Evening star., 1948-10-12
Is Country Clubs,
Having 2,243Acres,
Serve D. T.. Area
All Are Located
Outside Washington;
Newest in Bethesda
By Betty Beoie

By Betty Beole
Serving residents of Washington
are are 13 country clubs in the Dis
trict area which own and maintain
a total area of 2,243 acres.
All the clubs are outside the city
limits, but each club derives any
where from so per cent to almost all
its membership from the District
AS would be expected, because of
its proximity to the large Northwest
residential area, most of the clubs
are in Montgomery County. There
are, in fact, no less than nine coun-
try clubs in that Maryland county,
while one is in Prince Georges
County, and across the river in Vir-
ginia there are three, now as ac-
cessible to much Of residential
Washington as those in Maryland.
Oldest Is Chevy Chase.
Oldest of the 13 is the Chevy
Chase Club. Organized first as the
Chevy Chase Hunt, it was incor-
porated in 1893 when it was really
far out in the country. AS time
went on it converted its stables to
other uses and became more of a
family club, with the accent on golf.
All the clubs, with the exception
Of Burning Tree Club, which is
mans golf club only, are family
clubs supplementing the home life
Of Washington families. They have
something to offer every member OF
the family (even including the little
children, who sometimes have a pool
Of their own, and as such they are
meeting places for all ages.
They are wholesome social CEN
ters, where parents and their chill
dren may be found playing tennis
side by side or dancing in the same
ballroom.
The golf course Is the pride of
every country club and the No. /
requirement, since it wouldn't be a
country club without one. The only
outdoor, year-around activity, golf
ing is the most popular sport and
the most expensive for both the
members and the club. 1t is esti-
mated that it costs from $25 900 to
$35, 900 a year to maintaina an 18-
hole golf course in the proper con-
dition.
A year after the Chevy Chase Club
was formed the Washington Golf
and Country Club was founded in
Arlington County, and in the latter
part of the COS the Columbia Coun-
try Club was started on Georgia
avenue, moving to Connecticut ave-
nue. extended in 1911.
Biggest acreage of any club is that
of the Congressional Club out on
River road. Its 400 acres were leased
by the Government during the war
as a training station for OSS per-
sonnel. This club, which draws its
name from the fact that it was
started by members of Congress, has
all the room it needs and is con-
sidering adding another nine holes
to the golf course. Its outstanding
summertime feature is its 250-foot
terrace for dining and dancing.
Largest of all the clubs-in fact,
it is probably the largest country
club in the worlds the Army Navy
Country Club. Though it has only
about $50 more resident members
than the Chevy Chase Club, its 1850
other members, scattered all over
the world, bring its total to stag
gering 5000.
It has two golf courses, II tennis
courts, some of which are lighted at
night, and three swimming pools,
which drew as many as thousand
bathers a day during the hottest
weather this past summer.
Clubs are luxury items which
quickly reflect economic conditions.
Coincident with the present real
estate boom, one would expect to
find country clubs thriving-and
such is the case. The Army Navy
Country Club has LOO on its waiting
list. It takes about four years to
become a member of the Columbia
Country Club. The Chevy Chase
Club recently reduced the age of its
waiting list from nine to four years,
but still has 400 on 1t. The Wash
ington Golf and Country Club has
a az -year-old waiting list. And the
Belle Haven Country Club, just be-
yond Alexandria, is doubling the size
of its clubhouse so as to accommo-
date more than its present 440 resi-
dent membership.
Back in 1916, the Woodmont
Country Club was founded, moving
in 1922 to its present location on
Rockville pike. And in 1921 the
Manor Club came into being
Though it offers tennis and SWIM
ming facilities and the usual club
dances, its biggest feature is the
27-hole golf course. Golf is the big
thing at the Kenwood Golf and
Country Club, at the Indian Spring
Country Club, where any member