Explore a Park: Bren Mar Park is a woodsy oasis in an urban area

This article is part of our series on parks in the Annandale/Mason District area. The last piece in this series explored Mason District Park. 

The 32.4-acre Bren Mar Park is off Edsall Road west of Interstate 395 in a densely populated area of Mason District.

Features: There is a playground, trails, picnic shelter, baseball field with an overgrown backstop, and an open field. The park is adjacent to Turkeycock Run Stream Valley Park and the Bren Mar Recreation Association with a swimming pool and tennis courts.

Access: The parking lot for Bren Mar Park is at 5415 Colliers Lane, Alexandria. There is a paved trail leading to the park from the Overlook Condominium. That path also leads to Winter View Drive, providing walkable access from several single-family, townhouse, and apartment communities and connects to trails in Turkeycock Run Stream Valley Park.

Improvements: The updated Bren Mar Park Master Plan approved in 2018 calls for an additional picnic shelter, off-leash dog park, improved trails, playground, open play area, site furnishings, and stormwater management.

In 2010, a group of dog owners formed a sponsor group called Bren Mar Dogs and proposed converting an undersized, and thus, underutilized, Little League baseball field in Bren Mar Park to an off-leash dog park. That area is currently used as an informal dog park, and there are no current plans to create an official dog park.

The baseball field is mainly used for open play and dog exercise.

History: According to the Park Authority, the first section of Bren Mar Park, consisting of nine acres, was acquired by the Board of Supervisors in 1959. Additional parcels were acquired over the next 58 years, with the most recent one-acre parcel added in 2017.

The park’s Master Plan was adopted in 1977, revised in 2013, and updated in 2018 to incorporate the newest parcel.

This plaque, installed in 1987, dedicates the trail through Bren Mark Park to Paul Wachholz (1958-1987) “who loved and protected this stream and trail.”

Bren Mar Park is located on land that was originally part of an old farmstead called Turkey Cock Farm, dating from the early 1800s, the Master Plan states. The farm remained intact over the course of a number of property sales, and by 1856, consisted of 330 acres.

Emma Carter, owner of Turkey Cock Farm before and during the Civil War, likely witnessed skirmishes as the battle lines kept changing.

This property was incorporated into Bren Mar Park in 2017.

Carter put the property up for sale shortly after the end of the war in 1865, but the purchaser defaulted and ownership remained with Carter. Its condition at that time is not known, nor is it known if Emma Carter and her family supported the Union or the Confederates. Many Confederate sympathizers, however, moved further south after the war.

Carter subdivided the property and sold off lots between 1876 and the 1880s. The property was further subdivided in the early 20th century by the Hall family who owned a portion of the land in the general vicinity of Bren Mar Park.

A 2012 archaeological survey conducted by the Park Authority’s Cultural Resource Management Branch confirmed the existence of remnants of two domestic structures within the park. Additional finds include a prehistoric quartz knife and a quartz tool used for scraping animal hides.

The property acquired by the Park Authority in 2017 contains a single-family house and a shed. The oldest portion of the house was most likely constructed in the early 20th century. Because the house had experienced several modifications and additions, it has lost its historic character and is not considered a significant cultural resource.