Gravelly Point is an area within the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

George Washington Memorial Parkway The George Washington Memorial Parkway, colloquially the G.W. Parkway, is a limited-access road, limited-access parkway that runs along the south bank of the Potomac River from Mount Vernon, Virginia, northwest to McLean, Virginia, and is maint ...

Arlington County Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. It is located on the west side of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

, immediately north of Roaches Run and

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport in Arlington County, Virginia, United States, from Washington, D.C. The closest airport to the nation's capital, it is one of two airports owned by the federal government and ope ...

. Gravelly Point has served as an iconic spot for plane spotters, picnickers and others to watch planes take off and land from National Airport for more than half a century.

Developments

In 2023, Arlington County announced it would allocate $1 million for implementing improvements at Gravelly Point. The funds were allocated ahead of the scheduled construction of a pedestrian bridge between Crystal City and the airport, which would be located less than a mile from the area.

Geography

It sits directly under the

glide path In aviation, instrument landing system glide path, commonly referred to as a glide path (G/P) or glide slope (G/S), is "a system of vertical guidance embodied in the instrument landing system which indicates the vertical deviation of the ai ...

of the airport's main

runways In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (grass, dirt, gravel, ...

; aircraft pass between 100 and 200 feet overhead on

final approach In aeronautics, the final approach (also called the final leg and final approach leg) is the last leg in an aircraft's approach to landing, when the aircraft is lined up with the runway and descending for landing.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of A ...

to land on Runway 19 and when taking off from Runway 1. The paved

Mount Vernon Trail The Mount Vernon Trail (MVT) is an long shared use path that travels along the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Northern Virginia between Rosslyn and George Washington's home at Mount Vernon. The trail connects the easternmost portions of ...

travels through the area. A

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

pitch hosts high school matches. The area also has a

boat launch A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...

and a

Capital Bikeshare Capital Bikeshare (also abbreviated CaBi) is a bicycle-sharing system that serves Washington, D.C., and certain counties of the Washington metropolitan area, larger metropolitan area. it had 700+ stations and more than 5,400 bicycles. The memb ...

dock.

Security

Part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, the public recreation area is patrolled by the

U.S. Park Police The United States Park Police (USPP) is the oldest uniformed federal law enforcement agency in the United States. It functions as a full-service law enforcement agency with responsibilities and jurisdiction in those National Park Service areas ...

. The public is kept off the airport land by the

Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is an independent airport authority, created by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia, with the consent of the United States Congress, to oversee management, operations, an ...

Police.

Proposed renaming

Between 2016 and 2021, Representative

Jody Hice Jody Brownlow Hice (born April 22, 1960) is an American politician, radio show host, and political activist who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Georgia's 10th congressional district from 2015 to 2023. ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, a Republican, introduced four unsuccessful bills in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

to rename the Gravelly Point area "

Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress who was the first lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, as the second wife of President Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in ...

Memorial Park." His legislation, filed as H.R. 5457 (2016), H.R. 553 (2017-18), H.R. 308 (2019), and H.R. 4364 (2021), was each time referred to a subcommittee by the

House Committee on Natural Resources The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources or Natural Resources Committee (often referred to as simply Resources) is a Congressional committee of the United States House of Representatives. Originally called the Committee on Interior and Ins ...

, proceeding no further. Hice left office in 2023.

References

External links

George Washington Memorial Parkway

BikeWashington.org directions on how to access Gravelly Point via bicycle
George Washington Memorial Parkway Parks in Arlington County, Virginia Potomac River Rugby union stadiums in Washington, D.C. Virginia municipal and county parks {{ArlingtonCountyVA-geo-stub