Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

Where Water and Land Touch

In an age old dance land, water, and wind combine at Kenilworth Park, Aquatic Gardens, and Marsh. Sparkling in the sun on a breezy day, this natural area of Anacostia Park has origins in a 1926 act authorizing parks to preserve forests and natural scenery. The park reflects the history of the nation's rivers and wetlands. Come, join the dance.

Waterlilies and lotus may take center stage at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens each summer in the 12 acres of open ponds, but there is a changing pallet of water colors all year long with fall foliage and winter birding.

Paint your life with the excitement of rugby at  Kenilworth Park athletic fields, or with the quiet of a gravel bottom stream.

Kenilworth Marsh is a natural work where raptors punctuate the winter sky and long billed marsh wrens design their summer songs.

Nature & Science

Anacostia Park is a land use mosaic along the Anacostia River.  It is a park of recreation fields, marshes, magnolia bogs, and landscaping.  No where is this more obvious than at the northern end of the park.

Like a time capsule from the past, one finds remnants of Washington's natural past here.  There are plants that fed the local civilization for thousands of years, mink skitter on the islands in winter, and colorful summer butterflies feed on wetland plants preserved here.  By preserving a part of the flood plain of the Anacostia River, Congress authorized a park that serves the public by filtering water, reducing flood damage, and preserving the biological and cultural resources that let us see from the past into the future. 

In setting aside land here for public use Congress saved a garden that is rare in the public domain, as well as habitats for wildlife unusual in a city.  You can learn more about gardening in the Gardener's Corner.