Of the  many favorite neighborhoods that we have in the DC metro area, Lise’s favorite is probably Kenwood Forest!  Located on the edge of the Chevy Chase/Bethesda line, Kenwood Forest is a great community of townhouses created from existing housing stock by the Holliday Corporation in the late 1970s.  Now a community of 396 two, three, and four bedroom  townhomes,  and one bedroom and studio condos, Kenwood Forest is considered by many to be one of the best values in Bethesda and Chevy Chase.

FEATURED LISTING  -4847 Willett Parkway – Just Sold for $695,500

I am including this one as the one that got away – a Rosewood model in Kenwood Forest with a walkout basement – three finished levels, four bedrooms, 3 and a half baths, an updated kitchen with beautiful hardwood floors and gleaming new granite counter tops.

Tucked away on Willett parkway on a private courtyard, this gorgeous home is just a few steps to the Crescent Trail and the Bethesda pool.  Perfect for your best friend, Fido, the two of you can go for a run every day from Chevy Chase all the way to Georgetown along the Crescent Trail!

Although you missed this very special home, I hope to have more listings to offer you very soon!

FEATURED SERVICE: OUTDOOR ILLUMINATION

I love the look of a home that has been carefully lit with exterior garden lighting.  If you are interested in highlighting certain features of your home, you should consider Outdoor Illumination, a local company, which can custom install lighting solutions in your gardens, carefully navigating through well-established root masses and perennial beds.   They operate as a licensed home improvement contractor and have earned accredidation as a Licensed Master Electrician for low voltage (12 and 24 volt) systems. Their veteran installation staff knows how to create beautiful effects while protecting trees and garden plantings by hand digging virtually all of their projects.

FEATURED EVENT – PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ at the KENNEDY CENTER

The world renowned Preservation Hall Jazz Band will perform a Creole Christmas at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater on December 17th.  The band’s traditional New Orleans style will certainly warm up Washington for the holidays as they perform an array holiday classics, all with a fun-filled blues, jazz, and ragtime flair.  This is a great event for the whole family, particularly the out of town relatives, since it is coupled with a trip to Washington’s icon on the Potomac, the Kennedy Center.  You might even consider dinner at the Kennedy Center or at one of the little nearby restaurants  like Circle Bistro at One Washington Circle. The band promises to perform seasonal favorites like  ”Blue Christmas,” “Swinging in a Winter Wonderland,” “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” and “The Dreidel Song.”

FEATURED FOODIE TIP – La Dolcezza

Baby, It’s Cold Outside!  What better treat for the frozen fingers than a good cup of hot chocolate? What better place in Bethesda, just steps from Kenwood Forest, than the wonderful addition to the new Bethesda Row – La Dolcezza.  In the summertime, this little boutique food store celebrated fruits in various delicious gelato flavors.  Now it is just too cold to get excited about gelato – even really good gelato! But, hot chocolate is an entirely diffferent matter.  La Dolcessa takes Valrhona chocolate and turns an exquisite taste treat into a drink that will warm your heart, your fingers, and your frozen feet! Mixed with cream and milk, and topped with whipped cream, this hot chocolate is perfect to get you going for another round of shopping!

FEATURED FUN FACTS: THE CRESCENT TRAIL

The  Capital Crescent Trail runs right by Kenwood Forest, offering an easy way to get to the metro or to ride your bike to Georgetown.  So much a part of Bethesda and its dog lovers, roller bladers, walkers, and bicyclists, it is hard to remember that the  trail actually runs on the abandoned right-of-way of the Georgetown Branch rail line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The rail line was partially built in 1892 and completed in 1910. It served Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO), the Washington Mill and Federal government buildings; but with the changing use of Georgetown’s waterfront, became obsolete. Trainsstopped running on the line in 1985.

In 1988, the Montgomery County Government purchased the right-of-way from the D.C. line to Silver Spring under the National Trails System Act of 1968. In 1990 the National Park Service purchased about 4.3 miles (6.9 km) of right-of-way in the District of Columbia from Georgetown to the D.C./Maryland boundary and developed the trail as a component of theChesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. Volunteers built a wooden deck over the Arizona Avenue Railroad Bridge that year, and two years later that was replaced with a concrete deck. The 7-mile (11 km) paved section of the Capital Crescent Trail from Georgetown to Bethesda was built and formally dedicated in December 1996.

The trail continued to expand and improve. In 1996, a trail bridge was opened over busy River Road and the Dalecarlia Bridge opened. The Dalecarlia Bridge includes a component of a bridge which formerly took the Georgetown Branch over the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway and it was designed to go over a road connecting two parts of the Washington Aqueduct reservation. On May 17, 1997, the Georgetown Branch Interim Trail, from the east side of the Air Rights Tunnel in Bethesda to Stewart Avenue in Silver Spring opened. On August 15, 1998, the Air Rights Tunnel in Bethesda (built in 1910) was opened to trail traffic, connecting the paved and unpaved portions.In June 2000, Montgomery County committed $1.3 million to repair the Rock Creek Trestle, which had been damaged by arson, and open it for trail use. The trestle was dedicated for trail use on May 31, 2003.

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