Thompson's Boat Center

Thompson’s Boat Center at 2900 Virginia Avenue NW is a boathouse and outdoor recreation rental facility on the Potomac River shoreline near the Kennedy Center, at the southern end of the Rock Creek Park trail system that connects the Georgetown waterfront to the Rock Creek and the National Mall waterfront. The facility provides the kayak, the canoe, the rowboat, and the bicycle rentals that the Washington outdoor recreation community uses for the access to the Potomac River water trail and the Rock Creek Park trail system from the Virginia Avenue waterfront launch point.

The Virginia Avenue location at the confluence of the C and O Canal’s trail system and the Rock Creek Park trail system places Thompson’s Boat Center at the intersection of Washington’s two most significant recreational trail corridors: the C and O Canal towpath that extends 184 miles from Georgetown to Cumberland, Maryland, providing the most continuous natural trail experience accessible from the Washington metropolitan area; and the Rock Creek Park trail system that runs through the park corridor from the Potomac waterfront to the Maryland border. The Georgetown active community that uses both trail systems for the running, the cycling, and the paddling uses Thompson’s Boat Center as the waterfront access point.

The kayak and the canoe rental from Thompson’s Boat Center provides the Georgetown paddler with the access to the Potomac River section between Georgetown and the Kennedy Center.

Hours run during the active season from early morning through evening. Thompson’s Boat Center at 2900 Virginia Avenue NW provides the Washington outdoor recreation community with the waterfront access that the Virginia Avenue location enables at the southern end of the Rock Creek Park trail corridor. The Georgetown cyclist who rides the Capital Crescent Trail from the Georgetown waterfront to the Silver Spring endpoint, or who uses the Rock Creek Park trail for the Bethesda and the National Zoo access, uses Thompson’s Boat Center as the starting point of the Virginia Avenue trail approach.

The boat center’s position at 2900 Virginia Avenue NW, which is technically on the Foggy Bottom side of the Georgetown-Foggy Bottom boundary, provides the Georgetown and the Foggy Bottom community with the shared waterfront recreation resource. The bicycle rental at Thompson’s provides the Georgetown visitor who wants the Capital Crescent Trail cycling experience but who does not have the bicycle with them with the immediate rental solution. Hours run during the active outdoor season. Thompson’s Boat Center at 2900 Virginia Avenue NW provides the Georgetown and Foggy Bottom waterfront communities with the kayak, canoe, rowboat, and bicycle rentals from the Potomac River shoreline during the active outdoor season. The Virginia Avenue waterfront address at 2900 NW is at the intersection of the Rock Creek Park trail system and the Potomac River, providing the outdoor recreation access to both the water trail and the land trail.