Tai Smith and DJ Rice stood along the banks of the Washington Channel in East Potomac Park on Tuesday morning casting for white perch in water wrinkled by a light westerly breeze.
They weren’t having much luck, but for Smith, 48, and Rice, 31, fishing on a blue-sky spring day felt like its own reward.
The two are regular visitors to the park that for more than a century has provided a waterside sanctuary for those looking to escape the grind of the District without leaving it.
Smith, a minister in Alexandria, Virginia, treasures a black-and-white photo of his mother holding him in East Potomac Park when he was 7 months old. “To think this place would be changed to anything other than what it is is crazy,” he said “It has been a part of the culture in D.C. for such a long time.”
But dramatic change could be on the way.
President Donald Trump has mused often about turning the park’s current public golf facility into an elite championship-level course. And a top fundraiser for the president has been seeking donations for an overhaul of the park to create a course that could take up most of the man-made peninsula’s 330 acres. The park’s open grasslands, picnic grounds and tennis courts do not appear on renderings of the proposed changes obtained by The Washington Post. Nor does a scenic four-mile asphalt loop on the island used by recreational and competitive runners and bicyclists.
Based on the renderings being circulated to potential donors, the public golfing facility in the park that has long attracted hackers of all stripes because of its affordability and accessibility would be gone, as would a miniature golf course, the oldest continuously operating one in the country, which underwent a $1 million renovation in 2024. Hains Point, the tip of the peninsula popular with early-morning birdwatchers and weekend barbecuers, would be incorporated into the new course and seemingly inaccessible to anyone not playing golf.
Rice shook his head thinking about the possible changes. “Everything can’t be exclusive,” he said. “You have to leave something to the people.”
The conceptual drawings and fundraising materials have offered the clearest glimpse yet of a potential overhaul of East Potomac Park and the surrounding waterfront land, including the reimagined golf course and a proposed National Garden of American Heroes at nearby West Potomac Park.
The materials depict significant changes to the landscape, though it is unclear how closely the images would reflect any eventual plan. Administration officials have not commented on the renderings, and none of the concepts have been publicly approved. Any project would also be subject to multiple layers of federal review.
A joint announcement Friday night added some clarity about the future of Washington’s three public courses, while leaving key details unresolved. National Links Trust would retain control over Langston Golf Course and Rock Creek Park Golf, the city’s other two municipal courses, and continue operating East Potomac in the near term while the National Park Service moves forward with a major renovation on the course.
The announcement described the East Potomac project as a “historic restoration” and said it would include a “top-tier 18-hole championship course capable of hosting pre-eminent tournament golf” but offered no other specifics. It did not address whether the features shown in the fundraising renderings would be part of any final design.
The Interior Department has not responded to questions about the fundraising materials, but in court filings this week, government lawyers said the National Park Service “has not made a final decision about renovating or remodeling” the East Potomac course and emphasized that any proposal is still in a conceptual phase. Officials told the court that the agency is continuing to evaluate options and, in the near term, is focused on deferred maintenance and repairs. Those efforts, they said, are separate from any broader redesign, which would require additional study and compliance with environmental and planning laws.
In a hearing Monday, however, a federal judge questioned whether planning may be further along than described, pointing to the existence of detailed renderings and fundraising outreach. She warned government officials not to proceed with more extensive renovation work without giving proper notice.
“Something is happening,” U.S. District Judge Ana C. Reyes said. “I don’t know what it is. … When you have a pledge going out with pictures, asking people for money, we’re pretty far down the road, okay? So I think there’s been more happening.”
The fundraising document says the Garden of Heroes would occupy West Potomac Park, just south of the National Mall near the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. memorials. The broad, grassy stretch of riverfront is widely used for pickup sports, running and informal recreation, as well as large public events. The document said that the statue garden “will create a dignified, inspiring public space.”
