Glen Echo Park to Benefit from New Photo History

May 15, 2000 -- Two area historians and Glen Echo Park supporters have teamed up to create a 113-page history of the nearby arts facility entitled, Glen Echo Park: A Story of Survival. Authors Richard Cook, who first began researching the former chautauqua and amusement park in the mid-60's, and Deborah Lange, a Glen Echo writer and teacher, will contribute all proceeds from sales of the book to the Glen Echo Park Foundation. With extensive text and more than 100 historic photographs, the book will be available from the park store in the next few weeks and eventually at Washington area Borders and Barnes and Noble stores. The price is $29.95 plus tax.

If you'd like an in-person historical tour of the park, either before or after you read the book, ask for a National Park Service ranger named Sam Swersky. At 2:00 p.m. each Sunday (and perhaps other times by appointment), Sam gives what must be one of the best free tours available in the nation's capital (okay, just outside of the nation's capital). Those who heard a recent presentation of Palisades history by Harold Gray will appreciate the obvious parallels.