Gravelly Point is a park in Arlington, Virginia, United States. It is located north of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, along the George Washington Parkway, and across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
Today, the park is a primary intersection on weekends of boaters, cyclists, and airplane-spotters. Its unique location just a few hundred feet from the north end of Reagan's runway 1/19 makes it one of the best spots in the United States for airplane-spotting.
Originally, the area known as Gravelly Point was where Captain John Alexander built a home called Abingdon in 1746. Abingdon was purchased in 1778 by John Parke Custis, the adopted stepson of President George Washington. It was the birthplace of Washington’s beloved granddaughter, Eleanor Parke Custis. Abingdon was destroyed by fire in 1930 and the ruins stabilized. In 1998, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority preserved the site and created an exhibit of artifacts found there in the Exhibit Hall, located in Terminal A of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Famous quotes containing the word point:
“The realization that he is white in a black country, and respected for it, is the turning point in the expatriate’s career. He can either forget it, or capitalize on it. Most choose the latter.”
—Paul Theroux (b. 1941)