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The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission

Dowden’s Ordinary Special Park

dowdens ordinary park
Child on Playground at dowdens Park
Marker Dowdens Park
marker at dowdens parks
Art in the Park
Playgrounds

Enjoy Dowden’s Ordinary Special Park’s playground, walking path, benches, historic interpretive signs, Ghost Structure and elephant statue. The 2.75-acre park was acquired in September 2010.

Park Features

  • Playground
  • Walking Paths

History

The Ghost Structure is of Dowden’s Ordinary, an ordinary being a tavern where early American travelers (and their horses) were offered food and shelter.  In 1755 British soldiers stayed at Dowden’s Ordinary during the French and Indian War.  The elephant statue was placed in the park in remembrance of “the first elephant ever seen in North America” that stopped by Dowden’s while touring along the East Coast.  Dowden’s Ordinary Special Park is also the home of a Clarksburg Flag, designed in 2015, to fly over the crossroads of what began as two Native American trails that became Clarksburg in 1752.