Press Release
For Immediate Release
March 21, 2024
Town of Brentwood Receives Prince George’s County Stormwater Stewardship Award from the Chesapeake Bay Trust for the Windom Road Historic Barrier Park
Brentwood, MD – The Town of Brentwood was awarded funding from the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s highly competitive Prince George’s County Stormwater Stewardship Award Program. Brentwood will use the funds to complete the Windom Road Historic Barrier Memorial, a remembrance of historical segregationist practices and a promise of healing and unity. After the Civil War, Captain W. A. Bartlett, an officer of a Black regiment, bought acres of property just north of Washington D.C., and parceled out the land to sell it to future homeowners. The land farthest from the Anacostia River was sold to white homeowners, later to become the Town of Brentwood. The land closest to the Anacostia River, prone to frequent flooding, was sold to the Black soldiers of Bartlett’s regiment. They later established the Town of North Brentwood, which went on to become the first incorporated African American town in Prince George’s County.
“This is the culmination of our deep, collaborative efforts and proof of what happens when the community unites and works together,” said Mayor Rocio Treminio-Lopez. “Not only do these funds help with flooding and stormwater, but they also help the Town of Brentwood to cement its commitment to change the narrative of the past.” Since 2016, the Town of Brentwood and the Town of North Brentwood have worked together to remove and turn the segregation-era barrier between the two towns into a memorial sculpture and park. Through collaborative partnerships with the Maryland State Arts Council, Neighborhood Design Center, Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council, Red Dirt Studio, and The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission the towns established a shared vision for moving forward together. Last year in honor of Juneteenth, the towns revealed the final monument and surrounding memorial, designed by Neighborhood Design Center, sculptor Nehemiah Dixon III, and artist Wesley Clark.
Working with Ecosite LLC, the town is introducing innovative green infrastructure to highlight the monument while managing stormwater and flooding. Planting water-loving tree species like sycamore, elm, and river birch not only helps address water quality and climate change but also reflects the floodplain site conditions – a significant element of the shared history. Mirroring North Brentwood’s side of the monument, the grant will help make space physically and metaphorically for interventions that tell the story of the barrier and the two towns.
Councilmember Marcus Monroe, another member of the collaborative and graduate of the National League of Cities Race, Equity, and Leadership program, remarked, “This financing demonstrates a forward-looking commitment to building bridges and not barriers, because we know that the fights against racial injustice and environmental disparities are deeply intertwined.”
“We have to work to dismantle the legacy of racism,” said Councilmember Lauren Rauk, chair of the Brentwood Green Team and Sustainability Committee. “This includes tangible investments to eliminate everyday health hazards like flooding, water pollution, heat islands, and asthma.
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