Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Fort Hunt Park - WW II Spycraft meets a day in the Park

On paper, Fort Hunt looks like a fun place to check out. Besides the usual hiking and picnicking options, it's got a number of structures that can be visited and is the site of some serious World War II spycraft. The park is located a few minutes drive from Mount Vernon, which means that it's only about 15 minutes away from Arlington.

In reality, though, most of the park is open space, and we failed to find any sort of detailed map to give us a clue as to what we should check out. Our 8 year old and I discovered one trail that went off in the woods a bit, but it was almost always within the sight of a road. And while the dilapidated buildings are cool, it's harder to explain a secret government POW camp to an 8 year old than one might think.

So, I can't declare Fort Hunt a resounding success.

Still, if you want a nice stroll, plenty of open space to play ball and a dose of history, it seems like it would be a winner. Perhaps we just went on a day that was too chilly to enjoy it?

It definitely needs a geocache. Maybe that can be my contribution to improving the park, next time I visit.

You should definitely take a few minutes to read up on P.O. Box 1142 - it's got spooky government project written all over it.

Update: This American Life has an enlightening story on PO Box 1142, it's definitely worth a listen.

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