- Shepherd Park
Shepherd Park is a neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of
Washington, D.C. Historically Jewish, the neighborhood is no longer so but supports a thriving upper and middle class African American community in the eastern fringes of the neighborhood. Shepherd Park and the rest of Ward 4 are represented in theCouncil of the District of Columbia byMuriel Bowser .Borders
The northern line of the neighborhood is defined by Eastern Avenue NW, which divides Shepherd Park from
Silver Spring, Maryland . The neighborhood is further bounded at the south byWalter Reed Hospital , at the east byGeorgia Avenue NW, and the west by 16th Street NW.Heading out of the city, traveling north on 16th Street, just before getting to the DC-Maryland border, the streets are all named after flowers, shrubs and trees. Iris Street, Primrose Road, and Geranium Street are but a few of flower-inspired street names.
Georgia Avenue is the only commercial corridor near the neighborhood.
Local architecture includes colonials (both traditional and Spanish style), ramblers, Tudors, farmhouses, split-levels, and a few Sears bungalows.
History
Shepherd Park takes its name from its most famous resident:
Alexander Robey Shepherd , the governor of the then-Territory of DC from 1873 to 1874.Shortly before becoming governor (in 1868), Shepherd built a grand Second Empire-style Victorian that once stood near the corner of Geranium and 13th Street.
Shepherd dubbed his large country home "Bleak House" after a Dickens novel he and his wife were reading at the time of their home's construction. The mansion was demolished in 1916.
Shepherd owned a plant nursery in the District of Columbia, which enabled the 60,000 trees he had planted. His nursery led to a variety of wild flowers that still thrive in the yards of city residents. It is also the genesis of the streets in Shepherd Park being named for flowers.
Neighborhood Institutions
* The
National Synagogue .
* [http://www.tifereth-israel.org/ Congregation Tifereth Israel] .
* [http://www.shepherd-elementary.org/ Alexander Shepherd Elementary School] .
* [http://www.shepherdpark.org/ Shepherd Park Citizens' Association] .References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
