A Makeover for Book Hill Park
By • August 24, 2026 0 468
Landscape and other restoration work is taking place through the fall in Georgetown’s Book Hill Park, a verdant hillside of plants and arboreal splendor at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue, Reservoir Road and 33rd Street. These improvements stem from a D.C. budget request, drafted by Book Hill supporter Lee Child, that led to a $300,000 allocation for structural and safety upgrades.
The District’s Department of Parks and Recreation and Department of General Services are jointly implementing the effort. DPS and DGS developed their agenda with input from Friends of Book Hill Park and the larger Georgetown community.
Named for its location directly behind the Georgetown Branch of the DC Public Library at 3260 R St. NW, Book Hill features a terrain of trees and ornamental plants. Walking up from the street corner through a panoply of flowering shrubs and cherry trees (donated by the Embassy of Japan), one ascends steps to a circular plateau behind the library, where benches sit beneath a row of crepe myrtle trees.
Bench refurbishments are part of the park’s broader makeover. Other planned improvements: new signage, bicycle racks, picnic tables, repairs to the concrete steps and safety handrails and lighting along those steps from the Reservoir/Wisconsin corner up to the plateau. Plans also call for a below-ground water spigot near the lower entrance to protect Book Hill’s plants and trees during dry spells.
“The lighting and handrails were requested by the community,” said Virginia Poole, president of the Friends. “We are working with the D.C. government to ensure these improvements make the park more inviting and accessible for all, while maintaining its existing character and unique identity.”
Following years of neglect, the Friends group was formed in 2000 as a nonprofit to clean up, revitalize and maintain this unique hillside landscape. A Georgetowner article from 2004 quotes Friends co-founder Ed Thomson’s appraisal of the need at that time for lighting, irrigation and masonry repairs — a vision being fulfilled 22 years later.
Book Hill and the library are on the former site of the Georgetown Reservoir, part of the Washington Aqueduct system which served both D.C. and Georgetown during the latter half of the 19th century — even after the two communities merged in 1871. Considered an engineering marvel for its time, this municipal water source closed in the early 1930s to accommodate the new library and the expanded Dalecarlia Reservoir.
The Georgetown site’s watery history is preserved in the adjacent street name Reservoir Road and in physical remains such as the concrete steps and wrought-iron fence, which appear in photographs from the early 1860s, during the reservoir’s construction. Tridents, the symbol of Neptune, ancient Roman god of fresh water and the sea, top the fence’s vertical spires. Funds to restore the fence were raised in 2025 through a grant from the Georgetown Garden Club and a community event held at Addison/Ripley Fine Art, across Wisconsin Avenue from the park.
Another Friends fundraiser was held on May 29 at the home of chef and former restaurant owner Nora Pouillon. Virtual renderings and photos illustrating the pending improvements were on display, as was information about Beech Leaf Disease — a blight new to the D.C. area that threatens Book Hill’s six mature beech trees.
“This successful fundraiser demonstrates that neighbors and friends of the park really care about the trees,” said Poole. “All funds raised from this event will provide sufficient resources to treat and preserve these beech trees through 2040.” An initial treatment for the beech canopy — think IV therapy for trees — took place in June, with another scheduled for June of 2028.
The various upgrades will help Book Hill remain a peaceful oasis, an escape from the whirl of activity that surrounds it. Visiting the park often reminds me of the Drifters’ hit of the early 1960s, “Up On the Roof,” written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. For when “I climb way up to the top of those stairs,” my cares often drift out ethereally over Georgetown. Perhaps a stop there will allow your cares to drift away in similar fashion.
At May 29 fundraiser: Sara Hope Franks, Nora Pouillon, Adam Shirvinski, Lee Child, Frank Randolph, Virginia Poole, Richard Dunn, Terry Bell and Janice Pouch. Photo by Jonathan Moore.
