Woodside Park is a neighborhood located in Silver Spring,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Early history

Woodside Park began as the Alton Farm, country estate of

Crosby Stuart Noyes Crosby Stuart Noyes (February 16, 1825 – February 21, 1908) was the publisher of the ''Washington Evening Star''. Biography Noyes was born on February 16, 1825, in Minot, Maine, USA, and is most known for publishing the ''Washington Evenin ...

, a prominent Washingtonian and owner of the ''

Washington Evening Star ''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the Washington ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday Star ...

'' newspaper. Upon his death in 1908, his will gave the land to his children with a provision that his widow could live on the estate until her death. She survived until 1914. The Noyes children eventually sold the property to the Woodside Development Corporation in 1922. The corporation divided the farm into lots of approximately one acre each, though most original lots were later subdivided into half acre or smaller parcels. Between the 1920s and the 1960s, racially restrictive covenants were used in Woodside Park to exclude African-Americans. The racial covenants prohibited homeowners from selling or leasing their property to "any one of a race whose death rate is at a higher percentage than the white race." In practice, such euphemistic restrictions were harshly enacted against Black Americans specifically. Restrictions against other minority groups, such as

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and Asians, were not given legal standing in deeds in Woodside Park, but such deeds were enforced in other Maryland suburbs.

Location

Woodside Park is located just north of downtown of Silver Spring, one of the oldest suburbs of

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. Its boundaries are

Georgia Avenue Georgia Avenue is a major north-south artery in Northwest Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland. Within the District of Columbia and a short distance in Silver Spring, Maryland, Georgia Avenue is also U.S. Route 29. Both Howard Univers ...

( State Route 97) on the west, Spring Street to the South, Colesville Road (

US Route 29 U.S. Route 29 (US 29) is a north–south United States highway that runs for from Pensacola, Florida to the western suburbs of Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland in the Southern United States, connecting the Florida Panhandle to the Baltimore-Was ...

) to the east, and Dale Drive and Columbia Boulevard on the north. It also includes one block of Clement Road north of Dale Drive and Clement Place. It borders the neighborhoods of Woodside, Woodside Forest, North Woodside, and Seven Oaks-Evanswood. It also shares a boundary with the Silver Spring business district. Woodside Park, Maryland, Map

The park

Woodside Park is characterized by its park-like setting, including roads that followed the contours of the land, and not a grid, as well as a number of streams. Most of these streams, however, have been moved underground into pipes. The styles of homes in the neighborhood vary, with examples of most of the styles of residential architecture popular through the 20th century. The neighborhood maintains the Woodside Park Civic Association (WPCA), which publishes a monthly newsletter, called ''The Vo!ce'' from September through June. It also sponsors an "

Oktoberfest The Oktoberfest (; bar, Wiesn, Oktobafest) is the world's largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or ...

" and

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

with

pumpkin carving A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin or a root vegetable such as a rutabaga or turnip. Jack-o'-lanterns are associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes from the reported phenomen ...

and costumes in October, as well as an annual picnic in June. Woodside Park is home to an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

community, centered around the Woodside Synagogue Ahavas Torah (WSAT) located on Georgia Avenue. The Woodside Synagogue is an Orthodox synagogue dating from 1974. All of the Woodside Park neighborhood is located within the Shepherd Park/Woodside Community

Eruv An eruv (; he, עירוב, , also transliterated as eiruv or erub, plural: eruvin or eruvim) is a ritual halakhic enclosure made for the purpose of allowing activities which are normally prohibited on Shabbat (due to the prohibition of ''ho ...

, which encompasses most of incorporated Silver Spring and parts of Northwest DC.

Notes

References

Woodside Park History Page
{{Silver Spring, Maryland Jews and Judaism in Silver Spring, Maryland Neighborhoods in Montgomery County, Maryland Orthodox Jewish communities Orthodox Judaism in Maryland Silver Spring, Maryland (CDP)