CORRESPONDENCE - 75A SEXLINGER FARMHOUSE

Home Browse Search

only two modern areas of concen- trated recreational and administrative activity. Otherwise, Rock Creek Park Historic District retains a high degree of integrity that well reflects the development of this public landscape between 1791 and 1941.. Andrew Ellicott's 1791 survey recorded the topography of the property and shows the location of the District of Columbia boundary at the northwest comer of the park. Verbal boundary description: The boundary of Rock Creek Park Historic District is shown as the bold black line on the accompa- nying map entitled "Rock Creek Park Historic District, 1990." This tract of land is legally defined as Reservation 339. Boundary justification: The boundaries of this district were determined by both legal and histori- cal considerations. Reservation 339 was the land set aside by Congress as Rock Creek Park in 1890 with ap- proximately 100 acres of related boundary rectifications and additions. The Piney Branch Parkway was acquired by the government in 1907 and was extended in the 1920s. It was included in this district because it is legally a part of Reservation 339. Furthermore, there is also historical justification for the parkway's inclu- sion in Rock Creek Park Historic District because this land area was surveyed and included in the 1918 Olmsted comprehensive plan for Rock Creek Park. The plan was prepared in 1917 -1918 by the famous Brookline, Massachusetts, landscape architecture firm of Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and his half- brother John C. Olmsted. Their plan for Rock Creek Park was adopted in 1919 and has remained a vital management document ever since. As an administrative unit, Rock Creek Park presently contains many other urban parks that are not con- tiguous to Reservation 339, including the Rock Creek and Potomac Park- way, the Normanstone Parkway, and the Soapstone and Klingle valleys. These areas were acquired and integrated into Washington's park system between 1913 and 1950 as access routes and a means of preserv- ing the watershed of the Rock Creek valley. Although the Melvin Hazen Park and Pinehurst Parkway are contiguous to Rock Creek Park, they were acquired and consolidated as park land within the recent past and do not share the Piney Branch Parkway's early legal or historical associations to Reservation 339. 24 Rock Creek Park Historic District, Washington, D.C.. Plan map showing the National Register boundaries. Pecos National Historical Park, San Miguel County, New Mexico, is strategically located at the mountain gateway between the Southern Great Plains And the Rio Grande valley. The boundaries of the 384.8 -acre archeo- logical district are coterminous with Pecos National Historical Park. The history of the upper Pecos River valley, as represented by the archeo- logical and historic sites within the archeological district, demonstrates a succession of attempts to exploit the natural and cultural resources of the Southwest. The 96 archeological sites within the property represent a complex of pueblos inhabited by ancestors of the Pecos Indians from A.D. 800 to 1838 and a series of Spanish Franciscan mission churches and secular buildings constructed during the 17th and 18th centuries. Adolph Bandelier mapped ruins at Pecos in 1881, and archeologists including Edgar Hewett, Kenneth Chapman, AY Kidder, Stanley Stubbs, and Bruce Ellis conducted investigations at various sites on the property during the first half of the 20th century. Verbal boundary description: Pecos National Historical Park is surrounded by private ranch holdings, almost all of which are owned by the Fogelsons. The nom- inated district boundaries are coterminous with the National Historical Park boundaries. Boundary justification: Pecos National Histori- Rock Creek Park Historic District, Washington, D.C. Southeast view of Boulder Bridge (ca. 1901-1902). (William Bushong)