Walking Anacostia, Washington's side east of the river

Cedar Hill and the tour you book first

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (Cedar Hill) anchors any Anacostia visit and is the one thing to reserve before you fly. The house is a hilltop villa in white-painted brick with green shutters and a long front porch, and the rooms are left as Douglass kept them, walked through with a ranger. Entry is free; an advance-reserved ticket costs $1.

House tours run Tuesday to Saturday only. The standard tour caps at 10 people and sells out in spring and autumn. Groups of 11 to 60 must reserve at least a week ahead and take dedicated slots at 9:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m. or 2 p.m., so a party that size cannot walk up.

From the lawn below the porch you can see the Capitol dome and the downtown skyline across the Anacostia River. The small stone Growlery, the study cabin Douglass kept in the garden, stands a few steps from the house.

The Big Chair and the mural walk on Good Hope Road

The Big Chair (Martin Luther King Jr Avenue and V Street SE) went up in 1959 as a furniture-showroom stunt and was rebuilt in aluminium in 2006. It is a Duncan Phyfe armchair with no fence around it, low brick storefronts and traffic behind. It stands on an open street corner at all hours, and it is still the shorthand for east of the river.

We Are Anacostia Mural (Good Hope Road SE) runs 200 feet along the road just below the 11th Street bridge ramps, painted on both faces of the wall. Read it left to right as a timeline, from Nacotchtank figures through Frederick Douglass and Marion Barry to present-day neighbours. It is the best single stop for the street art here.

The loop carries on to Aniekan Udofia's Douglass mural at 1640 Good Hope Rd and 'The Three Kings of Anacostia' up at 2320 Martin Luther King Jr Ave. Guided Frederick Douglass mural walks start at Anacostia Metro and finish at the Douglass visitor centre. All of it is outdoors and free.

Fort Place museums and the Fort Stanton ridge

Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum (Fort Place SE) is a low brown-brick modernist building with a glass entrance pavilion, set back among mature trees with a wooded hillside rather than a city street behind it. Entry is free and it opens daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The current show, 'We Make History', opened on 30 May 2026 and runs to 2 January 2028, built from records that DC residents kept themselves. You do not need a ticket.

You reach Fort Stanton Park (above Fort Place SE) straight from the museum door. The 1861 Union fort guarded the Navy Yard, and what survives is low grassy earthwork ridges and ditches under the trees, with a community garden on the crest and a clearing that opens onto the Capitol dome and downtown Washington. The southern mile of the 7-mile Fort Circle Hiker-Biker Trail starts here. The trail is informal and unstaffed, so walk it in daylight and in company.

Muslim American history at The Clara

America's Islamic Heritage Museum (Martin Luther King Jr Avenue SE) fills the ground floor of The Clara, a new red-and-grey apartment block, and reopened in that permanent home in March 2024. Inside are 11,000 square feet of panel exhibits, archive photographs of early Muslim Americans and Nation of Islam memorabilia in cases, tracing Muslims in America back to Estevanico and Yarrow Mamout.

Entry is $7 for adults and $5 for students and seniors, Tuesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. It is a small independent museum, so groups should phone ahead on (202) 610-0586; the founder gives talks to booked parties.

St. Teresa of Avila on V Street

St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church (V Street SE) was the first Catholic church east of the Anacostia River, built largely with money and labour from Black parishioners in the old Uniontown. The 1879 building is red-brick Gothic Revival with pointed arched windows and a corner bell tower, standing on a residential rise among Victorian cottages. It is the architectural high point of the historic district.

Mass is still said here and the parish comes first, so visit around the 7:30 or 9:30 a.m. service on Sunday, or ask at the office.

The riverfront trail and the roller pavilion

Anacostia Riverwalk Trail is paved and 10 to 12 feet across, hugging brown-green tidal water with reeds and herons at the edge and the white cable spans of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge arching ahead. It is open 24 hours, free, and links Anacostia to Navy Yard on foot in 20 minutes. 15 miles of a planned network of more than 20 are finished, so check your section before you set out. Northeast it runs on to Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens, the National Park Service lily ponds five miles out, which is a separate half-day.

