About Us

A 27-acre pastoral oasis in the middle of Georgetown, Dumbarton Oaks Park is the woodland and meadow portion of Mildred and Robert Wood Bliss’ original 53-acre Dumbarton Oaks estate. One of the finest garden designs in American landscape history, it is the masterpiece of Beatrix Farrand, America’s first woman landscape architect.

Farrand’s 1920s landscape design created a progression from formal garden rooms near the main house to less formal areas down the hillside, ultimately flowing into a naturalistic woodland garden in the stream valley below. A highly designed composition of meadows, woods, and stream, this “wild” portion of the estate features waterfalls, bridges, and a reflecting pond that anchors the landscape.

In 1940, the Blisses donated the naturalistic portion of the garden to the American people as a public park, now overseen by the National Park Service (NPS) as Dumbarton Oaks Park. Throughout the following decade Farrand remained committed to the design and oversight of the transition from private wild garden to public park. Over the last half century, this designed historic landscape was not protected from environmental crises. Our work today in masterplanning is to restore this American Treasure.

Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy was established in 2010 as a private non-profit organization with a mission to restore, promote, and maintain Dumbarton Oaks Park. The Conservancy and the NPS are in a public-private Partnership that is tackling these significant and costly challenges. The Partnership operates through the procedures outlined in a Friends Group Agreement (FGA) and the preparation of annual work plans. The tools used by the Partnership—community engagement, the development of a robust volunteer corps, and the implementation of a successful environmental education program—have contributed to the realization of many of the shared priorities of the NPS and Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy.

Since 2010, the Partnership has undertaken several significant projects focused on stabilization of the designed historic landscape, which was suffering the effects of encroachment by invasive plants, loss or diminishment of designed landscape spaces due to unmanaged vegetation, increases in stormwater quantities and velocities, attendant soil erosion and undercutting of designed landscape features, alteration of historic circulation routes, and deterioration of stone structures.

The first project of note is referred to as the “Signature Project.” This effort entailed rehabilitation of a two-acre American beech grove near the park’s main entrance at Lovers Lane. Engaging the expertise of local interested professionals, the project addressed integrated landscape treatments involving:

• Stormwater management
• Erosion control
• Invasive plant removal
• Clearing and thinning of volunteer vegetation
• Restoring the historic plant matrix in keeping with the original design

The Partnership has since completed numerous additional complex and challenging projects, such as repairing and repointing the old stone pumphouse, restoring five acres of meadow, and stabilizing the East Falls Dam. Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy continues to focus efforts on stabilizing the park’s historic landscape by generating funds specific to the needs of invasive plant control, stormwater management, historic landscape rehabilitation to accommodate an increasing number of visitors as well as adopt best practices associated with sustainable land stewardship and conservation. The Conservancy can boast many additional accomplishments, including inspiration and orchestration of more than 50,000 hours of volunteer time, with a nearly 100 percent return rate of participants; the establishment of Park events and programs such as docent-led tours, lectures and practicums, and Art in the Park celebrations; successfully applying for grant funding for special projects; engaging in many community partnerships; and improving relationships between the Park and its neighbors.

The design phase of an NPS Centennial Challenge grant is currently underway to remediate the core threat to the park—stormwater and associated erosion—with project implementation slated for 2018. Successful execution of stormwater management improvements will allow the Conservancy to tackle other essential projects related to restoration of the architectural spine of the stream valley, including eighteen water weirs and dams designed by Beatrix Farrand.

All of the work conducted by the Partnership has been guided by a cultural landscape report prepared for the park by NPS Regional Historical Landscape Architect Maureen Joseph. The report serves as an important foundation for restoration projects and is used to guide decision-making as well as the articulation of future preservation treatment efforts. One of the key features of the report is the identification of a period of significance for the park. As noted in the report, the park is significant for the period that extends from initial construction in 1921 to Farrand’s retirement in 1951. Projects thus focus on restoring the garden to its character and composition during this period.

Having successfully addressed its initial stabilization goals, the Partnership currently seeks to develop a framework for future work that addresses a longer time horizon and is grounded in a long-term vision for the park. The Partnership envisions establishing such a framework as part of a masterplanning process that will result in a prioritized plan of action with measurable goals for short, as well as longer, term time horizons. The workshop held on November 8–9, 2017, was the first step in this masterplanning process.