Fort Washington Park
Maryland
Tonight
🌗 34% moon
6.7 h fully dark
Crowds
low
Open today
Open
Fort Washington Historic Fort: closed Nov 26 – Nov 26; Fort Washington Historic Fort: closed Dec 25 – Dec 25; Fort Washington Historic Fort: closed Jan 1 – Jan 1; Fort Washington Park Gated Areas: closed Nov 26 – Nov 26; Fort Washington Park Gated Areas: closed Dec 25 – Dec 25; Fort Washington Park Gated Areas: closed Jan 1 – Jan 1
Entrance
Free entry
Lighthouse Area Closed until June 30, 2026
The area around the Fort Washington Lighthouse is closed until June 30, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. as construction continues to rehabilitate the historic lighthouse.
Official NPS alert →Built to defend the river approach to Washington, DC, Fort Washington has stood sentry for over 200 years. As technologies advanced, so did Fort Washington from the brick and stone of the 19th century to the concrete and steel of the 20th century.
Activities
Topics
No entrance fee.
Hours & seasons
Open daily, 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
⚠ Fort Washington Historic Fort: closed Nov 26 – Nov 26; Fort Washington Historic Fort: closed Dec 25 – Dec 25; Fort Washington Historic Fort: closed Jan 1 – Jan 1; Fort Washington Park Gated Areas: closed Nov 26 – Nov 26; Fort Washington Park Gated Areas: closed Dec 25 – Dec 25; Fort Washington Park Gated Areas: closed Jan 1 – Jan 1
Generally open:
winterspringsummerfallHours are reported by the park — verify before you go.
📞 771-208-1555
✉ fowa_visitorservices@nps.govConditions
Quietest months (fewer crowds): Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec
Typical crowds: low
Weather now: ☁️ Overcast, 85°F
☁️ 92°/77°
🌧️ 93°/74°
🌦️ 96°/70°
Typical monthly recreation visits · NPS avg 2023–2025 — orange months are the quietest by crowds.
Quietest months
Relative crowds by month — lighter is quieter; ringed months are the calmest by crowds.
Jan
27%
Feb
30%
Mar
62%
Apr
88%
May
90%
Jun
99%
Jul
100%
Aug
95%
Sep
78%
Oct
47%
Nov
37%
Dec
35%
Log a sky reading
Measured the sky with an SQM meter or app? Add your reading (16 = city glow … 22 = pristine). Opt in under “Travelers like you” to share it on the community leaderboard.
Things to do
Junior Ranger Programs at National Capital Parks - East
Collect all the National Capital Parks - East Passport Stamps
Watch an Artillery Demonstration at Fort Washington Park · <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-12"> <div class="Component text-content-size text-content-style"> <p>The cannon is fired on the hour at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm. Each demonstration takes about 15 minutes.</p> </div> </div> </div>
Birding at Fort Washington Park
Bicycle Smallwood State Park to Oxon Cove Park · 44 mi
Visitor centers
Fort Washington Park Visitor Center
Accessibility
39 audio-described place(s)
Reported by the park — verify before you go.
Not an official safety source — always defer to NPS.gov and rangers for life-safety decisions.
By the numbers
A visual read on Fort Washington Park — its character, trails, sky, and weather.
Park fingerprint
How this park scores across the dimensions travelers care about.
Trail difficulty
Difficulty mix across this park's trails.
3-day forecast
Daily high and low temperatures (°F).
Passport stamps
Mark the stamps you've collected — they show in your memory and along your routes.
🎫 Fort Washington Park Visitor Center
Places to see
Battery Decatur
audio
Battery Emory
audio
Battery Humphreys
audio
Battery James Many
audio
Battery Meigs
audio
Battery Smith
audio
Battery White
audio
Battery Wilkin
audio
Counterscarp Gallery
audio
Enlisted Men's Barracks
audio
Fort Washington
audio
Fort Washington Lighthouse
audioAudio & media
🎧
🎬
🖼
Learn more
Introducing the national and regional recipients of the 2014 Freeman Tilden Awards, given in recognition of new and innovative programs in interpretation.
A cache of objects found in an attic of the Enlisted Men’s Barracks at Fort Washington has the potential to enlarge our understanding of living conditions at the fort during and after the Civil War.
Acoustic and mist netting in Fort Washington and Piscataway Park.
American beech (Fagus grandifolia), the most common tree species in National Capital Area parks, is currently facing the emerging threat of Beech Leaf Disease (BLD).
Learn about the Brood X periodical cicadas that emerged in 2021 throughout the Mid-Atlantic U.S.
Learn about Christmas berry (Photinia villosa), an invasive shrub considered an early detection rapid response species in the greater Washington, DC region in 2024.
Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nesting on national park and associated lands in the Chesapeake Bay are doing well. A recent study shows their numbers, once crippled by the effects of the insecticide DDT and other pollutants, are now growing. And juvenile eagles screened for pollutants generally showed low and undetectable exposure levels.
From January through April, 2023, the National Capital Region (NCR) hosted a three-member, Appalachian Conservation Corps (ACC) crew of wildland firefighters. This crew, however, was unique: all three members were veterans.
How Fort Washington Park connects
This park's activities, topics, location, and on-the-ground places — one hop in the graph. Drag to explore; click an activity, topic, or related park to follow it.
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