Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in northeast Washington, D.C., near the Maryland border, combines cultivated waterlily and lotus ponds with Kenilworth Marsh, the city’s largest remaining tidal marsh. The site began in the 1880s when Civil War veteran Walter B. Shaw planted wild waterlilies on land he bought and opened it in 1912 as the W.B. Shaw Lily Ponds. After his death, Helen Shaw Fowler helped save the gardens from dredging threats, and Congress purchased them in 1938 for a public park. The broader landscape also reflects both environmental damage along the Anacostia and later restoration, while supporting rich urban wildlife habitat.

Washington, District of Columbia · USA