Forest Hills

Welcome to Forest Hills

Peaceful neighborhood with diverse homes and much green space

Forest Hills is a peaceful neighborhood with lots of greenery in D.C.’s northwest quadrant. This neighborhood offers generous parcels on winding tree-lined streets with a variety of architectural styles and residence sizes. Forest Hills also provides easy Metro access via the Red Line Van Ness-U.D.C. Metro station. There are several embassies within Forest Hills alongside educational institutions such as Howard University School of Law and the Levine School of Music. The University of the District of Columbia’s Van Ness campus is located within Forest Hills, which is why the neighborhood is sometimes called Van Ness. Forest Hills has a vibrant high street with restaurants and other businesses as well as access to parks and green space. The neighborhood is situated next to Rock Creek Park, and Soapstone Valley Park runs through the heart of Forest Hills. Homes range from elegant early-20th-century estates to stunning contemporary properties and stylish condominiums.

Connecticut Avenue forms Forest Hills’ western boundary with most of the neighborhood’s businesses concentrated along this street. Bread Furst is a traditional European-style bakery selling bread and pastries made with organic grains and baked on a stone deck oven. Michelin Guide-featured pasta house Sfoglina serves a range of delicious classic and seasonal pasta dishes hand-rolled at the restaurant’s centerpiece pasta station. The Forest Hills stretch of Connecticut Avenue also has a Giant Food for grocery shopping.

The Hillwood Estate and Gardens was built in the 1920s at the edge of Rock Creek Park. Influential businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist Marjorie Merriweather Post acquired the estate in the 1950s and soon filled it with a huge collection of artwork. The highlight of Post’s collection is a large number of pre-Bolshevik Russian items, including numerous Faberge decorative pieces. The Hillwood Estate is now open to the public as a museum specializing in treasures from Imperial Russia and paintings from 18th- and 19th-century France. Hillwood’s formal gardens are landscaped in a variety of styles. The Lunar Lawn provides views of the Washington Monument, and there is a Japanese garden and a rose garden designed by the same landscape architect as the rose garden at the White House. 

Rock Creek Park spans 1,754 acres along Forest Hills’ eastern edge with lots of beautiful scenery, trails, and amenities. The 1820s Peirce Mill is located within Forest Hills at the park’s edge. Soapstone Valley Park has forested trails surrounding a stream at the neighborhood’s center.

Forest Hills is served by the District of Columbia Public Schools District.