Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy

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 successful female landscape architect. 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 as Dumbarton Oaks Park. Today the Park is at an environmental tipping point. Invasive plants have overrun the woods and meadows, stonework crumbles, and water runoff into the valley erodes the hillsides, undermines the grand old trees, silts up the stream and ponds, and undercuts the decorative waterfalls. Founded in 2011, Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy, in partnership with the National Park Service, is tackling these significant and costly challenges to restore, promote, and maintain the Park for current and future generations.