The new memorial highway to Mount Vernon is an important element of this project, which was completed in 1932. In the north end of the project, near Great Falls, are the remains of the Old Potomack Canal, of which George Washington himself supervised the construction, while on the Maryland shore is the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, formally initiated by President John Quincy Adams in 1828, and a most perfect example of the type of canal which brought about the development of our country in the first half of the nineteenth century. Its quiet waters and overgrown towpath and banks have unusual charm and afford a most charming and interesting contrast with the torrential river below in its rugged canyon. As a natural terminal on the Maryland bank of the river, nearly opposite Mount Vernon, is picturesque old Fort Washington designed by Major L’Enfant after the War of 1812, and one of the best-preserved forts of this type in the South Atlantic States. From its parapet one can enjoy one of the best views of the Capital City L’Enfant so gloriously and successfully planned. The regional park system also proposes the extension of Rock Creek Park into Maryland and various other similar connections with projects in the District of Columbia. Perhaps the most important is the opportunity for a parkway, like the Bronx Parkway, between Washington and Baltimore, following up the Anacostia Valley, Northwest Branch, and Indian Creek. The recommendations of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission as to parks were given legislative sanction by the act approved May 29, 1930, and are being carried out as fast as funds are made available. The opportunities here for a nearly ideal park and playground system are so unusual that the entire country must be interested in seeing their early completion. Other cities can have monumental buildings, but no other large city can still have at reasonable cost the park and recreational facilities essential to the amenities of life and the raising of a new generation under conditions assuring, for poor and rich alike, a sound mind in a sound body. [Illustration: LAFAYETTE PARK, SHOWING STATUE OF GEN. ANDREW JACKSON] LAFAYETTE PARK The L’Enfant plan shows the ground now known as Lafayette Park, or Lafayette Square, comprising about 7 acres, to have been a part of the President’s Park, extending on the north side from H Street southward to the Monument Grounds, between Fifteenth and Seventeenth Streets. Similarly, the subsequent Ellicott plan and the Dermott plan make provision for such a spacious park to surround the President’s House. These plans show no street dividing Lafayette Park from the White House Grounds.