By Joe Lapp For much of my life, my father was the pastor of an Amish-Mennonite church on Douglas Street, in the neighborhood just outside the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. Feeling called to spread the love of the Christian god, my parents and other white volunteers from Pennsylvania and the Midwest moved to this Black community...
By Sheena Foster Hello Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, As a National Park Service alumna, nothing gives me greater joy and pleasure than escaping the hustle and bustle of the city and entering into the urban oasis of the natural and built environment at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. The biodiversity of the water lilies, lotuses, birds, frogs...
By Shannah Cumberbatch Many park visitors come to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens for birding, hiking, and photography. However, the vast majority of visitors stop by the Gardens during the summer months to witness the floral spectacular of the lotus and water lilies in peak bloom. Let’s learn about some of the lotus and water lily...
By Megan Singleton I began at Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in January 2020, fresh out of college and eager to learn as an AmeriCorps VISTA. Little did I know, things would change drastically for the world in a matter of two short months. When the world shut down in March, so too did my...
By Megan Singleton Every year the ponds at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens flood with fragrant blooms of towering lotus and delicate water lilies in the summer and every year we see a pilgrimage of Asian and Asian American friends at the park to enjoy the flowers so sacred in their cultures. The lotus has many symbolic...
Meet Ranger Stephanie! Stephanie is part of the amazing team of rangers at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens who keep this beloved park well-maintained and offer their vast knowledge to all who visit. In recognition of Women’s History Month, we spoke with Stephanie about her experience as a woman in the National Park Service. Stephanie is extremely...
More than ten years ago, when I walked down the gravel path into Kenilworth Aquatic Garden as the first paid staff member for Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens (FoKAG), I was overcome with a sense of peace and possibility. I was where I belonged. You know the feeling: the moment when the daily hustle and...
We say goodbye to five fantastic board members this year and welcome four new ones in their place. Please join me in celebrating the time of Charles Taylor, Kamaile Turcan, Elizabeth Curwen, Chanda Washington and Irfana Jetha Noorani as they step down from the board of directors for Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. Then join...
Written by Tina O’Connell This year the annual National Park Friends Alliance Meeting convened in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a town nestled at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Friends of the Smokies hosted the conference in partnership with the National Park Service, the National Park Foundation and the Steering Committee of the...
Written by Shannah Cumberbatch The Anacostia Community Museum is working on an oral history project where eight high school students living in the Anacostia Park community were invited to explore the power of documenting their communities’ history through the lens of Anacostia Park and the Anacostia River. The students have been meeting with and interviewing...
