Green spaces worth lingering in
Parks, paths, and waterfront walks around Old Town
A quiet pause along the Old Town Alexandria waterfront.
Choosing Walks by Pace, Pause, and Place
What makes Old Town work so well for dog walks is the variety of green spaces tucked throughout the neighborhood. Each one offers something a little different—longer shaded paths, small lawns to pause and reset, or open waterfront spaces with more breathing room. Knowing how they differ makes it easier to choose a walk that fits the time you have and the kind of experience you’re looking for.
This post is part of our larger dog-friendly places series, focused on parks, paths, and green spaces that work well for everyday walks.
Some days we’re looking for a walk where we can keep moving without thinking too much about the route, and shaded paths make it easy to settle into an unhurried pace while still feeling like we’re going somewhere.
Map showing the location of dog-friendly parks and green spaces throughout Old Town Alexandria and along the Potomac River.
A long, quiet stretch of brick sidewalk where Old Town starts to slow down.
Paths Made for Walking
Easy to enter, easy to turn around
A quiet gravel path where the pace naturally slows.
These paths are easy to step into, comfortable to keep moving on, and flexible enough to turn around whenever you’re ready.
We tend to choose this kind of walk on days when we’re thinking less about distance and more about rhythm—something we explore more in Quiet Walks & Slow Travel with Dogs.
Mount Jefferson Park & Greenway
Mount Jefferson Park & Greenway is a quiet, wooded path we usually enter from its southernmost entrance, just off Richmond Highway near Custis. Once on the path, the tree cover and steady grade make it easy to settle into an unhurried pace, and even though it isn’t long, it works well when you want to keep walking without stopping often.
An easy, tree-lined path with room to wander.
Hooff’s Run Park & Greenway
Hooff’s Run has a more open, neighborhood feel, but it offers the same kind of uninterrupted walking. We usually enter just north of King Street, turning right onto Commonwealth and passing under the rail tracks before the greenway opens into a steady, comfortable stretch that works well on its own or as part of a longer walk.
Potomac Yard Park
We enter Potomac Yard Park near West Street and Braddock Road, behind the middle school, where the wide, paved path opens up and feels immediately easy to walk. The trail runs straight and open, shared comfortably by dogs, walkers, cyclists, and joggers, and continues north toward the larger Potomac Yard trail network near Four Mile Run. From the Braddock Road entrance, the paved path extends roughly a mile toward Four Mile Run, with room to keep going if you want a longer walk along connected trails.
Potomac Yard Park, a useful access point for longer, connected walks.
Neighborhood Green Spaces
Brief stops to breathe, sniff, and reset
African American Heritage Park
African American Heritage Park is a small, quiet green space that works well when you’re looking for a brief reset rather than a long walk. There are simple paths to wander and open areas where dogs can stretch out a bit, which makes it easy to slow down without feeling stuck in one spot. We tend to use it as a short pause—enough time to sniff, look around, and settle—before continuing on.
Christ Church Green
Christ Church Green offers a similar kind of pause, set within a historic space that’s hard to miss. The church was completed in 1773, and the surrounding green is long established and carefully maintained. Along the edges, there are small areas to explore, and the stone benches make it easy to sit and rest while a pup investigates the landscaping. It’s a comfortable place to slow down for a few minutes before heading back onto the surrounding streets.
A familiar brick path beside Christ Church.
Lee-Fendall House Garden
The garden at the Lee-Fendall House is one of the quieter green spaces in Old Town, easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. It’s a comfortable place to pass through or linger briefly, with mature trees, shaded paths, and a sense of separation from the surrounding streets that makes it feel calm without being secluded.
Walking along a brick sidewalk in Old Town Alexandria, between stops.
At the Edge of Old Town
Where you shift away from busier areas
Windmill Hill Park
Windmill Hill Park sits at the edge of Old Town, which makes it a useful transition point when moving away from busier streets. The space is open and easy to navigate, with wide paths and clear sightlines that give dogs room to move without feeling crowded. It’s not a place we linger for long, but it works well as a reset—a spot to keep walking, take in some space, and let the energy of the walk shift before heading toward the waterfront or back into town.
Taking in the view from the Old Town waterfront.
Jones Point Park
Winter light along the Potomac shoreline.
Jones Point Park sits at the far edge of Old Town and often feels like a natural endpoint to a walk. We’ve shared a fuller walk-through of this area in Along the River at Jones Point Park. Reaching it means leaving the tighter streets behind and stepping into a more open, quieter space along the river. The paths are wide and easy to follow, with long sightlines that make it comfortable to keep moving or slow down without feeling crowded.
Exploring the rocky edge of the waterfront.
We tend to use Jones Point either as a clear destination or as a place to spend a little more time once we arrive. There’s room to wander, pause, and take in the surroundings, and the distance from the main waterfront makes it feel calmer than many of the more central parks. It’s a good option when you want a walk that feels complete—unrushed, unforced, and not immediately funneled back into busy streets.
A weathered historic building along the route.
Waterfront Parks (Best at Quieter Times)
Best approached with timing in mind
Waterfront Park, Oronoco Bay Park, and Founders Park
A wide grassy area near the water, good for short breaks.
The main waterfront parks can be some of the busier places in Old Town, depending on the day and time. We tend to think about when we walk through them. On quieter mornings or off-peak days, they can feel calm and open, with wide paths that are easy to navigate. On weekends or during events, they’re better approached as pass-through spaces rather than places to linger.
When planning a visit, we’re mindful of how much timing affects the experience—midday and weekends are often far busier. We think about this on local winter walks, like A Winter Walk on Theodore Roosevelt Island, and when traveling farther to seasonal places like the beach town Cape Charles, which we visit after Labor Day, once crowds thin out and dogs are allowed on the beach.
Across Old Town, these green spaces give us options for how a walk unfolds. Some days we keep moving; other days we slow down or head toward a place that feels like a clear destination. With plenty of shade, wide paths, and an overall ease that’s welcoming to dogs, it’s easy to adjust a walk based on the time you have and the kind of outing you’re looking for—even when the route itself is familiar.
Some of these walks naturally lead to places we return to again and again—and those tend to become their own stories over time.
