Resources and Sources

Brightwood's history on this site is built from the archives and references below. The history and timeline pages cite these sources directly as numbered footnotes. If you want to research the neighborhood yourself, this is where to start.

Heritage trails and overviews

• Cultural Tourism DC — Battleground to Community: Brightwood Heritage Trail — the official self-guided walking tour and the single best overview of the neighborhood.
• DC Office of Planning — Brightwood History in Maps
• DC Office of Planning — Ward 4 Heritage Guide (PDF)
• Greater Greater Washington — How segregation shaped DC's Ward 4

Fort Stevens and the Civil War

• National Park Service — Fort Stevens (Civil War Defenses of Washington)
• National Park Service — President Lincoln Under Fire at Fort Stevens
• National Park Service — Elizabeth Proctor Thomas
• National Park Service — Battleground National Cemetery
• American Battlefield Trust — Battle of Fort Stevens

African American community and civil rights

• DC Historic Sites (DC Preservation League) — Military Road School
• DC Historic Sites — Emory United Methodist Church
• Mapping Segregation DC (Prologue DC) — racial covenants in Ward 4
• Prologue DC — Brightwood's historic African American community

Streetcars, development, and Walter Reed

• Georgia Avenue history · Streetcars in Washington, D.C.
• PBS American Experience — Walter Reed
• The Parks at Walter Reed — redevelopment of the former campus
• DC History Center — Gathering History about Walter Reed and surrounding communities

Archives and image collections

• Library of Congress — Prints & Photographs Online Catalog — public-domain photographs, including Civil War views of Fort Stevens and Brightwood.
• Chronicling America (Library of Congress) — digitized historic newspapers.
• DC Public Library — The People's Archive
• NPS — Archeology and History in Rock Creek Park (Piney Branch quarry)

Spotted a source we should add, or an error to fix? See the about page — corrections are welcome.