What to see near Swann House

Meridian Hill Park is barely a ten-minute walk from your door, and it rewards the short trip. The cascading fountain at its heart, thirteen basins stepping down in a long formal procession, fills the air with the sound of moving water in a way that feels entirely out of scale with a city park, in the best possible way. The terraced lawns and balustrades carry a European formality that softens into something genuinely peaceful once you settle into it. Go on a weekday if you can. The park draws a neighborhood crowd, dog walkers, readers, people who clearly consider it their own, and that particular quality of belonging is part of what makes it worth the walk.