Acorn Park

Marking the site of the original “silver” spring, after which Silver Spring, Maryland was named, this giant acorn-shaped gazebo and surrounding .12-acre park are all that remains of Silver Spring founder Francis Preston Blair, Sr.’s 1000-plus acre country estate and summer home, “Silver Spring.”

The gazebo was constructed in the 1850s by Washington, DC builder Benjamin C. King at the bequest of Blair, who was editor of The Globe, an influential Washington newspaper. Blair was an adviser to 12 U.S. presidents, several of whom joined him under the gazebo to gaze upon the mica-flecked spring that Blair discovered while riding his horse Selim in 1840.

Arguably the only giant acorn-shaped gazebo in the world, you too can today sit under the acorn and think mighty thoughts!