Sandwiched between Silver Spring and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Northwest Washington neighborhood of Shepherd Park has an urban/suburban vibe with a rich political and civic heritage that carries through today.
The enclave was founded by Alexander “Boss” Shepherd, Washington’s territorial governor. Shortly before taking office in 1868, he built a Second Empire Victorian near the corner of Geranium and 13th streets. The three-sided neighborhood is now bounded by Eastern Avenue to the north, Alaska Avenue to the south and 16th Street to the west.
While Boss Shepherd is equated with machine politics, he also supported visionary social and political reforms, including integrating public schools, suffrage for women and blacks, and representation in Congress for the District of Columbia. Those reforms spilled over into the Shepherd Park neighborhood, making it one of the first areas where both blacks and whites purchased homes. The Shepherd Park Citizens Association and Neighbors Inc. were instrumental in fighting racial blockbusting in the 1960s and 1970s, and the area today is multiracial and multicultural.
“The neighborhood is very open and accepting of lots of different types of people,” according to Jason Keene, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 10 years.
And Shepherd Park residents continue to be keenly interested in politics — particularly the recent mayoral primary. “Just about everyone in the neighborhood votes. Residents here take civic engagement very seriously,” Keene said.
Politics aside, Shepherd Park is a stable neighborhood with long-term residents that is attracting young families, said Shari Tullberg, a real estate agent with Long & Foster. “There’s a lot [in Shepherd Park] to attract homebuyers,” she said.
Proximity to both the Silver Spring Metro and to downtown Silver Spring is a draw, local Josh Rogin said. “This neighborhood is kind of a mixture of urban/suburban, where we have some of the attributes of an urban environment, [such as] close access to the Metro and houses close to each other. Plus, you can walk to downtown Silver Spring. But at the same time you have a little more room between single-family homes,” he said.
He said the area is primed for growth. “There’s going to be a boom of young families in Shepherd Park in years to come because the Shepherd Park real estate market is undervalued right now,” he said.
“It definitely has the feel of suburbia within an urban environment,” Marie Woodward-Qardes said. “I walk about 100 feet from my house and I’m in Rock Creek Park. Deer go into my backyard.”
