Joaquin Miller Cabin

The only late 19th-century rustic log cabin in Washington, D.C. looks quite at home in its present location in a picnic area off Beach Drive alongside Rock Creek, but it was not originally located here.

Joaquin Miller was an eccentric poet who lived in Washington, D.C. between 1883-1885. Following a failed political run, he built a cabin near the modern-day intersection of Belmont & 16th St. NW to "find his muse." Apparently, she was in California as he headed west after only two years.

Fast forward to 1911 — ground was being broken for the construction of Meridian Hill Park and a nearby estate for former ambassador to France, Henry White, that threatened to flatten the cabin. A pair of California senators intervened just in the nick of time to force the relocation of the cabin to its current location.

The cabin was dedicated on June 2, 1912, and served as a shelter for the National Park Service until it was leased to Pherne Miller, the niece of the original owner, who operated the cabin as a snack bar and taught art classes there until the mid-1950s. 

Between 1973 and 2011, the cabin was home to the oldest poetry reading series in Washington, D.C.  In 2011, the series was moved to the Rock Creek Nature Center.