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This Plot Looks Familiar
Creighton Armstrong's twins, Carleigh and Creighton, can skate on the C& O Canal and fish the Potomac as he did when he grew up in River Falls. His wife, Christine, says she can hear the falls at night from their house -- Great Falls Park is walking distance from the community.
(By Rebecca Kahlenberg For The Washington Post)
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While built-up areas are just a short drive away, the community is also within walking distance of Great Falls Park along the Potomac River and the C&O Canal.
"We can hear the falls at night," Christine Armstrong said.
And some residents, such as Josh Weiner, who moved in a year and a half ago from Arlington, take up river-related sports because the Potomac is so close. Weiner, a father of two children ages 7 months and 2 years, is beginning kayak lessons this spring.
The neighborhood has another significant attraction for families: an almost endless list of organized activities. They include Halloween and Valentine's Day parties, a Memorial Day picnic and a Fourth of July parade.
There are weekly play groups for mothers and young children, tennis and swim teams, and summer dance parties for older kids. There are monthly Bunco groups for women who like to play that dice game, regularly scheduled basketball games for men, and wine-tasting get-togethers, crab feasts and cocktail parties for all adults. There is even a welcoming committee that greets and assists newcomers.
Pets aren't left out: There is an annual dog swim on the last day that the pool is open.
Neighbors communicate about these and other community events via a quarterly newsletter and through a neighborhood e-mail discussion group, RiverFallsChat, which has more than 400 members. Residents use the discussion group to spread the word about such things as civic association meetings, classes and used furniture sales as well as to ask advice about tutors or babysitters.
Recently, a group of River Falls mothers used the e-mail group to coordinate food preparation for Roxanne Sweeney when she wasn't feeling well following treatment for colon cancer.
"I can't even count how many meals were brought to me," Sweeney said. "I hate this line because I'm not a Democrat, but this is really an it-takes-a-village sort of place."
