Meridian Hill Park might be one of the most beautiful and under-appreciated places in Washington DC. The residents who know and love it attest to its beauty, its peaceful nature and its unique charm.

Located in Columbia Heights, Meridian Hill Park features 12 acres of gorgeous architecture and elaborate design. It just might be the most enchanting place in Washington DC.

Meridian Hill is named so because it sits on the exact longitude of the original District of Columbia milestone marker. The grounds were purchased by the US government in 1910.

Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park, was designed and built between 1912 and 1940. Architects George Brunap and Horace Peaslee designed the park to look and feel like a Italian style garden.

One of the biggest draws of Meridian Hill Park is the 13 basin cascading fountain, which is the longest cascading fountain in North America.

You can walk up the steps to overlook the fountain and out onto the reflecting pool or you can sit one of the steps or at either end for peaceful reflection.

The park is also filled with a number of beautiful statues and memorials. The Serenity statue was carved out of a solid block of white marble and was dedicated to the memory of Lt. Commander William Henry Scheutze in 1924.

The Dante statue, built in 1921, is an 11 and a half foot bronze sculpture in honor of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri.

The Joan of Arc statue is formidable sight where she sits atop her horse with her sword raised high prepared for battle. It’s the only equestrian statue of a woman in DC and is a copy of the 1889 statute by Paul Dubois, located in France.

The park is also home to the only memorial in DC of the 15th President of the United States, James Buchanan.

Perhaps the biggest draw to the park is the weekly drum and dance circle that takes places there every Sunday afternoon at around 3pm.

This community celebration has been taking place in the park since the 1960s and now the rhythms of the drums, music and song take over the park every week as yogis, hula-hoopers, dancers, dancers and performers move and groove along to the beat.

It’s hard to say what makes Meridian Hill Park such an enchanting and uplifting place. It might be the community, the nature, the art or the design. Perhaps it is a combination of it all.

If you have not yet made it to this incredible place in Washington DC, make this year the year you are enchanted by Meridian Hill Park.

Meridian Hill Park is just one of the many hidden gems in Washington DC. How many have you discovered?