Sumner, a Luxury Neighborhood in Bethesda MD

Life in Sumner, a luxury neighborhood in Bethesda, Maryland, offers a range of benefits that appeal to many individuals and families.  To see what is on the market right now in Sumner, click here.

Residents enjoy fantastic recreational opportunities with easy access to Little Falls Valley Stream Park, the Capital Crescent Trail, and the C&O Towpath. The Shops at Sumner Place further enhance the neighborhood by offering a variety of dining, shopping, services, and a grocery store just steps away. Sumner also stands out as the closest Bethesda neighborhood to Washington, D.C., that feeds into the highly sought-after Walt Whitman High School.

Sumner is close to downtown D.C., making it an ideal location for those who work in the city or want easy access to cultural, political, and historical landmarks.  Commuting is easy if you want to get out of the city since the neighborhood is conveniently located near major routes like the Capital Beltway (I-495) and the Clara Barton Parkway.  If you are driving into DC, you can take Massachusetts Avenue, River Road, MacArthur or the Clara Barton Parkway.  You can count on at least one of these routes being clogged on any given morning – after all – it is the Washington suburbs – but with four main arteries to choose from, you won’t be stuck for long!

Sumner, a luxury neighborhood, has top notch public and private school choices!  Sumner is part of the highly rated Montgomery County Public Schools district, known for its strong academics and extracurricular opportunities.  This community is the closest in the Walt Whitman HS cluster to downtown DC.  Many people choose their home based on the school assignment and Whitman is a great choice.

Near Sumner are lots of private and parochial schools to choose from.  Little Flower is a local Catholic School across Massachusetts Ave from Sumner and Washington Waldorf School is on Sangamore Road on the back side of Sumner.

Other choices include Stone Ridge, Landon School for Boys, Holton Arms,  Primary Day, St. Bartholomew and Washington Episcopal. The latter four are all on River Road just a few miles from this luxury neighborhood.

The neighborhood is known for its quiet, tree-lined streets, well-maintained homes, beautifully landscaped lots and sense of community.  Sumner offers a mix of charming single-family homes, townhouses, and condos (such as Sumner Village) catering to diverse preferences and needs.  Originally Sumner was a collection of colonials with a few split levels and ramblers mixed in.  In recent years many of those homes have been remodeled or replaced with new construction homes.  Recent single family home sales in Sumner have ranged from $1.7M to $2M.

The area offers access to green spaces like Glen Echo Park and the C&O Canal, which provide outdoor activities like hiking, biking, and kayaking.  There are so many things to do at Glen Echo such as children’s shows at the Puppet Theater, dancing at the Spanish Ballroom and lots of art classes in various media for all ages.   The C&O Canal has been a welcome spot of greenery in Montgomery County for decades.  You can ride a canal barge at Potomac Falls or hike the BIlly Goat Trail.   Bikers and dog walkers all love to spend time on the C&O Canal!

As befits a luxury neighborhood, Sumner is close to some of the best country clubs in the area.  Chevy Chase Club is just two miles away on Connecticut Avenue while Columbia Country Club is a little further up Connecticut Avenue.  Congressional Country Club and Burning Tree are close by on River Road while Kenwood Country Club is less than a mile away on River Road.

Sumner is close to shopping centers like the Shops at Sumner Place, which includes grocery stores, boutique shops, and casual dining like Praline.  There is a gym there and  Kicks Karate which teaches children.  Proximity to high-quality medical facilities like Suburban Hospital and Sibley Hospital is easy from Sumner and there are lots of  fitness centers and recreational clubs nearby.  If you are a golfer or tennis players, there are lots of clubs nearby such as Burning Tree, Chevy Chase, Kenwood, and Congressional Country Club.

Living near venues like Glen Echo Park provides opportunities for art classes, live performances, and community events.  Bethesda itself has a thriving arts and dining scene, with festivals, art galleries, and award-winning restaurants.  Be sure to check out the many programs at the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, the Strathmore Performing Arts Center and more!

On a more mundane level, Little Falls Library is right across street from Sumner with a charming children’s section on the first floor.  The librarians are helpful, the space is sunny and you will enjoy a pleasant hour looking for that perfect book.

There are a number of sites on the internet that will give you ‘estimates’ for what your home will sell for. These sites use public records and usually some kind of algorithm to try to produce a value for your home. These sites also publicly state their ‘error rates’. That means they aren’t correct, they are simply an estimate based on incomplete date.

We would love to do a free comparitive market analysis of your home or condo on Capitol Hill and let you know what could expect to get in today’s market if you are considering selling. Our valuation is based on up to the day data for homes that have recently sold in the area. Our valuation is not based on a formula that relies on public records which can take months to update. Please visit my website in order to get your free property evaluation for your metro DC home or condo.