Erica Weiss’s favorite things about Rock Creek Hills during the pandemic were the jokes and the dinosaur. Weiss, 53, is a health writer and editor who moved to the Kensington, Md., neighborhood in 2009.
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“During the pandemic, because everyone was just walking around, there were two things that were super special about the neighborhood. One was this guy who wrote a joke every single day,” said Weiss, who was laughing as she referred to the “bad dad jokes.” Another family had faux dinosaur bones on their lawn that they dressed up for holidays and special occasions.
Rock Creek Hills’ enthusiastic spirit goes beyond jovial lawn decorations. The Rock Creek Hills Citizens’ Association (RCHCA) throws two major events a year, according to Weiss, who helped organize them in the past. There is a spring fling, which had to be postponed this year because of the weather, and a Halloween party.
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“Usually 150 to 200 people come, and it’s just a really nice chance to see everybody. Obviously, the pandemic slowed things down, but it’s one of my favorite things about the neighborhood” Weiss said.
Weiss is partial to the Halloween party because of the parade of children’s costumes and the joy that it brings younger families. She notes that a lot of young, enthusiastic parents have moved into the neighborhood and enjoy these activities.
One of those new residents is Jonathan Sears. Sears, 36, works for a commercial real estate lender and moved to the neighborhood 14 months ago.
He grew up in nearby Chevy Chase, Md., and rode his bike around Rock Creek Hills when he was young. A big reason for his family’s move to the neighborhood was his familiarity with it.
“My son is going to go to the elementary school that I went to growing up, and I had friends in this neighborhood,” Sears said.
His two children, who will be turning 6 and 3 in July, will attend private schools, but Sears wanted the comfort of having good public schools nearby. His daughter enjoys going to Kensington’s Noyes Library for Young Children, a one-room library that’s full of books and activities for early childhood development.
But for all its camaraderie, Rock Creek Hills has a dark past. Like many surrounding areas, it has a history of racial covenants restricting non-White residents.
According to a 2020 Washington Post article, Peter Chatfield, an attorney who represents government whistleblowers and a former president of the RCHCA, has found around 400 such covenants that applied to Rock Creek Hills. One from May 6, 1946, declares that property “shall never be used or occupied by .？.？. negroes or any person or persons, of negro blood or extraction, or to any person of the Semitic Race, blood or origin, or Jews, Armenians, Hebrews, Persians and Syrians, except .？.？. partial occupancy of the premises by domestic servants.”
The covenants haven’t been enforceable since the Fair Housing Act passed in 1968. However, many of them remained. A Maryland law that took effect in 2020 allows homeowners to go to court to have them removed for free.
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Removing the racial covenants “is good but long overdue,” Sears said. “I doubt it has brought extra diversity into the neighborhood, as buyers don’t really look at those things before moving in. I am pleased to see a good amount of diversity in the neighborhood mostly in the form of race and religion. I think you get as much diversity as you can here, even though you’re never really going to get much economic diversity due to high home prices.”
Mary Beth Taylor, a real estate agent with McEnearney Associates, has been walking by her Rock Creek Hills home for years. She originally moved to the neighborhood in 1990 but wanted to downsize and was able to do so in the neighborhood.
“I had a four-story house, and I decided I wanted one-story living, and I didn’t have to look any farther than my own backyard,” Taylor said. She moved into her modern ranch-style home in 2018.
“We really have a little of everything,” Taylor said. Adding that the neighborhood is a mix of housing styles — Colonial, Cape Cod, ranch and split-level. This variety made her short move possible.
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Taylor notes that when people are looking at Rock Creek Hills, they do so because of the location and “the beauty of the neighborhood.” The community is flush with old, beautiful trees and green spaces.
Rock Creek Hills is located about a mile from Chevy Chase, three miles from Bethesda and 10 miles from downtown D.C.
“I’m very happy I stayed here; I love it here,” Taylor said.
Living there: According to the RCHCA, the northern and eastern parts of the neighborhood are bounded by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the southern part of the neighborhood is bounded by Rock Creek Park and the Capital Beltway, and the western border follows Connecticut Avenue and Fredrick Avenue.
Taylor says that 24 homes have sold in the neighborhood in the past year. The most expensive was a six-bedroom, five-bathroom house that sold for just under $1.9 million. The least expensive was a three-bedroom, two-bathroom ranch-style house that sold for $750,000.
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Two homes are for sale. The less expensive is a four-bedroom, four-bathroom Colonial listed at $799,000, and the other is a five-bedroom, six-bathroom rambler listed at $2.2 million.
Schools: Rosemary Hills and North Chevy Chase elementary, Silver Creek Middle and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High.
Transit: The MARC train runs through downtown Kensington, just outside the neighborhood boundaries. Montgomery County Transit’s Ride On routes service Rock Creek Hills. The closest Metro station, Medical Center on the Red Line, is under three miles away.
If you’d like your neighborhood featured in Where We Live, email kathy.orton@washpost.com.