If you head out of the city, traveling north on 16th Street, just before you get to the DC-Maryland border you'll notice the streets are all named after flowers, shrubs and trees. Welcome to Shepherd Park!
   Iris Street, Primrose Road, and Geranium Street are but a few of flower-inspired street names.
   Shepherd Park is bounded to the south by the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, to the east by 16th Street, to the west by Georgia Avenue, and to the north by Eastern Avenue, which also serves as the DC-MD borderline. 
   Indeed, its convenient location to Maryland means Shepherd Park residents can take advantage of two nearby Metro stations just across the DC-MD borderline in Silver Spring and Takoma Park. 
    Shepherd Park is a suburban oasis,  with Georgia Avenue the only commercial corridor of the neighborhood.
    This community is brimming with Colonials (both traditional and Spanish style), Ramblers, Tudors, Farmhouses, Spilt-levels, and even a few Sears Bungalows.  
     Generally speaking, these single-family homes are more modest than those found in the nearby neighborhood of Colonial Village. Most Shepherd Park homes are detached, but there are a few semi-detached houses.
     Shepherd Park takes its name from its most famous resident: Alexander Robey Shepherd, the governor of the then-Territory of DC from 1873 to 1874.  
     Shortly before becoming governor (in 1868), Shepherd built a grand Second Empire-style Victorian that once stood near the corner of Geranium and 13th Streets. 
     Shepherd dubbed his large country home  " Bleak House," after a Dickens novel he and his wife were reading at the time of their home's construction. Unfortunately, the mansion was demolished in 1916.
     Best known as "Boss" Shepherd (a nickname inspired by the power he wielded), the former governor was one of the most colorful politicians in all of DC's history.  Mired in charges that among other things he siphoned money from the city's budget for his own personal gain, he was forced to resign. Soon thereafter the District lost its  "home rule" status.
    In 1880, Boss Shepherd fled to Mexico, where he soon became a millionaire after striking it rich mining for silver and gold. 
     Despite his failings, Boss Shepherd, who once headed the Board of Public Works, can be credited with modernizing the District in the early 1870s. Among his many feats, he laid curbs, paved streets, installed sewer and gas lines, and planted 60,000 trees. 
     To learn more about Shepherd Park, check out a recent (January 2002) Washington Post article profiling the neighborhood.

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