Caroline Freeland Urban Parks is a 1-acre park that was initially developed by M-NCPPC in 1983 and recently renovated in 2024. The park is nestled between Hampden Lane and Elm Street and is ideal for lunchtime meetings and weekend activities due to its close proximity to the Bethesda Library, local businesses, surrounding neighborhoods, and restaurants.
Accessible Park Features
- Accessible
- Playground
- Seating Areas
- Plazas Pathways
- Picnic Tables
- Drinking Fountain
- Bench Swing
Park Features
- Bike racks
- Swinging benches
- Shaded picnic tables
- Public art
- Playground
- Drinking fountain
- Plaza area
- Flexible lawn open space
- Seating areas
History: A Ground-breaking Park Planner
Photo courtesy the Caroline Freeland family
In 1983 this park’s name was changed from Edgemoor to Caroline Freeland Urban Park to honor the woman who championed its development. Twenty years earlier Caroline Freeland (1918–2007) was appointed to the Montgomery County Planning Board, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC). A college-educated planner and civic-minded Bethesda resident, she was the first woman to serve in the board’s 35-year history. She was also the first female chair of M-NCPPC and remained in both roles until 1971.
Photo courtesy the Caroline Freeland family
Freeland influenced life in the county through the board’s decisions about land use. During her tenure, at least 15 master plans passed and public open space more than doubled to 16,000 acres. That expansion included this urban park, which Freeland advocated to include in the 1970 Bethesda-Chevy Chase Master Plan. During the dedication ceremony, the park was deemed “a monument to [Freeland’s] concern for beauty and good use of land for those who live and work here, now and in the future.”