Last month members of the original group that helped desegregate the park gathered there as a commemoration of that accomplishment and to celebrate Juneteenth. It was featured on a local DC news channel.

When I was a young child, my mother and sometimes a friend would take us kids to Glen Echo. We thought it was the greatest place ever. I always wanted to ride the big roller coaster but my mom let me ride only the junior roller coaster. She never rode them herself and felt I was safer on the kiddy coaster. Decades later I didn't hesitate to take my younger son - a budding coaster junkie - on any roller coaster he fancied. Great mother-son times.

I didn't understand Glen Echo was segregated until I grew up. If I remember right the park closed for good after it was pressured to admit all people but chose to shut down instead. That really tarnished my childhood experiences.

The trolley tracks are still there, at least in front of the gate.

Glen Echo park was segregated until 1961. It permanently closed in 1968. The site is now run by the National Park Service. The original carousel still operates.