Walter C Pierce Community Park

This park was smaller than it looked on the map (a lot was fenced off to prevent erosion) but there was a nice basketball court, small playground, and small dog run. I’d imagine it’s a great spot to take the dog or kids if you live in the neighborhood!

This review is for the dog park.
We live in Columbia Heights and were beyond excited to find this dog park was only a 15 minute walk from our apartment. The ColHi «dog park» is absolutely terrible, so we were so excited for this one. The dog park has a double gate and a chainlink fence all the way around, which makes escaping next to impossible. It has lots of shade and places to sit, which we love. I work from home and prefer to take our pup to the park in the morning when it is not as hot. This has become impossible, however, because of the extremely aggressive dogs that are at this park in the morning, usually between 9−11am. We have had a couple instances now where our dog was immediately attacked upon entering the park and the dog owners did nothing. This morning, as soon as our dog entered, a large german shepherd immediately jumped on our dog and gripped his neck in his mouth. Our dog was on his back, tail tucked, whimpering. The owner of this dog did not say or do anything. I had to pull the dog off and as soon as I did, another large and aggressive dog attacked. I had to grab our dog (a labrador retriever) and leave. We have had very pleasant visits in the afternoon, but the group of morning regulars are absolutely terrible. Their dogs are vicious and untrained. The owners do not care and are extremely rude to new people. It would be wonderful if these people would stop brining their untrained aggressive animals a public space, but people like this do not think about others. Stay away in the morning!

Spectacular dog park for Washington DC! There are an equal mix of big dogs and little dogs, and they’re all friendly and well behaved animals.
They have water and poop bags which is super convenient. And the park has benches and a picnic table.
The major downside of this dogpark is a mix of gravel and dirt and when It rains, it gets really muddy and semi-​floods which is a little bit gross considering there is dog pee everywhere.
It’s a great park for of neighborhood folks, my dog enjoys stopping by and sniffing ALL THE BUTTS :)

Playground-​fun for the kids but the trash can is sometimes over flowing with diapers, food items AND obviously household garbage that people dump there. Very unsanitary. They need to be on top of emptying the garbage cans in this playground.
Basketball court-​it sometimes gets wild with men yelling profanities while they’re playing basketball.

Good place for soccer, with basketball courts as well. The BB is next to a steep hill; I’d worry about losing balls over there. There’s a playground, and a circle with a few benches.
The dog park is a reasonably sized sandy enclosure with double gates and is usually crowded in the evening with a regular group of locals.
There’s a weird vibe because of the old graveyard that the park encroaches on; I’m not 100% sure of the history there.
All in all, it’s a nice neighborhood spot and a pleasant venue for the local soccer leagues. Not really a destination for those who don’t live here, though you can cut through it to get to the Zoo’s back entrance.

cute little park for dogs or young kids… it’s tiny but lively.

This is a review of the dog park: I’m here several times a week, and so I’ve met many of the regular dogs and owners. I’ve seen dogs of every size (from dogs that are five pounds to enormous Great Danes), and the vast majority of owners are responsible about making sure everyone gets along. Very grateful to have this place in the neighborhood.

This review is for the dog park. I was really excited to find this dog park so close to our apartment. I love taking my dog to the dog park and he usually enjoys them. However, this dog park is a «Big Dog» park where most of the dogs are 75 lb+ and are pretty aggressive type dogs where the owners are totally hands off so the dogs can do whatever they want. Obviously I know how dogs play and they can play rough I’m fine with that but my experience with this park is more extreme. The entrance is situated right in the middle of the main area of the park were all the owners and there dogs congregate together so that when a new dog comes into the park they tend to pounce on new dog entering how dogs typically have a pack mentality. Needless to say these owners should know to move there dogs away from the enterance as it make it difficult to bring your dog in and creates a more hostile situation with the dogs concentrated there. If you have a smaller dog which I do in the range of 30 lbs or smaller I would Highly suggest avoiding this park all together. On 3 occasions my dog was attacked by the pack of big dogs waiting at the entrance for him to get in 4 dogs jump on him one of which was the aggressor biting him about 5 times in an attacking violent way not in a playful way at all drawing blood to his chin area and scratching him. While this happened the owners of the dogs did nothing, I repeat nothing to stop there dogs from pouncing on him while he was on his back screaming they didn’t call there dogs or pull there dogs away I had to pick him up off his back because he was defending him self on his back and literally pick him up over my head so the dogs couldnt get to him meanwhile they would jump up to try to bite him… All i could say in disgust his who takes there untrained dogs to the dog park to attack other dogs? And the dog that bit my dog multiple times the owner left saying it never happened before and I said any dog that would bite another dog in such an attacking way is not to be taken to a dog park. Now the other instances I’ve had weren’t so extreme but they did involve people taking there overly aggressive dogs that are untrained where another dog had tackled my dog and started to bite him. I once again had to pick up my dog with the owners not even telling there dog no or yelling for them to stop or physically restraining there dogs I had to leave that time. Bottom line if you are reading this and you have a dog that does not get a long with other dogs or If you are bringing you’re untrained dog to the dog park you should not, they don’t belong there and you need to train them to socialize with other dogs before they can go to an off leash park. Also stay away from the enterance, it’s pretty simple the dogs coming in need room to be able to walk in with the owner not fighting through dogs to get in…