Anacostia Park Roller Skating Pavilion is the only roller rink in the US National Park Service. It is open-sided and circular, a flat concrete roof on slim pillars right beside the water, skaters circling a polished slab floor with the treeline and bridge spans behind them. It opens 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, free and unticketed, and skate rental is free with photo ID from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Weekend evening skate sessions are a neighbourhood institution, and this is the most purely enjoyable thing in Anacostia.

Eating on Marion Barry Avenue

DCity Smokehouse (Marion Barry Avenue SE) is a plain counter-service barbecue room with a small chalkboard of specials by the till and seats out on the pavement. Sliced brisket and half-smokes arrive on butcher paper with bottles of house sauce. Order the brisket, the brussels sprouts and a half-smoke. It is DC's best-known barbecue and the most reliable sit-down meal within walking distance of the Big Chair, and it anchors the free Jazzy Sundays live-music afternoons on the block each summer. Price band $$.

SaPoDilla's Caribbean Restaurant (Marion Barry Avenue SE) is the newest proper restaurant in Historic Anacostia and the only Guyanese kitchen here. The dining room is bright in tropical tones with a full bar along one side. Pepperpot, oxtail, curry and roti are the plates, and weekend brunch runs with a DJ. It opens Tuesday to Thursday, noon to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday to 10 p.m., and Sunday to 7 p.m., and it closes Mondays. Reservations are taken online. Price band $$.

Marion Barry Avenue Market & Cafe (1303 Marion Barry Ave SE) opened in September 2025, run by the nonprofit Dreaming Out Loud with backing from José Andrés' Longer Tables Fund. It put a grocery into a part of Washington that had none: wooden crates of local fruit and vegetables, and an open demo kitchen along one wall used for classes and community events. A seasonal soul food menu runs across all three meals, with counter service, indoor seating and pavement tables. There are no reservations, and it closes Monday and Tuesday. Price band $$.

Martin Luther King Jr Avenue, morning to midnight

Turning Natural (2025 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE) is a Black-owned juice bar and one of the first new retail arrivals on the strip. Fresh juice goes out in clear cups, vegan pastries and waffles sit under glass on the counter, and a chalk menu of smoothies hangs above. It runs daytime only, 9:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on weekdays and to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, so catch it before the Douglass house. The room is small; order online and carry it out. Price band $.

Busboys and Poets Anacostia (2004 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE) is the default evening option, a big double-height room lined with bookshelves and political portraiture, with a long bar and a small stage used for open mic and poetry slams. The room is restaurant, bookshop and meeting hall at once, and the kitchen is strong on vegetarian and vegan plates. It opens 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Walk in or take the waitlist. Price band $$.

Mama's Pizza Kitchen (2028 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE) is the late one, open to midnight most nights and 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, which makes it the only option in this part of town after a show. Jumbo slices sit under heat lamps on a worn tiled servery and whole pies are boxed at the window. Wings come by the 10 or 20 count, and a whole pie travels to the park. Price band $.

Where to stay across the river

Anacostia has no hotels. Homewood Suites by Hilton Washington DC Capitol-Navy Yard (50 M Street SE) is the practical base, a glassy all-suite tower on the Capitol Riverfront with floor-to-ceiling windows over the Anacostia. It is 20 minutes on foot over the 11th Street bridges, or one Metro stop; the Navy Yard Metro entrance is directly across the street and Nationals Park is two blocks away. Suites have kitchens, hot breakfast is free, and there is meeting space on site. Price band $$$. The Hampton Inn & Suites Navy Yard nearby is the alternative if you want its rooftop bar.

Closed days and what to book

Reserve Cedar Hill before you travel, and build the sightseeing around Tuesday to Saturday, when the house tours and the Islamic heritage museum run. SaPoDilla's closes Monday, the Marion Barry Avenue market closes Monday and Tuesday, and the church keeps parish hours. See the Washington guide and the Washington hotel search.