Gravelly Point is an area within the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

George Washington Memorial Parkway The George Washington Memorial Parkway, colloquially the G.W. Parkway, is a parkway that runs along the south bank of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, Virginia, northwest to McLean, Virginia, and is maintained by the National Park Service ( ...

Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

, in the United States. It is located on the west side of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augu ...

, north of Roaches Run and

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport , sometimes referred to colloquially as National Airport, Washington National, Reagan National Airport, DCA, Reagan, or simply National, is an international airport in Arlington County, Virginia, across ...

. The paved

Mount Vernon Trail The Mount Vernon Trail (MVT) is a long shared use path that travels along the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Northern Virginia between Rosslyn and George Washington's home at Mount Vernon. The trail connects the easternmost portions of ...

travels through the area. A rugby pitch hosts high school rugby matches. The area also has a

boat launch A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...

and a

Capital Bikeshare Capital Bikeshare (also abbreviated CaBi) is a bicycle-sharing system which serves Washington, D.C.; Arlington County, Virginia; the cities of Alexandria, Virginia and Falls Church, Virginia; Montgomery County, Maryland and Fairfax County, Vir ...

dock. Gravelly Point is a popular spot for plane spotters and others to watch planes take off and land from Reagan National Airport. Airplanes pass between 100 and 200 feet overhead when landing on Runway 19 or taking off from Runway 1. Gravelly Point airplane couple

History

In 1746, a house and property near Gravelly Point were owned by Gerrard Alexander, whose family were the namesakes of

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

. In 1778, the house was part of a slave-tilled farm named Abingdon, and was purchased by

John Parke Custis John Parke Custis (November 27, 1754 – November 5, 1781) was an American planter. He was a son of Martha Washington and stepson of George Washington. Childhood A son of Daniel Parke Custis, a wealthy planter with nearly three hundred enslave ...

, the son of

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 21, 1731 — May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington served as the inaugural ...

and stepson of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

. Martha Washington's granddaughter

Eleanor Parke Custis Eleanor Parke Custis may refer to: * Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (1779–1854), known as Nelly, step-granddaughter of George Washington * Eleanor Parke Custis (artist) (1897–1983), American painter and photographer {{disambig ...

was later born on the farm. In 1930, a house at Abingdon was destroyed by fire and its ruins stabilized.

Proposed renaming

Since 2016, Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA-10) has introduced four unsuccessful bills in the United States House of Representatives to rename Gravelly Point as Nancy Reagan Memorial Park. H.R. 5457, introduced in 2016, was referred by the

House Committee on Natural Resources The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources or Natural Resources Committee (often referred to as simply Resources) is a Congressional committee of the United States House of Representatives. Originally called the Committee on Interior and Ins ...

to a subcommittee and proceeded no further. H.R. 553, introduced in 2017, received approval from the Natural Resources Committee on January 17, 2018, in a

party-line vote A party-line vote in a deliberative assembly (such as a constituent assembly, parliament, or legislature) is a vote in which a substantial majority of members of a political party vote the same way (usually in opposition to the other political ...

but saw no further action. H.R. 308, introduced in 2019, was referred by the Natural Resources Committee to a subcommittee which took no further action. H.R. 4364, introduced in 2021, was referred by the Natural Resources Committee to a subcommittee and has seen no further action .. Retrieved October 8, 2022.

External links

George Washington Memorial Parkway

BikeWashington.org directions on how to access Gravelly Point via bicycle

References

George Washington Memorial Parkway Parks in Arlington County, Virginia Potomac River Virginia municipal and county parks Rugby union stadiums in Washington, D.C. {{ArlingtonCountyVA-geo-stub