So well maintained! Easily the best public park for soccer.

This is only a review of the dog park, as that is the only part of the park I visited.
It’s pretty nice… nicer than Shaw Park because it has more trees and shady areas. It even has picnic tables so the humans can do some work while our dogs frolic along.
The negatives are it has the same type of surface as Shaw Dog Park, which Emma The Wonder Dog doesn’t particularly like and it’s strange they don’t have any source of water for dogs to drink… you either have to bring it yourself, or hope someone else brings it for you.

In reference to the dog park:
I like the fact that this is not as packed as Shaw dog park and it is open later as well. Closing at 8pm in the summer is just silly and I think this one is open until 10pm. I think the dog owners that come here are more pleasant as well and you’re less likely to find imbeciles come with newborns in strollers. Plenty of room to get some laps in and romp around. Would be 5 stars if they had a water spicket. Potentially a sketchy location after dark.

In my quest (?) for the best dog park in DC I finally had a chance to check out the dog park that is part of Walter Pierce Park in Adams Morgan today. A friend lives on Ontario Place so it was a quick walk from there. It backs up right to the bus depot before the bridge so coming from Ontario you pass by the playground, basketball court, soccer field (?) with oddly colored grass… The dog park is an «official» dog park. I never quite know what exactly that means but I guess at a minimum it is that it is double gated and has signs up… It’s an OK park with a sand/​gravel surface, some trees, benches. It is a decent size but does not have water like the Shaw or Upshur dog parks. We stopped by, my dog — Luna — was not impressed, and got into Rock Creek across the bridge as that is one park that cannot be beat, alas she cannot be off leash! (-:

In terms of the amount and variety of equipment, the playground at Walter Pierce is quite all right. There are ride-​on toys, a truck, two swing sets and not one, not two, but three different slides — based on age, skill, and I suppose level of fear. (My little one loves coming down the slide head first — oy vey.) The benches and picnic tables are a nice place for the parents and caregivers to post up, and the trees provide nice shade for everyone in the summer time. When your kid gets bored, the dog park, which I sometimes think my son prefers to the playground, is just on the other side of the field.
The reason I don’t love the playground is that it’s dirty! Because it’s not one of the new, fancy playgrounds covered with that soft, rubber surface, the kids invariably start scooping up dirt, mulch, and leaves, playing with them, handing them to me, and trying to eat them. Raising a toddler has rid me of nearly all germaphobic tendencies, but ugh!
Still, 4 stars because of of the overall kumbaya feeling of the park. At any time of the day, there are neighborhood families hanging out and acting, well, neighborly. It really does take a village, people, and a place like Walter Pierce is where you’ll find it.

This park has a little bit of everything for everybody. It is in a hugely diverse part of town and the colors of life are amazingly vivid here. It has a soccer field, basketball court, a kid’s playground, and the first dog park in the city.
It is easy to miss this huge park because it is inside a city block and borders Rock Creek Parkway. If you’re driving by Calvert from Adams Morgan, it is behind the bus depot right before the bridge on your right.
The park is easily ten acres big. And even on a cool and misty day, the hodge podge of people was awesome and as diverse as the neighborhood it serves. Their dog park is awesome.
A little hidden secret in the neighborhood.