For now, the absence of clear answers has fueled unease among those who use the space. Many people who regularly seek refuge at the park see it as a destination that helps the District retain its status as one of the top U.S. cities for access to green spaces and parks.
“If we lose it, it will be a big ding to the quality of life for average Washingtonians,” said Mike Copperthite, 70, who is in his 32nd year of riding with a group of 200 or so hardcore bicyclists who meet every weekday at noon to pedal at pace around the park. The flat loop offers spectacular views of monuments and the Potomac, and, because traffic is restricted, biking there is safer than on city streets, Copperthite said.
The plan to possibly remove the road hasn’t landed well with his biking cohorts. “Everybody’s upset about it,” he said of the president’s proposal. “But this guy doesn’t ask for permission. He just does it anyway.”
Birders are also concerned about what the president may have in mind. The confluence of the Anacostia and Potomac rivers at Hains Point makes it a top destination for birds — and for the people who want to spot them.
“Hains Point has the most species of birds seen in D.C.,” said Bart Hutchinson, 58, who started visiting the park more than 30 years ago and has spotted a vast array of species on the peninsula, including rare area sightings of a tufted duck and, in March, a Pacific loon. “It’s a wonderful spot for birders and just nature in general.”
Melanie Brisse, a graduate academic adviser at American University, is another avid birder who worries about what losing access to the park would mean for the local community. “Birds can be seen at Hains that can’t be spotted elsewhere,” she said. “Short-eared owls, snowy owls, white ibis. People within the District and outside of it will come to Hains Point to see these rare birds and learn about them. It’s hard to overstate how impactful a loss of public access to the park would be to D.C. birding.”
The golf course and surrounding parkland remain open to the public, though how long that will continue is unclear. The course is still being operated on an interim basis by National Links Trust, a nonprofit that signed a 50-year lease in 2020 aimed at preserving the historic public courses in the District while investing in upgrades and maintaining affordable public access. The Trump administration terminated that lease in December.
The administration’s proposal to overhaul and repurpose the park baffles even those who can see East Potomac’s flaws. The seawall needs attention, and the tennis courts are sprouting weeds. Regular visitors to the park agree that improvements could and should be made, said Alex Rosen, 26, who has been going to East Potomac since he moved to Washington in 2019 to attend college.
Rosen regularly uses the park to bike, run and play golf. But the idea of turning it into a world-class 18-hole course doesn’t make sense to him.
“Everyone I’ve talked to doesn’t understand why this is some sort of priority for the administration,” he said. “Muni golf is meant for the citizens and residents of a locality. Nobody who golfs at East Potomac cares if there will ever be a championship course there.”
Concerned about the potential loss of the park, Rosen started SaveEastPo.com to rally support and alert residents about the proposed plans for reconfiguring the park.
“I saw the renderings, and I saw there wasn’t a lot of publicly available information on this,” he said. “I was frustrated because I’m not a political person and I did not want to do this. But I love East Potomac and think it’s an amazing place as it is right now. So I thought I might as well try.”
For Terrance Kirksey, 26, and Tony Duncan, 27, East Potomac has been a gathering spot for picnics and family get-togethers since they were kids growing up in Southeast Washington.
“Being out here, eating food, watching the planes, it just feels good,” said Kirksey as the pair waited for a friend to give them fishing lessons. “It’s peaceful, comfortable. You feel safe.”
“Why change it?” Duncan wondered.
Many who are worried about the park’s future echoed that question.
Blayne Beeler sat in his collapsible recliner under a tree, keeping an eye on his three fishing poles with their lines dipping into a spot where other fishermen told him carp had been biting lately.
The 70-year-old retiree travels to Hains Point from Haymarket, Virginia, a couple of times a week during the spring and fall to fish. Asked about the administration’s plans for East Potomac, he smiled and pulled down the brim of his cap. “You don’t want to hear what I think about it,” he said.
And then he continued.
“To do what he wants to do would completely destroy the park,” Beeler said. “This will no longer be for the people.”
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