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Samara Duplessis, now 15, ran away from her Michigan home in May 2020, but was recovered after a few days. The picture that the parents used to find her was spread on social media as part of the Wayfair Conspiracy. The parents think she may have been at risk of being sex trafficked and they are very protective of her now. 

The Washington Post

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Samara Duplessis, now 15, ran away from her Michigan home in May 2020, but was recovered after a few days. The picture that the parents used to find her was spread on social media as part of the Wayfair Conspiracy. The parents think she may have been at..

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Ruth Van Voorhees takes her golden retriever Ariel for a walk every day on the trails at a park in Westmoreland Hills, a neighborhood in Bethesda, Md., near the border with Washington.

“That got me through covid,” Van Voorhees said. “A lot of people used this park during covid because it's so great. It's really tranquil.”

<a href="https://montgomeryparks.org/parks-and-trails/westmoreland-hills-local-park/battery-bailey/" target=_blank>Westmoreland Hills Local Park,</a> which includes a playground, fields and tennis courts, connects to the <a href="https://montgomeryparks.org/parks-and-trails/little-falls-stream-valley-park/" target=_blank>Little Falls Stream Valley Park</a>, which offers access to the Little Falls and Capital Crescent trails as well as the stream itself.

“When you walk along here, you can see deer,” Van Voorhees said. “I've seen ospreys — crane-type birds that come here to fish — and they're pretty to see. I've seen owls, foxes. … It's a good place to birdwatch.”

The park is also home to <a href="https://montgomeryparks.org/parks-and-trails/westmoreland-hills-local-park/battery-bailey/" target=_blank>Battery Bailey</a>, Montgomery County’s only remaining fortification. The battery was constructed during the Civil War to protect the reservoir that supplied water to Washington, according to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

Westmoreland Hills Local Park also has a building called the Little House, which the <a href="https://www.westmorelandcitizens.com/home/" target=_blank>Westmoreland Citizens Association</a> maintains and rents for events such as meetings, birthday parties, classes and receptions.

In addition to Westmoreland Hills, the Westmoreland Citizens Association represents the subdivisions of Westgate, Westhaven, Yorktown Village, Spring Hill and Overlook, covering nearly 1,000 households, according to Sharon Whitehouse, one of the association’s two co-presidents. Homeowners pay $50 annually to belong to the WCA, according to the association’s website. A “good portion” of residents belong to the WCA, but joining is voluntary, said Emily Lange, a resident of Westmoreland Hills who volunteers with the association.

“Our citizenry is a very proactive citizenry,” said Dana Rice, the other co-president of the WCA and a real estate agent with Compass who lives in Westgate. “It’s a completely voluntary board, and everybody here focuses on pulling their weight to bring together different programs.”

The WCA hosts a dozen events per year, such as a Halloween movie night and a costume parade the next day, Whitehouse said. The association also holds a newcomers reception and a dinner for residents who have lived in the community for more than 25 years, she said.

The WCA’s main event is a Fourth of July celebration in Westmoreland Hills Local Park. The party includes bouncy houses, food and a bicycle-decorating contest, said Lange, who moved to Westmoreland Hills in 2012 and lives there with her husband and 11-year-old daughter. Lange’s daughter won the contest last year.

“They bring in the Glen Echo fire department … and the firemen and women are the judges,” Lange said. “[Winning] was quite exciting for her.”

Lange’s daughter attends public school at<a href="https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/westbrookes/" target=_blank> Westbrook Elementary</a>. A school bus comes to Westmoreland Hills to take her and other students to and from school.

“There's other kids in the neighborhood who [also attend Westbrook], so it's very nice to have her school friends around,” Lange said. “It gives her a lot of good playdates. And we certainly met a lot of wonderful people here in the area.”

Many generations of families live in Westmoreland Hills. According to Lauren Pillsbury, a real estate agent with Washington Fine Properties, there are empty nesters, families with older kids and younger people starting their families in the neighborhood. The housing stock in Westmoreland Hills consists of single-family homes, most of which were built in the 1930s, ’50s and ’60s, while the houses in the Overlook subdivision were developed in the ’70s, according to Hans Wydler of Wydler Brothers of Compass.

The neighborhood is popular for its “quiet setting” close to the city, Pillsbury said.

Amenities such as shops, gas stations and restaurants are accessible along River Road, about a five-minute drive away, or in Friendship Heights, Tenleytown and downtown Bethesda, which are all within a 10-minute drive of Westmoreland Hills. There are also shops on the other side of the park, about 10 minutes away driving or 25 minutes walking.

“It's all location, location, location, right?” said Van Voorhees, who raised three children in the neighborhood. “The schools are close. If people go to church, churches are close, synagogue’s close.”

Van Voorhees said that when she and her husband were looking to buy a house, they wanted to live in a neighborhood near Washington that didn’t require crossing the Potomac to enter the city.

“I was looking for a neighborhood that was not cookie cutter, that had a personality,” she said. “People are looking for something that has what this neighborhood has.”

Living there: Westmoreland Hills’ boundaries vary depending on who you ask. It is generally agreed that the neighborhood is bounded by the Maryland and D.C. border to the east, Dalecarlia Reservoir to the south and Little Falls Stream Valley Park to the west.

The Montgomery Planning department draws the neighborhood’s northern boundary in a line that cuts through Falmouth and Portsmouth roads on the near side of Massachusetts Avenue and through Worthington Drive on the far side. It also includes Overlook as part of the neighborhood. However, Overlook has its own homeowners association with a community pool that is not accessible to the rest of the neighborhood. Spring Hill is also sometimes considered part of Westmoreland Hills.

Meanwhile, the Westmoreland Citizens Association’s boundary line puts the houses on Worthington Drive in Yorktown Village.

In the past year, the average sale price in the neighborhood, including Overlook, was $1.6 million, said Rice. The most expensive house sold was a four-bedroom, five-bathroom Cape Cod for $2.3 million, she said.

According to Pillsbury, the least expensive house, which had three bedrooms and four bathrooms, was sold for $960,000. However, that house was likely a teardown. The next lowest was a three-bedroom, three-bathroom house that sold for just under $1.3 million.

“The good news is that the inventory is tight but it is coming,” Rice wrote in an email. “Through broker networking, I can confirm more is about to hit the market this spring, thankfully.”

Schools: Westbrook Elementary, Westland Middle and Bethesda-Chevy Chase High.

Transit: The Friendship Heights and Tenleytown Metro stations are around 1.5 to 2 miles away from the neighborhood. Along Massachusetts Avenue, there are Ride On bus stops. There are also bus stops for Metrobus routes on Massachusetts Avenue on the Washington side of Westmoreland Circle, just a few minutes away from the neighborhood. The Capital Crescent Trail and the Little Falls Trail are open to bicycles and pedestrians.

If you’d like your neighborhood featured in Where We Live, email <a href="mailto:kathy.orton@washpost.com">kathy.orton@washpost.com</a>.