Rock Creek Forest is a mostly residential neighborhood in Silver Spring / Chevy Chase, Maryland. It is bordered by Chevy Chase to the west, Silver Spring to the east, the border with Washington, D.C., to the south. Maryland route 410 (East West Highway) runs through the neighborhood. The historically African-American neighborhood of Lyttonsville is to the north, while Rock Creek Park and the neighborhoods of North Portal Estates / Colonial Village / Shepherd Park are to the south.
First developed in the 1940s by Sam Eig, a Jewish real estate developer, the neighborhood attracted Jews from Washington, D.C., because Eig did not use the antisemitic covenants that were common in many Washington, D.C., neighborhoods. [1] Because of antisemitism in Washington, D.C., Eig was barred from developing homes in some of DC's most desirable neighborhoods.
But Eig did use anti-Black racial covenants until the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, [2] advertising his whites-only Rock Creek Forest development as "ideally located and sensibly restricted." [3] A typical racially restrictive deed in Rock Creek Forest from 1941 says, "No person of any race other than the Caucasian race shall use or occupy any building or any lot, except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race domiciled with an owner or tenant." [4]
The Rock Creek Shopping Center on Grubb Road is the shopping center for the community. As of 2022, the shopping center includes the Parkway Deli (a Jewish-American delicatessen), the Daily Dish cafe, a Chinese restaurant, a nail salon, a veterinarian, a paint store, and the Corner Market. [5] Rock Creek Forest is home to the Temple Shalom Reform Jewish synagogue, Ohr Kodesh Congregation, St. Paul United Methodist Church, and Christ the King Catholic Church.
Rock Creek Forest is served by Metrobus routes J1 and J2 and Ride On route 1 and 11. Washington Metro service is available on the Red Line in nearby Silver Spring, Forest Glen, and Wheaton. By 2027 or earlier, Purple Line service will be available at the nearby Lyttonsville and 16th Street–Woodside stations.
Kensington is a U.S. town in Montgomery County, Maryland. The population was 2,122 at the 2020 census. Greater Kensington encompasses the entire 20895 ZIP code, with a population of 19,753 in 2020.
Chevy Chase Section Three is a village in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It was organized as a special tax district in 1916 and incorporated as a village in 1982. The population was 802 at the 2020 census.
Forest Glen is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Its population was 6,897 as of the 2020 census.
Chevy Chase is the colloquial name of an area that includes a town, several incorporated villages, and an unincorporated census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland; and one adjoining neighborhood in northwest Washington, D.C. Most of these derive from a late-19th-century effort to create a new suburb that its developer dubbed Chevy Chase after a colonial land patent.
Shepherd Park is a neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. In the years following World War II, restrictive covenants which had prevented Jews and African Americans from purchasing homes in the neighborhood were no longer enforced, and the neighborhood became largely Jewish and African American. Over the past 40 years, the Jewish population of the neighborhood has declined but the neighborhood has continued to support a thriving upper and middle class African American community. The Shepherd Park Citizens Association and Neighbors Inc. led efforts to stem white flight from the neighborhood in the 1960s and 1970s, and it has remained a continuously integrated neighborhood, with very active and inclusive civic groups.
Forest Hills is a residential neighborhood in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., United States, bounded by Connecticut Avenue NW to the west, Rock Creek Park to the east, Chevy Chase to the north, and Tilden Street NW to the south. The neighborhood is frequently referred to as Van Ness because it is served by the Van Ness–UDC station on the Washington Metro's Red Line and is near the Van Ness campus of the University of the District of Columbia (UDC).
Greenwich Forest is a residential community in Bethesda, Maryland, between Old Georgetown Road, and Bradley Boulevard.
Connecticut Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., and suburban Montgomery County, Maryland. It is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House, and the segment south of Florida Avenue was one of the original streets in Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant's plan for Washington. A five-mile segment north of Rock Creek was built in the 1890s by a real-estate developer.
Francis Griffith Newlands was an American politician and land developer who served as United States representative and Senator from Nevada and a member of the Democratic Party.
Woodside Park is a neighborhood located in Silver Spring, Maryland, in the United States.
The Collection is a set of shops and restaurants near the Friendship Heights Metro station on Wisconsin Avenue in Chevy Chase, Maryland, along the Washington, D.C.-Maryland border. The shopping center was developed by the Chevy Chase Land Company, a privately owned development corporation that has owned the land for more than a century.
Mazza Gallerie was an upscale shopping mall which was demolished in 2023 and is currently being rebuilt as a mixed-use development It is located along Wisconsin Avenue in the Friendship Heights neighborhood of northwest Washington, D.C. at the Maryland border. Opened in 1977, it had 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of retail space on three levels, a parking garage, and a direct connection to the Friendship Heights station of the Washington Metro. The last retail business closed in December 2022. The building is to be converted to residential apartments with retail on the ground floor.
Samuel Eig was an American real estate developer active in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
Woodside is a neighborhood located in the Montgomery County, Maryland, area of Silver Spring. Founded in 1889, it is the oldest neighborhood in Silver Spring.
Lyttonsville is a mostly residential neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland. Established in the 1850s, it is among the oldest neighborhoods in Montgomery County and is a notable example of a community created by free African Americans before the Civil War. Today, Lyttonsville is a 68-acre, predominantly residential neighborhood mostly composed of small single-family homes.
Rock Creek Hills is a mostly residential neighborhood of Kensington, Maryland, United States.
Racism in Jewish communities is a source of concern for people of color, particularly for Jews of color. Black Jews, Indigenous Jews, and other Jews of color report that they experience racism from white Jews in many countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Kenya, South Africa, and New Zealand. Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews also report experiences with racism by Ashkenazi Jews. The centering of Ashkenazi Jews is sometimes known as Ashkenormativity. In historically white-dominated countries with a legacy of anti-Black racism, such as the United States and South Africa, racism within the Jewish community often manifests itself as anti-Blackness. In Israel, racism among Israeli Jews often manifests itself as discrimination and prejudice against Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, Ethiopian Jews, African immigrants, and Palestinians. Controversially, some critics describe Zionism as racist or settler colonial in nature.
The Chevy Chase Land Company is a real estate holding and development company based in suburban Washington, D.C.
The history of Antisemitism in Maryland dates to the establishment of the Province of Maryland. Until 1826, the Constitution of Maryland excluded Jewish people from holding public office. Prior to the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, Jewish people were excluded from living in many white Christian neighborhoods throughout Maryland due to the use of restrictive covenants and quotas. Between the 1930s and 1950s, quota systems were instituted at universities in Maryland to limit the number of Jewish people. During the 2010s and 2020s, Maryland has seen an increase in reported incidents of antisemitic vandalism and violence.
The history of Antisemitism in Washington, D.C. dates to the establishment of the district in the 18th century. Antisemitic covenants in real estate were common in the city during the early to mid 1900s. During the 2010s and 2020s, there has been an increase of reported antisemitic incidents in Washington, D.C.