Recreation in Washington

The Washington region has many well-known parks and recreational areas.

The Mall is Washington’s most prominent park, and it hosts many special demonstrations and events.

Nearby East and West Potomac parks, formed from reclaimed land along the Potomac River, provide space for a range of recreational activities, including rugby, softball, volleyball, and polo.

The Ellipse, between the White House and the Washington Monument, is a large public park that contains the Zero Milestone, from which distances are measured on all national highways that pass through Washington.

Within the city, Rock Creek Park, which stretches from downtown to the Maryland border, is home to the National Zoological Park.

The National Arboretum is in northeast Washington. Also, the intersection of Washington’s broad diagonal avenues with other streets laid out on a straight grid provides a number of small parks.

Professional sports are important in Washington. For many years Griffith Stadium in LeDroit Park hosted two baseball teams, the national Negro League’s Homestead Grays and the American League’s Washington Senators.

Integration of the major leagues doomed the Grays, and poor fan support resulted in a franchise move for the Senators.

Another team that left the city was the Washington Redskins professional football team, which moved to Prince George’s County, Maryland, in 1997.

As that team moved from city to suburb, however, the region’s professional hockey team, the Washington Capitals, and basketball team, the Washington Wizards, returned downtown after spending nearly a generation in the Maryland suburbs.

The Capitals and the Wizards play in a new sports and entertainment complex, the MCI Center, which opened in December 1997.

The Center has helped to revitalize the downtown area. The D.C. United soccer team, based in Washington since 1996, plays in the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium.

In 2005 major league baseball returned to the city when the ailing Montréal Expos franchise became the Washington Nationals, also making RFK Stadium its home field.