Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm |
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IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
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 Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm
Location in the United States
Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm
Location in Maryland
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| Location | Prince George's County, Maryland, US and Washington, DC |
| Nearest city | Forest Heights, Maryland, Washington, DC |
| Established | 1959 |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
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Oxon Cove Park
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Oxon Hill Farm, December 2010
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| Location | Government Farm Rd., Forest Heights, Maryland |
| Area | 289 acres (117 ha) |
| Architectural style | Italianate, et al. |
| NRHP reference No. | 03000869 |
| Added to NRHP | September 02, 2003 |
Oxon Cove Park is a cool place with 512 acres of land! It's a national historic area that stretches across parts of Prince George's County, Maryland and Washington, D.C.. The National Park Service takes care of it as part of National Capital Parks-East.
Inside the park, you'll find the amazing Oxon Hill Farm, which is a living farm museum. This farm covers 289 acres in the Maryland part of the park. The other 222 acres of the park used to be a landfill, but now it's a place for nature and fun.
Oxon Cove Park is a great spot for learning about nature, watching wildlife, and even fishing! It's easy to get to the Potomac River from here. There are many historic buildings and structures that show how the land changed over time. It was once a large farm, then a special agricultural center, and now it's a farm museum.
The park is bordered by Interstate 295 to the south, Indian Head Highway to the east, and Washington, D.C. to the north. The 289-acre farm part was officially recognized as a historic place in 2003.
Contents
Welcome to Oxon Cove Park!
A Look Back: The Park's History
Before European settlers arrived, the Piscataway Indian people lived and farmed this land along the Potomac River. They were the first to make use of this fertile area.
Early Days and Mount Welby Farm
In 1787, a man named Nicholas Lingan bought 270 acres of land here. This included the spot where the beautiful Mount Welby house now stands, and much of what is Oxon Hill Farm today. The Mount Welby house was likely built while he owned the land.
From the late 1600s to the early 1800s, another part of the farm belonged to John Addison and his family. They grew crops like tobacco, oats, and corn. Sadly, they used enslaved people to do this difficult work. This part of the estate was known as Oxon Hill Manor.
In 1811, Dr. Samuel DeButts from Ireland bought some of Lingan's property. He renamed it Mount Welby to honor his wife's family. He managed a diverse farm, also using enslaved people. After he passed away in 1815, his wife and then his son, John Henry, owned the land. His children sold the land in 1843.
Godding Croft and Changes Over Time
For the rest of the 1800s, the land changed owners many times. Then, in 1891, the United States government bought it. They also bought another 100 acres. This new farm was called Godding Croft. Its purpose was to grow food for patients at a nearby hospital called St. Elizabeths Hospital.
Starting in 1937, a large part of the park's land, both in D.C. and Maryland, was used as a landfill. This means it was a place where trash and other materials were dumped. They filled the area with dirt from the Potomac River, extra soil from building I-295 and the Metrorail, and waste from a water treatment plant. Before this, the northern area had wetlands and open water, and the eastern area had farms and wetlands. The landfill operations continued until 1965.
Life on the farm became harder as cities grew closer and it became more expensive to hire farm workers. In 1938, a new law called the Fair Labor Standards Act made a 40-hour work week common, which increased costs for farms. In the 1940s, Indian Head Highway was built right through the farm. Farming at Godding Croft finally stopped in the 1960s.
In 1959, after a big flood in 1955, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built two concrete structures to help control water flow in the creeks.
The Park Service Takes Over
In 1960, the government started the process of giving the farm to the National Park Service. This was a big step towards protecting the land. In 1961, Prince George's County and the federal government worked together to buy more land next to the farm. They hoped to build an extension of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, but that plan never happened.
In 1967, the National Park Service officially took over the farm. They decided to turn it into a children's animal farm! This is when Oxon Cove Park was truly formed and welcomed its first visitors. For a while, it was even called the Oxon Hill Children's Farm.
From 1969 to 1972, the park area was still used as a landfill, with tons of city waste and ash being dumped. But in July 1972, courts ordered them to stop using it as a landfill.
After the landfill closed, people who rode bikes to work started using the old roads there. They asked for a proper bike path, and in 1978, the Park Service built a multi-use trail for everyone to enjoy.
Over the years, there were many ideas for the park, like a golf course, a community garden, and even a fishing pier. Some ideas, like the golf course, were started but never finished. In 1988, the Park Service made a new plan. This plan focused on creating a farm that looked like it was from the turn of the century, along with community gardens. It also suggested turning the old landfill into playfields, a tree nursery, and a fishing pier, all connected by new roads and trails.
In the 1990s, the Park Service built a 3.9-mile paved trail around the cove. This trail connected to D.C. with a bridge built in the 1980s.
In 2002, the Park Service began checking the old landfill site for any harmful substances. They found low levels of substances usually found in landfills. In 2024, they started the next step to investigate and clean up the site.
In 2015, the town of Forest Heights, Maryland, officially included the Maryland part of the park within its boundaries. This helps them make better plans for the area.
In 2014, there were plans to make the hiker-biker trail even bigger. This would have added a new trail along Oxon Creek and Oxon Cove, connecting to Shepherd Parkway in D.C. It also included an observation deck and benches. While the plan was approved in 2017, it hasn't been completed yet.
However, in 2024 and 2025, the Park Service worked hard to fix up the trail! They resurfaced it and replaced a bridge that had been washed out. This reconnected the Forest Heights community to Oxon Cove Park. They also fixed drainage issues, added new trash cans and benches, removed overgrown plants, and planted new native trees. This important work was paid for by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Exploring Oxon Hill Farm Today
Oxon Hill Farm is a fantastic place to visit! It includes the historic Mount Welby home, a Farm Museum, barns, a stable, and buildings for livestock. You can see farm animals like cows, horses, and chickens up close every day. It's a great way to learn about how a farm works. The Farm Museum building shows off old farm equipment from the late 1800s.
The farm also has many other interesting buildings. There's an old brick root cellar from the 1830s, a horse and pony barn from the 1890s, and a chicken house built around 1991. You can also see a windmill, a hay barn, a feed building, and a dairy barn. From the 1890s to the 1950s, when St. Elizabeth's Hospital owned the land, it was a place called Godding Croft. People needing special care lived and worked on the farm as part of their treatment. Oxon Cove Farm sits on a hill overlooking the Potomac River, not far from National Harbor.
The Historic Mount Welby House
The main house, called "Mount Welby," was built between 1807 and 1811. It's a two-story brick house with beautiful Italianate details. You can even see it from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge! The house was given to the National Park Service in 1959 to protect it from new construction.
Today, the Mount Welby house is a historic house museum. It has exhibits that show what life was like in the early 1800s for the owners and the people who were forced to work on the farm. Other exhibits explain the house's role when it was part of Godding Croft.
Gallery
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NPS Official "Oxon Hill Farm / Oxon Cove Park Fall View," November 2008
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Mt. Welby and Root Cellar, December 2010
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Mt. Welby, December 2010
See also
- Open-air museum
