Old Town Playgrounds: Montgomery Park

I've always wished I had a guide to the local playgrounds. Sure, the City of Alexandria offers a list of local parks on its recreation website, but it doesn’t really offer the detailed information that I always want to know.

For example, I'm always curious about whether there is any shade, where the closet public bathrooms might be, and the estimated mpk (mosquito per kid) ratio during summer evenings. In celebration of my last day of work for 10 weeks, I plan to visit all of the parks in our area throughout the summer and report my findings here on Old Town Alexandria Patch.

 Montgomery Park, 901 North Royal Street

I am very familiar with this park because it is practically in our backyard. In fact, we pretend it is our backyard. Sophia likes to give a guided tour of the facilities to new visitors. Our visits have been particularly exciting for her (and terrifying for me) recently as she has discovered that her recent growth spurt allows her perform new stunts on the climbing features.

Location: In addition to the playground, Montgomery Park has a fenced dog park, a covered picnic area, tennis courts, and a large grassy area perfect for kite flying and soccer ball chasing. This is a popular park for a birthday party because of the covered area and wide open space. There are restaurants, cafes, a school, a grocery store, and residential areas within walking distance. This park is only a few blocks from the water.

Equipment: 2 bucket swings and 2 regular swings (all four seem to be recently refurbished),  a seesaw, two smaller play structures with slides ideal for toddlers, and a larger structure for older kids that includes a tall slide, monkey bars and lots of things to climb and scale.

Shade? Not really. I find that sometimes there is a slight breeze at this park – perhaps because of its proximity to the water but there isn’t really any shade to speak of. There are a few trees outside of the fenced area and the picnic area is covered.

For Adults: 2 benches

Fenced? Yes

Bathrooms? No. Your best bet is purchasing a smoothie or bottle of water across the street at Extra Perks on N. Fairfax St. and using the bathroom there.

Water Fountain? Yes

Miscellaneous: This park is across the street from St. Anthony’s daycare/preschool and they use this park several times every weekday. The center is open year round so if you take your child there during a weekday it may be very, very busy with students running around during their outdoor time. If your child is a social butterfly, this will be a bonus and you may have a chance to actually sit down on the benches. If you have a smaller toddler or a child who will be intimidated by a rambunctious group running around, you may want to stick to weekends or early morning/evening hours to avoid the chaos. Most of the equipment at this park is pretty old (nice to see the new swings this year though), so it’s not as pretty as some of the newer parks, but the kids don’t seem to mind.

My only other gripe is the mulch. I love the spongy surfaces of newer playgrounds and I hate to see kids with a face full of mulch when they trip during a game of tag. All in all, this is a nice playground and a great little park in North Old Town. We will be there a lot this summer – you’ll recognize me “spotting” my nearly five year old as she attempts to conquer the monkey bars once and for all.