.
In the 1970s and 80s, Meridian Hill Park became known as the “most violent national park in the region.” After falling into misuse at the end of the 1960s, the park became a haven for drug dealers and homeless people, and was even the site of a few murders. In the 1990s the local citizens banded together to rid the park of its riffraff, forming the Friends of Meridian Hill in the process. I write about this only after finding an article mentioning the era of crime, for it was all news to me. When I visited, Meridian Hill Park felt like a completely safe and bustling city park. I never would have thought it used to be such a dangerous place.
Meridian Hill Park is mainly used by local residents, but it does have some appeal to tourists as a curio. I wouldn’t travel across the country to see it, but if you are in the area I highly suggest visiting because it is such a unique park. It is open daylight hours.
If you visit as a tourist, plan to spend an hour to see everything, not counting time spent trying to find a parking space. As mentioned, there are stairs to climb if you want to go between the two levels. As for walking distances, I walked a little less than a mile while exploring the park in detail.
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Last updated on April 30, 2020