Off the Beaten Track:

Prince George's County

Anacostia Trails Heritage Area, (ATHA)

Welcome to the Anacostia Trails Heritage Area (ATHA)!  A visit to ATHA takes you from America’s Native past to outer space, traveling through historic districts and natural landscapes.  ATHA is located just outside of Washington, D.C. and offers an exciting collection of historic, cultural, recreational and environmental attractions and sites.  We invite you to come experience ATHA’s unique character and join a new breed of travelers who take their exploring off the beaten path.    

Background

The Anacostia Trails Heritage Area is a vibrant region in northern Prince George’s County bordering Washington, D.C. near Bladensburg, MD and continuing northeast to the Patuxent River in Laurel. The heritage area is home to a number of pioneers in fields ranging from aviation and agriculture to transportation and education. A territory of some 83.7 square miles, there are 24 listings in the National Register of Historic Places within ATHA, including five historic districts. The area also includes an important Colonial-era port and remarkable plantation-style homes and other gems of architecture.  It possesses outstanding stories of ingenuity from industrialists to inventors, including the Wright Brothers. 

Today, the communities within the Heritage Area represent a rich tapestry of the traditional and the new: urban highways and pastoral settings, rail lines, waterways and the subway, as well as ethnic and cultural diversity. Traveling by car, plane, bicycle, canoe or foot, travelers can take a trip back in time or note the vibrant, new commercial and residential redevelopment. Visitors can stay overnight at a comfortable hotel or secluded campsite, use any number of recreational facilities, visit several museums, conduct research and view an art exhibit all without leaving the area. Following is just a sample of the unique and often unexplored areas of Anacostia Trails Heritage Area.  Welcome Aboard!

Bladensburg – a once thriving colonial port town with a very important history, Bladensburg was the site of a battle during the British advance on Washington during the War of 1812. The battle, often called the “Bladensburg Races” because of the number of men fleeing the scene, was a British victory.  Only one American commander, Commodore Joshua Barney, emerged with any honor.  A replica of the 1812 gun barge based on those used in Commodore Barney’s flotilla during the War, is located at Bladensburg Waterfront Park.

North Brentwood – a late nineteenth century African-American community, developed by a former commander of U.S. Colored Troops after the Civil War, and settled by close-knit families.  It is  the first African-American town to be incorporated in Prince George’s County, and is now the center of the Gateway Arts District and future home of the Prince George’s African-American Museum.

Greenbelt Historic District – Historic Greenbelt is a National Historic Landmark planned community that was designed and built by the federal government’s New Deal program during the Great Depression.  Greenbelt’s team of prominent planners and architects, led by Rexford G. Tugwell of the Resettlement Administration, attempted to redress the nation’s shortage of low and moderate-income housing and create a small utopia, using principles of garden city planning for a self-sufficient community with open space for recreation.  Greenbelt is the most successful and intact of the government’s three completed “greentowns,” retaining its original plan and many of its International-style buildings with few alterations and additions.