The park is a resource for environmental studies, wildlife observing, fishing, and other recreational activities made possible by easy access to the Potomac River. Fourteen buildings and two structures are located in the historic district and associated with the property's sequential development as a plantation, an institutional agricultural complex, and a farm museum.
It is bounded by Interstate 295 on the south, Indian Head Highway on the east and the District of Columbia on the north.[2]
Before European settlers arrived, the Piscataway Indian people farmed the land along the Potomac River in the area.
In 1787, Nicholas Lingan purchased 270 acres of property that included the land where Oxon Hill Manor sits and much of Oxon Hill Farm. And it was likely during his ownership that Mount Welby house was built.[3]
From the late 17th century to the early 19th century, another part of the farm was owned by John Addison and his descendants who grew tobacco, oats and corn on the land using enslaved people to do so. Part of the estate was known as Oxon Hill Manor at the time.
In 1811, Dr. Samuel DeButts, a native of Ireland bought part of the Addison property and renamed it Mount Welby in honor of his wife's family and he held onto the land until 1843 when his heirs sold it. He oversaw a diversified farm through the practice of slavery.[4]
During the rest of the 19th century the land changed hands many times until the federal government bought it, and an adjoining 100 acres, in 1891 as a farm to provide food for patients at nearby St. Elizabeths Hospital.
In 1937 the District of Columbia began using much of the park's land outside of the farm, on both the DC and Maryland sections, as a disposal area and landfill. They filled the site with dredged sediments from Oxon Cove and the Potomac River channel, excess soil and construction materials from the construction of I-295 and the Metrorail system, and sludge/solids from the nearby Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant.[5] Prior to the landfill operations, the northern area consisted of undeveloped wetlands and open water known as Oxon Bay, and the eastern area consisted of agricultural fields and wetlands.
Farming ended in the 1950s and the land was then transferred to the NPS in 1958, under the Capper-Cramton Act of 1930, for educational purposes. In 1962, NPS purchased additional land on the south end of the park from the estate of William T. Sellner.[3]
In 1967 Oxon Cove Park was formed and welcomed its first visitors. For some time it was known as the Oxon Hill Children's Farm.[6]
In 1969, the District transitioned landfilling operations from the Kenilworth Park Landfill to the Oxon Cove Landfill. From October 1969 to June 1972, the District disposed of approximately 1,500,000 tons of municipal waste and 275,000 tons of incinerator ash in the Park. During this time, the District also disposed of sludge generated at the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant. They stopped using it as landfill, after they were ordered by the courts to stop, in early July 1972.[7][8][9]
In 1970 NPS commissioned a plan that recommended transforming the landfill and farm into a golf course with 4 holes in DC and 14 in Maryland with a driving range, a children's farm, a youth hostel, day camp, scenic overlook, amphitheater, plant nursery and two marinas.[2] Shortly after the dump was closed NPS began construction of the golf course, which included covering it in a waste, wood chips and grass mixture but it was paused while they considered using part of the DC land to dump sludge compost for the Blue Plains Water Treatment facility.[10] During this time the DC portion of the park was considered for a swamp gas well, a women's prison and an urban farm while the land sat idle.[11][12][13][14]
The golf course was never completed and in 1988 NPS created a new plan that recommended creating a turn of the century farm and a community garden in the farm section and converting the landfill to playfields, a DC tree nursery, a fishing pier and boat ramp all accessibly by a new access road and trails and it removed the golf course from the plan.[15][16][2]
In the 1990s the Park service built a 3.9 mile paved trail around the park and connected to DC via a bridge across Oxon Creek built in the 1980s.[17]
In 2002, NPS initiated environmental investigations of the landfill site pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The first phase of that investigation indicated that the soil, groundwater, and sediments are impacted by relatively low concentrations of hazardous substances typically found in municipal waste landfills and sludges generated from wastewater treatment plants. In 2024, NPS began the next step of the CERCLA process called the remedial investigation.[18]
In 2015, the town of Forest Heights, MD annexed the Maryland part of the park to connect the town to its publicly owned spaces so it can make better planning decisions.[19]
Oxon Hill Farm
The Oxon Hill Farm includes the Mount Welby home, Farm Museum, barns, a stable, feed building, livestock buildings and a visitor activity barn. Farm animals include cows, horses and chickens. Visitors can view the animals up close daily and learn about the workings of a farm. The Farm Museum building displays historical farm equipment dating from the late 19th century.
The district also includes a hexagonal frame outbuilding; c. 1830 brick root cellar; c. 1973 frame hog house; c. 1890 frame horse and pony barn; c. 1991 frame chicken house; c. 1970 steel-frame implement shed; c. 1980 frame visitor barn; c. 1970 steel-frame windmill; c. 1940 frame hay barn; c. 1890 frame feed building; c. 1830 brick stable; c. 1970 frame tool shed; c. 1980 frame "sorghum sirip" shed; and a c. 1980 frame dairy barn, and c. 1940 tile silo. From the 1890s to 1950s, under the ownership of St. Elizabeth's Hospital, the site was used as a therapeutic treatment center for the mentally ill known as Godding Croft. The Oxon Cove Farm historic district is located on the crest of a ridge overlooking the Potomac River, north of I-95 and very close to National Harbor.[20]
Mount Welby
The principal dwelling, known as "Mount Welby," is a c. 1807–1811 two-story three-bay brick structure laid in Flemish bond with Italianate detailing and sheltered by a shed roof, and visible to motorists crossing the interstate Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The house was built by Irish immigrant Dr. Samuel DeButts. It was entrusted to the National Park Service in 1959 in order to protect its resources from increased development.[21] From 1891 to 1950, the property was used as a therapeutic farm by St. Elizabeths Hospital, and was known as Godding Croft.
The house is operated as a historic house museum, with exhibits about period life in the early 19th century for the owners and slaves on the plantation. Other exhibits focus on the home's role at Godding Croft.
Gallery
NPS Official "Oxon Hill Farm / Oxon Cove Park Fall View," November 2008
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