Photo By Robert Ridley
Members of the Anacostia Community Boathouse Association, including
Carl Cole, center, celebrate building a new boathouse.

D.C. Boaters Building New Club House
By Amanda S. Miller
WI Contributing Writer
Thursday, October 27, 2005

On the bank of the Anacostia in Southeast, just east of the Navy Yard, tucked away from the rest of the city, is an unassuming brick building. It is a boathouse—a modest brick structure with a cement floor and a tall ceiling from which countless boats are suspended— holds far more valuable boats, rowing accessories and racing regalia than suggested by the simple outside appearance. This is the house the Anacostia Community Boathouse Association calls home.

On the morning of October 22, a couple hundred of Washington ’s “watermen” gathered there. The Anacostia Community Boathouse Association (ACBA) came out in full force to celebrate the building of a new boathouse for the community and to, in essence, say a ceremonial goodbye to their old house. The ACBA is hoping to build a permanent community boathouse that will attract economic development and help revitalize the Anacostia Community.

Dan Taghlerini, director of the D.C. Department of Transportation presented ACBA and other member organizations with DDOT’s contribution of $300,000, which will go towards the renovation of an adjacent structure. Tanghlerini noted that 10 or 12 years ago there was hardly a presence of rowers and boaters on the Anacostia. “Now there are so many people out here, that they are competing for the space,” he noted.

The ACBA is comprised of 800 members who belong to eleven different organizations— the American University Crew, the Anacostia Watershed Society, the Biship Ireton High School Crew, the Capital Rowing Club, the D.C. Strokes Rowing Club, the Gonzaga High School Crew, the National Capital Area Women’s Paddling Association, the Organization for Anacostia Rowing & Sculling, the Wakefield High School Crew, the D.C. Department of Transportation and D.C. Parks and Recreation. Each member organization develops programming, which is designed to foster physical fitness and camaraderie as well as to connect neighborhoods along the river while promoting the spirit of environmental stewardship and increased recreational usage of the river.

Carl Cole, a Board Member of the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation and one of the boathouse’s most vocal advocates was not only excited about the new boathouse, but was proud of the work each member organization has done to bring a boating community to Anacostia. “When you look at what we do here, when you look at the participation, it’s fantastic,” he said.