President's Park

President's Park is the green area around the White House in Washington, D.C., managed by the National Park Service. It includes the White House itself, Lafayette Square with Andrew Jackson's equestrian statue on the north side, and The Ellipse, a 21-hectare oval lawn to the south where the National Christmas Tree is lit each year. Pierre Charles L'Enfant planned the area in 1791 as a combined presidential residence and parade ground, but Thomas Jefferson had it split into separate sections in 1804. Lafayette Square is one of America's most important civil-protest spaces - suffragettes demonstrated here, Vietnam-era protests filled it in 1968, and Black Lives Matter protesters gathered here in 2020. Today the park is a meeting point, demonstration ground and photo stop for tourists peering through the high fence at the White House.