[2] The park is a resource for environmental studies, wildlife observing, fishing, and other recreational activities made possible by easy access to the Potomac River.

Fourteen buildings and two structures are located in the historic district and associated with the property's sequential development as a plantation, an institutional agricultural complex, and a farm museum.

In 1811, Dr. Samuel DeButts, a native of Ireland bought part of the Addison property and renamed it Mount Welby in honor of his wife's family and he held onto the land until 1843 when his heirs sold it.

[3] During the rest of the 19th century the land changed hands many times until the federal government bought it, and an adjoining 100 acres, in 1891 as a farm to provide food for patients at nearby St. Elizabeths Hospital.

Farming ended in the 1950s and the land was then transferred to the NPS in 1959, under the Capper-Cramton Act of 1930, for educational purposes, and in 1967 Oxon Cove Park was formed and welcomed its first visitors.

The first phase of that investigation indicated that the soil, groundwater, and sediments are impacted by relatively low concentrations of hazardous substances typically found in municipal waste landfills and sludges generated from wastewater treatment plants.

The Oxon Cove Farm historic district is located on the crest of a ridge overlooking the Potomac River, north of I-95 and very close to National Harbor.

[19] The principal dwelling, known as "Mount Welby," is a c. 1807–1811 two-story three-bay brick structure laid in Flemish bond with Italianate detailing and sheltered by a shed roof, and visible to motorists crossing the interstate Woodrow Wilson Bridge.