Story by Laurie White

Photos by Leah L. Jones

Wingate is a neighborhood of single family homes in Glenn Dale. It is in the eastern part of Prince George’s County with close access to Route 193, the Baltimore Washington Parkway and Interstate 495 and I-95.

The neighborhood is off of Good Luck Road, Lanham-Severn Road and Springfield Road. One of the great advantages is that there are no major thru streets which keeps the community safe and quiet, said Sandra Frazier.

Frazier, president of the Wingate Board of Directors, moved to the neighborhood in 1995. “We were attracted to the community because of its location and its quiet nature and the nice homes on large lots and mature trees.”

Wingate has a very active homeowners' association according to Frazier. The association has a Web site for residents and potential residents to go for information.

“We have an active and supportive homeowners’ association that works hard to maintain the livability and appeal of the community,” she said.

The neighborhood appeals to residents like Frazier because of its “large, wooded lots, a community common area with a small playground, tennis courts and a wonderful walking path with exercise stations around the small lake. It is a quiet, stable and well maintained community. Our neighbors are friendly and helpful.”

There are planned community activities to help neighbors get to know one another, said Frazier.

Wingate has great access to local shopping and entertainment in the Glenn Dale area. Annapolis Mall is 20 minutes away, and Bowie Town Center only a few miles.

Jim Titus, secretary of the Glenn Dale Citizens Association, said, “You do not have the restaurants like Bethesda has, but a few good ones and good lunch places. It used to be you had to go all the way to Bowie and Greenbelt for good restaurants and shopping, but with infill development and MD-450 which is pretty much an artery,” residents don’t have to go as far away for food and entertainment.

Glenn Dale has many historical landmarks to attract people to the area as well. It is where many went for tuberculosis cures and where the azalea is thought to have made its U.S. debut.

Henry Wixon, president of Glenn Dale Citizens Association, said that old landmarks like the Marietta Mansion and Dorsey Chapel, an early African-American one-room schoolhouse in Glenn Dale that the community is working to save and restore, along with community resources like the Glenn Dale Volunteer Fire Department and Glenn Dale Elementary School, keep the focus on the community and its residents.

“Glenn Dale is a wonderful area,” Wixon said. “It has been historically a rural area and although it is more developed today than it was before the big building boom cycle of the last five years, it still retains a lot of the charm and open space that characterize the historically rural areas around the District of Columbia.”

Glenn Dale, known as “the forest of Prince George’s County” in the 19th century, offers access to the Prince George’s County Parks’ trail system, Wixon said, and nearby Bell Station Road, a road he said many residents call “the heart of Glenn Dale as far as its rural and historic past is concerned.” The road was named “historic and scenic” by Prince George’s County in 1993.

Walkers and bicyclists will find room to move in Glenn Dale. The WNBA trail, a 5.6-mile trail from Route 450 in Glenn Dale to the Patuxent River and a 10-foot-wide trail running from Glenn Dale to Bowie, runs along the site of the former Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad. Wixon said that it leads to the Lincoln Vista neighborhood to the northeast, where they have a beautiful stream.

Titus is on Maryland’s Advisory Committee for Bicycle and Pedestrian Affairs, and finds plenty of paths for biking.

“I find I can bike anywhere I want to go and I don’t feel threatened,” he said. “There are bike paths, usually wide shoulders and not a lot of traffic on the road.”