Shepherd Park

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Map of Washington, D.C., with Shepherd Park highlighted in red

Shepherd Park is a neighorhood in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. in the United States.

[edit] Borders

The northern line of the neighborhood is defined by Eastern Ave, NW, which divides Shepherd Park from Silver Spring, Maryland. The neighborhood is further bounded at the south by Walter Reed Hospital, at the east by Georgia Avenue, NW, and the west by 16th Street, NW.

If you head out of the city, traveling north on 16th Street, just before you get to the DC-Maryland border you'll notice 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.

Shepherd Park is bounded to the south by the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, to the east by 16th Street, to the west by Georgia Avenue, and to the north by Eastern Avenue, which also serves as the DC-MD borderline.

Georgia Avenue is the only commercial corridor near the neighborhood.

Local architecture: Colonials (both traditional and Spanish style), Ramblers, Tudors, Farmhouses, Spilt-levels, and a few Sears Bungalows.

[edit] 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. Unfortunately, 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.