Van Ness is a unique little part of town in Washington, DC. While its proper name is Forest Hills, people refer to this Washington DC neighborhood as Van Ness due to its proximity to the Van Ness Campus of UDC.
The beauty of Van Ness is that it offers residents an urban feel that perfectly blends their social and professional lives. There are many restaurants, coffee shops, bars and parks at walkable distance. On top of that, Van Ness is home to the Theater of the Arts, Howard University School of Law, Howard School of Dignity, UDC School of Law, and American University Radio WAMU (ranked number one in Washington, DC).
This community has a history of inclusiveness and you will find many community-wide events, from the weekly farmer’s market to annual celebrations. In fact, Presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson lived here as did Marjorie Merriwether Post who owned General Foods. Today her former home is the Hillwood Museum where you can see priceless works of art.
Get To Know The Van Ness Metro Station
Getting to and from Van Ness is simple and easy. The area is served by the Van Ness Metro Station with service on the Red Line. The Red Line is the oldest, busiest, and longest line in the system, consisting of 27 stations in Montgomery County, Maryland and Washington DC.It forms a long, narrow “U”, capped by its terminal stations at Shady Grove and Glenmont. The trains run most frequently during morning and evening rush hours and least frequently after 9:30PM. Although the Metro stop did not help Connecticut Avenue develop into a shopping destination, the Van Ness-UDC Metro station remains the heart of the neighborhood. Professionals living in the neighborhood enjoy the freedom to commute seamlessly anywhere in the DC metropolitan area.
Take a Ride On The Local Metro Bus
Also, readily available are the Metrobus lines that run up and down Connecticut Avenue NW, including H2, H3 H4, L1, L2 and L4.
The L1 begins at the 18th and C Streets and proceeds through Foggy Bottom and the campus of the George Washington University until Washington Circle. The route turns north onto 20th Street and reaches Connecticut Avenue by way of Massachusetts Avenue and Florida Avenue.
The L2 starts at Farragut Square, which is also the southern terminus of Connecticut Avenue, and proceeds north along the avenue. It passes underneath Dupont Circle via the Connecticut Avenue underpass, and is joined by the L1 at an intersection with Florida Avenue and S Street.
Now together, the two routes continue north along the avenue. The L1 crosses Rock Creek PArk via the Taft Bridge, while the L2 takes a brief detour into Adams Morgan via Columbia Road, Calvert Street, and the Duke Ellington Bridge.
The routes serve multiple stations of the Red Line, namely Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, and Van Ness, until the Red Line diverts from Connecticut Avenue. Both routes terminate at Chevy Chase Circle, just south of Western Avenue and the MAryland state line.
Prepare Your Trip Before You Go
There are so many different ways to get where you need to go in DC that it can get confusing to plan. Using WMATA’s Trip Planner, you can organize your trip so that you know exactly where you’re headed. You can put your departure time or arrival time into the planner to make time constraints easy to work with. You’re also able to check for trip updates to see when buses and trains are due to arrive. Ready to get rolling? Great! Grab a Smartrip card and let’s hit the town!
