This being Thanksgiving day and all, it seems entirely appropriate to mention the fact that Washington, DC is home to a small and little known neighborhood known as 
Turkey Thicket. I have been driving through it fairly regularly for the past 35 years not knowing it was there. In fact, few people other than those who call it home are aware of it. It is actually a part of the larger University Heights neighborhood in the Brookland section of northeast DC. I have yet to explore it on foot, something I plan to do in the very near future. But I want to recognize it here today.
I am still trying to find out how this neighborhood got its name as there has been neither a thicket nor any turkeys in these environs in even the farthest distant memory. But this is what I do know. Up until the late 19th century, this area was still hilly woodland and farms where Washington’s elite would come to escape the heat and humidity of the city’s riverside precincts. The area now known informally as Turkey Thicket was originally part of the Bellair plantation belonging to Colonel Jehiel Brooks (1797-1886) who settled here in the late 1830s following his tenure as governor of the Red River Indian Agency in Louisiana. In 1861, as the Southern secession tore this country apart, the federal government erected a number of earthen and brick fortifications
around Washington. One of these, Fort Bunker Hill, was constructed by the 11th Massachusetts Infantry on Brooks’ property, along the old Bladensburg-Georgetown road (later Bunker Hill Road and now Michigan Avenue). This drew the ire of the Colonel who was a dyed-in-the-wool Confederate sympathizer, and he unsuccessfully challenged the government to remove it. The fort was later manned by members of the 11th Vermont Infantry whose encampment was situated in Turkey Thicket, less than a half mile to the northwest.
The city of Washington began to expand following the war. The Catholic University of America, situated immediately to the west of Turkey Thicket and the Brooks plantation, opened its doors in 1887. Brooks’ son sold the plantation that same year to men who would later develop Brookland.
The area generally known as Turkey Thicket was still an open field in the 1930s as new homes and neighborhoods sprouted nearby. The site of Fort Bunker Hill was improved into a park by the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps and later taken over by the National Park Service. A clubhouse was eventual constructed in the nearby field in 1948, and it was replaced in 2003 by the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center and Playground. This is the only reference to Turkey Thicket you will on a current map of Washington, DC.
I shall return to this area in the near future as part of my exploration of Brookland, the section of the city closet to where I reside just across the border in Maryland. It has developed its own unique history over the past century.
Turkey Thicket. I have been driving through it fairly regularly for the past 35 years not knowing it was there. In fact, few people other than those who call it home are aware of it. It is actually a part of the larger University Heights neighborhood in the Brookland section of northeast DC. I have yet to explore it on foot, something I plan to do in the very near future. But I want to recognize it here today.I am still trying to find out how this neighborhood got its name as there has been neither a thicket nor any turkeys in these environs in even the farthest distant memory. But this is what I do know. Up until the late 19th century, this area was still hilly woodland and farms where Washington’s elite would come to escape the heat and humidity of the city’s riverside precincts. The area now known informally as Turkey Thicket was originally part of the Bellair plantation belonging to Colonel Jehiel Brooks (1797-1886) who settled here in the late 1830s following his tenure as governor of the Red River Indian Agency in Louisiana. In 1861, as the Southern secession tore this country apart, the federal government erected a number of earthen and brick fortifications
around Washington. One of these, Fort Bunker Hill, was constructed by the 11th Massachusetts Infantry on Brooks’ property, along the old Bladensburg-Georgetown road (later Bunker Hill Road and now Michigan Avenue). This drew the ire of the Colonel who was a dyed-in-the-wool Confederate sympathizer, and he unsuccessfully challenged the government to remove it. The fort was later manned by members of the 11th Vermont Infantry whose encampment was situated in Turkey Thicket, less than a half mile to the northwest.The city of Washington began to expand following the war. The Catholic University of America, situated immediately to the west of Turkey Thicket and the Brooks plantation, opened its doors in 1887. Brooks’ son sold the plantation that same year to men who would later develop Brookland.
The area generally known as Turkey Thicket was still an open field in the 1930s as new homes and neighborhoods sprouted nearby. The site of Fort Bunker Hill was improved into a park by the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps and later taken over by the National Park Service. A clubhouse was eventual constructed in the nearby field in 1948, and it was replaced in 2003 by the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center and Playground. This is the only reference to Turkey Thicket you will on a current map of Washington, DC.
I shall return to this area in the near future as part of my exploration of Brookland, the section of the city closet to where I reside just across the border in Maryland. It has developed its own unique history over the past century.
When I played at Turkey Thicket in the mid 1950s, the clubhouse had a set of steps which led to the second floor. At the top of the steps on the 2nd floor landing was a Coca-Cola machine which dispensed Coke in a paper cup for 5-cents. I rarely had a nickel to my name, but I was fascinated by the machine which dropped a paper cup and then filled it up with soda.
ReplyDeleteAs a little girl in the 1970s, my grandfather worked the apartments under Grady Management at the time, around Turkey Thicket. I played on those grounds alot and what I remembered the most is the park having two real fire trucks and an ambulance. These were the biggest attractions that had every childs attention. I miss seeing those there. I miss what represented unique history.
ReplyDeleteAs a little girl in the 1970s, my grandfather worked the apartments under Grady Management at the time, around Turkey Thicket. I played on those grounds alot and what I remembered the most is the park having two real fire trucks and an ambulance. These were the biggest attractions that had every childs attention. I miss seeing those there. I miss what represented unique history.
ReplyDeleteThis was the spot to play everything growing up. I played tennis, basketball, baseball, football, table tennis and games in the clubhouse in the 60's and 70's.
ReplyDelete