Dear PoPville – What are the Loud Noises in Rock Creek Park?

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by Prince Of Petworth December 4, 2013 at 1:30 pm 28 Comments

quiet_residential_zone

“Dear PoPville,

For the last few Tuesdays we have been hearing extremely loud noises, sort of like short explosions or shotguns, coming from Rock Creek Park (near Adams Morgan/Kalorama/the horse stables). Any idea what is going on? It is making our dog freak out!”

Maybe it’s related to what a member of the Cleveland Park listserv wrote:

“Once again, those of us who live adjacent to the Zoo were treated to a dawn wake-up call of workers making non-stop noise on the service road. This time, it appears to have been multiple leaf blowers (or something similar with hoses and loud motors switching on/off) going up and down the road, lasting from around 5:15AM until at least 6:50AM. These activities not only broke the law re: permitted start time for non-emergency work, they showed utter disregard for the nearby community.”

Anyone else hearing loud noises from the park?

Johnny

Ive been hearing the same thing but all the way over by tenley town. It sounds to me like dynamite blasting for a large development but I cant think of which it could be?
Anonymous

The whole tone of the Cleveland Park listserve cracks me up. Yes, leafblowers are annoying and being woken up early is annoying, but it’s not like someone kicked your puppy..

Disclaimer: I live in CP, so I’m not on the listserve just to make fun of it.
- Anonymous
  
  +1
- Anonymous
  
  if you side with leaf blowers, you have utter disregard for your community! WHY DO YOU HATE YOUR COMMUNITY?!?!?!?!
  
  I actually get up around 5:30, and would rather have the noise then, and not after I go to bed at 10. WHY CANT EVERYONE BE QUIET AFTER NINE!?!?!
  - Anonymous
    
    because we’re not 105 years old! EARPLUGS!
Allison

Not sure if it’s related, but I heard several loud explosions around lunch time today all the way over on Constitution Ave, near the art galleries. It was very unsettling.
AW2992

I’ve been hearing it around 7am by the National Cathedral, too. It sounds like 8-10 evenly-spaced, far-off shotgun blasts, so I figured it was an excavation project somewhere nearby. There are large buildings going up in Van Ness, on Connecticut north of Dupont, and in Glover Park – but I’d expect more neighborhood uproar if the noise was coming from those sites.
- Anonymous
  
  There is a huge apartment building going up behind the Marriott Wardman Park, maybe they’re responsible for the noise.
  - Honey Badger
    
    It’s not that one causing the noise. I live right by there and haven’t heard anything. Plus, that construction is pretty far along at this point. As an aside, it seems like the slowest construction project on the planet.
    - Michael
      
      I talked to a construction worker as we waited for the metro elevator and he said it’s looking like it will open in July. He also said that the penthouses will be going for $12K a month!
- Anonther
  
  Your description sounds like something that came up here a year or two ago. I can’t remember what the consensus was, but might be something to do with Arlington Cemetery?
  - Anonther
    
    Ah, fortheshorties already mentioned this above, with a link to more info.
  - Anonymous Coward
    
    Perhaps they are building another underground bunker for a self-styled VIP?
- JS
  
  I heard the same as AW2992.
dat

you’re hearing the gunshots from the dear culling.
Anonymous

At least you don’t have to deal with the constant sound of pressure washing and garbage trucks from Sweet Mangoes every day…
Anonymous

werewolves
anon

Maybe it’s a group of endangered shrimp protesting the metro Purple Line.
Anonymous

Im nto sure this is it, but if there is any sort of new construction going on, it might be the crews hammering posts into the ground.
- Anonymous
  
  Yeah, my guess was going to be a pile driver. Those things can be incredibly loud.
Anonymous

It might sound like a silly suggestion, but could it be the DC leaf collection? One morning a week or two ago, I heard some unusually loud noise coming from the street, looked out and that’s what was going on. Not sure it would sound explode-y, but maybe if the truck vacuumed up a bunch of rocks or whatever, they’d blast around the inside of the truck? Anyway, it’s happening now and it’s louder than you might suspect…
Michael

They’re doing road work at night on 16th St., NW at Spring. It’s very loud.
MRD

National Park Service sends sharpshooters in to cull the deer. I don’t read the Post anymore but I’m sure there’s an article there about it. The population is large this year.
- MRD
  
  Here we go: http://www.nps.gov/rocr/parkmgmt/white-tailed-deer-management.htm
  - Prince Of Petworth
    
    The shooting took place in March: https://www.popville.com/2013/03/rock-creek-park-begins-deer-reduction-operations/
styglan1dc

Have heard the loud booms echoing across the city from Meridian Hill Park over the last week.
.
My guess given sound and general direction it seems to be coming from is that these are the cannons that were mentioned a year or so ago on PoP.
.
These are very distinct, timed booms that are a good distance away and sound a lot like previous years.
- DC_Chica
  
  agreed – even though the canon shots are coming from arlington cemetery, the sound can carry long distances under certain weather conditions (I can occassionally hear a train sounding its horn here in the Palisades, even though the closest above-ground tracks are in NE DC and SW DC).
RealityCheck

Boo-hoo, I live in a rich part of town and it makes me angry when people are cleaning too loudly!!!!

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