National Mall and Memorial Parks (also known as National Capital Parks-Central) is an administrative unit of the National Park Service encompassing many national memorials and other areas in Washington, D.C. They include:
- African American Civil War Memorial
- Constitution Gardens
- East Potomac Park
- Ford's Theatre National Historic Site
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
- George Mason Memorial
- Hains Point
- John Ericsson National Memorial
- Korean War Veterans Memorial
- Lincoln Memorial
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
- National Mall
- National World War II Memorial
- Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site
- Old Post Office Tower
- Thomas Jefferson Memorial
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial
- Washington Monument
- West Potomac Park
Federally owned and administered parks in the capital area date back to 1790, some of the oldest in the United States. In 1933 they were transferred to the control of the National Park Service. These parks were known as the National Capital Parks from their inception until 1965. The NPS now operates multiple park groupings in the D.C. area, including: National Capital Parks-East, Rock Creek Park, President's Park, and George Washington Memorial Parkway. National Mall and Memorial Parks also provides technical assistance for the United States Navy Memorial.
Famous quotes containing the words national, mall, memorial and/or parks:
“Thinking is the most unhealthy thing in the world, and people die of it just as they die of any other disease. Fortunately, in England at any rate, thought is not catching. Our splendid physique as a people is entirely due to our national stupidity.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Finishing schools in the fifties were a good place to store girls for a few years before marrying them off, a satisfactory rest stop between college weekends spent husband hunting. It was a haven for those of us adept at styling each other’s hair, playing canasta, and chain smoking Pall Mall extra-long cigarettes.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)
“When I received this [coronation] ring I solemnly bound myself in marriage to the realm; and it will be quite sufficient for the memorial of my name and for my glory, if, when I die, an inscription be engraved on a marble tomb, saying, “Here lieth Elizabeth, which reigned a virgin, and died a virgin.””
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“Towns are full of people, houses full of tenants, hotels full of guests, trains full of travelers, cafés full of customers, parks full of promenaders, consulting-rooms of famous doctors full of patients, theatres full of spectators, and beaches full of bathers. What previously was, in general, no problem, now begins to be an everyday one, namely, to find room.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)