When you visit Bluemont Park, it may appear to be your average park. Located in Arlington in the U.S. state of Virginia and a suburb of Washington D.C., it looks like your average park, but it is not.
As you approach the park from Wilson Boulevard, you will first notice the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail. Yes, the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail passes through many parks in the Virginia suburbs between Alexandria and Purcellville.
So what is special about Bluemont Park?
Bluemont Park has a playground, a softball field, and a creek just like many other parks, and the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail passes through the park. What makes Bluemont Park is what happened here.
What happened at Bluemont Park?
The Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Trail, like other railroad trails, follows the route of a railroad line. This railroad line ran from the port of Alexandria to the town of Bluemont where it connected to a rail line that is now owned by Norfolk Southern Railway. (The railroad line was owned by many railroads, but the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad was the last railroad that owned the railroad line.) Bluemont Park was the site of Bluemont Junction. It was here where the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad connected with a railroad line that ran to Rosslyn, a community in Arlington that is across the river from Georgetown, a historic neighborhood and oldest section of the District of Columbia, and it connected to a railroad line that ran to the Virginia side of the present day Great Falls Park, a famous waterfall on the Potomac River. (The Bluemont Trail follows the route to Rosslyn which had a train terminal that is long gone.) Things changed when passenger service ended in 1951 and the railroad was abandoned in 1968.
Today, the railroad lines are long gone and so are the many structures that were here that included a passenger station, an electric power station, and a ‘wye’ track used to turn trains around. When you visit the site today, you will see a replica of the Bluemont Passenger shelter and a caboose paint in the Southern Railway colors.
A visit to Bluemont Park is a quiet place in a very urbanized area which was bustling in its heyday. It is located at 601 N. Manchester Street in Arlington, Virginia. The park is open from sunrise to sunset, and it is completely wheelchair accessible.
John Cowgill: Stories of the Railroad 