THE DOUBLE-DC TRIPOINTS
Two nebulous prospects

In his U.S. Tri-Corners guide, Jack Parsell refers to the corners of VA/MD/VA & VA/DC/MD (#32) as "double tri-points," both on the west bank of the Potomac River, north and south, resp. The north is on private land on a steep slope and, therefore, not routinely accessible. Located in Jones Point Park, the south is easily accessible...sort of. There's a concrete witness marker there - "DC VA Boundary 1947" - but the actual so. intersect is in the river about 200ft NE at the low water mark. If you're an obsessed purist you can swim, row, or paddle to it, GPS in hand. This river boundary 3Pt is akin to the Potomac WV/MD/VA corner. We settled for the DC VA stone after braving that area's traffic, lotsa wrong turns, knarly foootpaths through brambles, and the bridge's north side construction area which only led us to a lone hard-hatter who clued us to the south side access. Again: TriPointing IS NOT for WUSSES!

The new I-95/395 bridge construction over Jones Point Park, then, begs an update to Jack's '97 visit. The park, as we learned, is no longer easily accessible from the north side of the (Woodrow Wilson) bridge: Go north on Rt1 from the I-95/495 exit 177 to a right on Franklin St. (east) to a right (south) on George Washington Mem Pky (S. Washington St.) until you cross over the interstate bridge abutment. Make an immediate left (South St.?) at the red brick "Hunting Point On The Potomac" apartments. Go to end, park, and follow the blacktop road along side the bridge aprx. .3mi. toward the point. The pictured marker is visible on the river bank. Apparently, someone recently cleared the encroaching brush from the stone. Continue along to the 1928 Virginia - Maryland stone and the nicely maintained reconstructed lighthouse. The 1791 "caged" DC so. point marker is in the seawall underneath the sidewalk plaque pictured in the Flickr set:
http://flickr.com/photos/11330680@N06/sets/72157603834687673/
TopoZone coords:
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=38.79167&lon=-77.03888&s=24&size=m&u=6&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
Lighthouse: Click here: Jones Point Lighthouse, Virginia at Lighthousefriends.com