There are lots of great neighborhoods in DC and sometimes the choice seems overwhelming!
As a long time DC resident, I love sharing my home town with new residents to DC! There are so many neighborhoods in DC - each with its own history and character. One of my favorites is Shaw, because it has changed so much over the last twenty years and could really be a poster child for the transformation that Washington has gone through.
Shaw is a North Central neighborhood just east of Dupont Circle and south of Adams Morgan,but with a history and culture rooted firmly to the D.C.'s African-American history. In recent years it has rapidly become one of the most diverse sections of the city, with everyone moving in for the live jazz, bars, and high-end nightclubs, and for the marvelous food, including the amazing Little Ethiopia strip.
The history of Shaw goes back to the freed slave encampments on the rural outskirts of Washington City. Originally called "Uptown," in an era when the city's boundary ended at "Boundary Street" (now Florida Avenue), in the Urban Renewal Era the neighborhood began to be referred to as Shaw because of the neighborhood Junior High School named after Civil War Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
The neighborhood thrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as the pre-Harlem center of African American intellectual and cultural life. Howard University, which began as the Howard Theologcal Seminary, received its first students in 1866; by 1925, Professor Alain LeRoy Locke (whose cremated remains were just given to Howard University this week) was advancing the idea of "The New Negro", and Langston Hughes was seen on the streets of the neighborhood. The most famous Shaw native to emerge from this period was musician Duke Ellington.
Current Market Activity
At the moment there are six listings on the market ranging in price from $549,000 for a wonderful townhouse at 1608 4th St NW with two bedrooms upstairs and a finished basement with another bedroom and bath to a large home at 1315 Naylor Court listed for $1995000.
If you are looking for a new home in the DC metro area, you should remember that there are lots of new neighborhoods and old ones too! There are no doubt several neighborhoods that will be a perfect fit for you! Be sure to work with a Realtor who knows the DC market well and will help you find the perfect home in the perfect community! Give The Lise Howe Group a call and put us to the test!
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