Dumbarton House
Washington, DC
New to Open Days
Dumbarton House has been called one of the finest examples of Federal period architecture in America and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1799 on the heights of Georgetown, Dumbarton House stood witness to the birth of the American Republic as the government settled into the new Federal City. Joseph Nourse, first Register of the U.S. Treasury, resided here from 1804 to 1813. In 1928, The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America (NSCDA.org) purchased the property as its national headquarters and opened the museum to the public four years later. Today, Dumbarton House offers visitors a clear view of what life was like in the earliest days of our nation’s capital.
As much as the house itself, the grounds at Dumbarton House tell the story of early life in the nation’s capital. In the early nineteenth century when Joseph Nourse and his family called Dumbarton House home, the house was surrounded by eight acres of property. In 1915, as plans to bridge the Rock Creek and join the Washington and Georgetown sections of Q Street took shape, it was determined that Dumbarton House would either have to be moved or demolished. Today, in its new location, Dumbarton House sits on 1.2 acres of gardens and terraces. The landscaping has evolved over the years, with some additions dating to when the house was moved and others made more recently.
The East Park is a landscaped area just to the east of the house itself which is open to the public. The park was designed by noted landscape architect M. Meade Palmer. Palmer’s other notable landscape designs in the area include Bull Run Regional Park in Manassas and especially the Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Grove in Lady Bird Johnson Park on the Potomac River.
Dumbarton House Advisory Committee member Guy Williams of DCA Landscape Architects, Inc., designed the herb garden garden and researched which plants would be appropriate for the recreation of a 19th-century herb garden. The result is a landscaped herb garden with over 40 different plants, herbs, and flowers which in the 18th and 19th centuries were used in everything from herbal teas to soaps and perfumes. A list of all the plants found in our herb garden can be found on the Dumbarton House website.
Directions: Dupont Circle Station (Red Line) – Q Street exit, the house is approximately six blocks west on Q ST, NW,a short walk or ride on the D2 or D6 bus lines. For more information about Metrorail and maps, the WMATA website.
Hours: February through December, Tuesdays through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Admission: $10 general admission, free to members.
Washington, DC, 20007