Spirit Park at National Harbor is set to open on 9/11 this year.

/ Renderings courtesy of Bignell, Watkins and Hasser Architects

A new park coming to National Harbor will honor the country with one of the largest American flags on the East Coast — it could cover about a quarter of a football field — and plenty of other patriotic symbolism.

Officials will break ground on Spirit Park on Tuesday, Flag Day, and it’s expected to open on September 11th. It’s set near the entrance of the mixed-use entertainment and shopping district in Maryland.

“Spirit Park is based on the development of a patriotic, historically accurate, educational, and moving tribute to the flag,” according to a news release from National Harbor. “It will include multiple touch points of interest relating to the history of the flag and its iterations from creation through history to what it is today.”

One of the largest flags in the country will fly above the park. Renderings courtesy of Bignell, Watkins and Hasser Architects

The park is packed with symbolism not readily apparent to the eye:

  • The park is 1.1776 acres, honoring the year the country declared independence.
  • The 50 by 80-foot flag will go on a pole that is 177 feet 7 inches tall, honoring the first Flag Day on June 14, 1777.
  • That flag will be surrounded by 13 other American flags, representing the colonies.
  • The amphitheater has six rows of seating, which represents the number of white stripes on the flag, and a 50-foot round stage for the number of states.
  • A bell tower will rise 17.77 feet tall and will mark significant occasions with patriotic songs.

Visitors will also find sculptures of Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill by sculptor Ivan Schwartz and a group of bison by artist John Lopez. It also features three giant stone tablets with U S A on them.

The park will host military concerts, history lectures, and other events, National Harbor executives say.

“Spirit Park was designed to provide a truly patriotic experience to learn, enjoy, and remember our country’s history,” National Harbor Vice President of Marketing Kent Digby said.

The 80-by-50-foot flag is impressively big to fly, but a flag flying near Gastonia, North Carolina, has it beat at 114 feet by 65 feet. In the 1980s, a whopping 411-by-210-foot flag carpeted the National Mall and Ellipse for different events. In 1929, a 160-foot by 90-foot flag graced the side of the Capitol.

Filed Under: american flag, flag day, national harbor, September 11, spirit park,