Living in Georgetown, Washington DC

The C&O Canal's towpath runs the length of Georgetown along the neighborhood's northern edge, a mule-drawn barge route turned walking and running trail that once carried coal and flour to the port that gave the neighborhood its start. Georgetown University's campus fills the western end of the neighborhood, its gray stone spires visible from much of the surrounding grid of Federal-era rowhouses, some dating to the late 1700s. M Street and Wisconsin Avenue carry the neighborhood's shopping and restaurants, running down toward the Washington Harbour development on the Potomac waterfront, rebuilt after flood damage in the 1980s and 90s. Georgetown has no Metro station of its own — a long-standing gap in the system rather than an oversight — and residents rely on the DC Circulator, buses, or a walk across Rock Creek to Foggy Bottom or across the river to Rosslyn for a train.

That rail gap is real and daily, not a minor inconvenience, and the narrow, cobblestoned side streets leave parking scarce even for residents with a permit.

Georgetown's rents rank among the highest in the city despite the missing Metro stop, proof that its riverfront setting, university, and shopping district carry the neighborhood on their own.