Why does a playground with swings, a drinking fountain and a short ADA ramp take from a 2020 concept plan to an August 2026 reopening? Part of the answer is where it sits. Fort Ward Park, at 4301 W. Braddock Road, sits on top of a neighborhood the City cleared to create it. Every time a crew digs there, Alexandria Archaeology watches.
So the playground now open at the top of the hill is the newest project built under that rule. The same park has a marked trail that tells that history, and it's worth knowing before your next walk to the swings.
What Changed on the Hill
The old playground was in what the City calls Area 1. On the City's Fort Ward project page, staff describe that spot as "situated at the bottom of a steep hill with poor drainage." The City moved the playground uphill to improve access and meet ADA standards. Families who visited the old site will notice the difference right away. The new layout has picnic table pads, benches, new swings, a drinking fountain, natural play equipment, a stairwell and an ADA ramp, all inside a new playground fence.
The low ground the playground left behind isn't being paved over. The City's January 2026 update describes "restoration of the former play area with reforestation plantings." By May, the lower hill and former playground had been restored and replanted.
The route to get there was long:
- 2020: A playground concept plan goes out for community feedback, with comments due June 26.
- 2022: In response to that feedback, City staff begin studying new accessibility options.
- May 11, 2023: At a community meeting, staff present the final location, Option B at the top of the hill. Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects is hired to draw the plans.
- November 2024: A new consultant, Gordon, is brought on to finish the construction documents.
- May 2025: The plans reach 100% and the City approves them.
- September 2025: The contract goes to Stevens Construction Corporation of Annandale.
- Winter 2026: Snow delays excavation and concrete work.
- August 14, 2026: The playground reopens.
At almost every step, the timeline repeats one phrase. Surveys, geotechnical testing and grading were scheduled "following the Fort Ward ground disturbance protocols," and "all disturbed areas will be monitored by Alexandria Archaeology staff." That phrase traces back to the people who lived here before the park did.
The Neighborhood Under the Park
After the Civil War, an African American community grew up around the old Union fort. It became known as The Fort, and according to the City's Fort Heritage Trail brochure, it lasted into the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s. Kinship, marriage, church and work tied its families to the wider Seminary community.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the City bought and cleared residents' homes to create the park and museum. Residents were displaced and their buildings were demolished. The brochure includes descendants' accounts of graves that were lost and family remains still in the ground.
City archaeologists later documented 22 graves, 19 of them unmarked. They're spread across the Jackson Cemetery, the Old Grave Yard and the Adams burial area. The same work turned up household remains and an African American school, according to the City's page on The Fort, a post-Civil War African American community.
That history explains how the park is managed. The City's 2015 ground-disturbance protocol maps the areas that hold artifacts, African American structures, graves or possible graves, and Civil War earthworks. Before any digging, the protocol calls for archaeological review, protection in place, and monitoring or excavation as needed. Planned work in sensitive areas also triggers advance notice to three groups: the Fort Ward and Seminary African American Descendants Society, Oakland Baptist Church and the Seminary Civic Association.
The City moved the playground for access and drainage. The protocol is the reason each phase of digging came with a monitor and a schedule. The City also notes that it works with descendants on memorials and preservation. In 2023 it installed a memorial stone for Robert Adams and put fencing around four burial areas, and recognition for the Jackson Cemetery is being developed with descendants.
Pairing the Swings With the Trail
The Fort Heritage Trail runs through the park and covers the community's schools, church, cemetery and history. The brochure credits the Descendants Society, the Fort Ward History Work Group and individual descendants as contributors. Family names including Ashby, Craven and Young appear in it. Following the trail markers after time at the new playground connects the park's newest feature to the reason it was built so carefully.
Some work is still going on near the playground this month. The City's November 2026 entry says the contractor "continues to work on addressing the remaining punchlist items," and that "winterization activities will commence late fall." The September update gave the bigger picture:
"The playground achieved substantial completion and reopened on August 14. Landscape punchlist items will be addressed this fall, and a future ribbon cutting with the community will be scheduled."
Inside the Museum Through the Holidays
The Fort Ward Museum adds a second layer to the visit. The October 26, 2026 edition of This Week in Historic Alexandria lists museum hours as Thursdays and Fridays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays 1 to 5 p.m. The same update says admission to City of Alexandria museums is free for city residents. For everyone else, the City's visitor page lists admission at $3, and children under five get in free.
Two exhibits are on view this season:
- Aboard Ship with the Jack-Tars of the Union Navy opened October 2 to mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy's founding. It runs through 2026, so it's in its final weeks.
- Buglers & Brass Bands: Soldier Musicians in the Civil War opened May 16, 2026. It shows period instruments and sheet music from the museum's Civil War collection and stays up through May 2027.
Two dated programs fall on Saturdays between now and mid-December.
Saturday, Nov. 14, 10 a.m. A specialty tour on Civil War music covers the Buglers and Brass Bands exhibit and the reconstructed Northwest Bastion. Tickets on the City's booking page are $15, or $12 for OHA members.
Saturday, Dec. 12, noon to 4 p.m. Christmas in Camp is free. A Union Santa based on Thomas Nast's 1863 Harper's Weekly cover welcomes children to the reconstructed Officers' Hut. Reenactors open Christmas boxes from home in decorated winter camps and sing period carols around the campfire. Inside the museum, there's festive greenery and a Victorian parlor tree, and children can make a holiday card or ornament. The museum's number for program questions is 703.746.4848.
If you live near Fort Ward and are curious how a park with this much history fits into what makes your part of Alexandria distinctive, The LizLuke Team is happy to talk it through. When you're ready to know what your Beverley Hills home is worth, ask us for a free home valuation.
