Barney Circle

Barney Circle is a small neighborhood located on the western bank of the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington, D.C. The neighborhood is named for the traffic circle (or semicircle, as the case may be) that intersects Pennsylvania Avenue SE as it crosses the Anacostia.

Technically, the Barney Circle Neighborhood Association covers only the area bounded by Pennsylvania Avenue SE to the south, Potomac Avenue SE on the north, 15th Street SE on the west, and 17th Street SE on the east. However, many of the residents of the surrounding areas (those traditionally called "Lincoln Park" and "Capitol Hill East") consider themselves to live in Barney Circle; as such, the disputed boundaries may stretch as far north as East Capitol Street, and as far south as the Southeast/Southwest Freeway, and as far east as DC Jail at 19th and D Streets. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/counties/dc/longterm/wwlive/barney.htm]

Barney Circle itself was built as part of the now-defunct Washington streetcar system; the circle was the point at which the streetcars turned around to head back north. The circle is named for the American naval hero, Commodore Joshua Barney.

ee also

*List of Circles in Washington, D.C.