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President's Park South (commonly called the Ellipse) is a 52 acres (21 ha) park located just south of the White House fence. Properly, the Ellipse is the name of the five-furlong (1 km) circumference street within the park. The entire park is open to the public, and features various monuments. The Ellipse is also the location for a number of annual events. D.C. locals can often be heard to say they are "on the Ellipse", which is understood to mean that the individual is on the field that is bounded by Ellipse Road.
The park was conceived in 1791, the first plan for the park was drawn up by Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant, and during the American Civil War, the grounds of the Ellipse and incomplete Washington Monument were used as corrals for horses, mules, and cattle, and as camp sites for Union troops. The Army Corps of Engineers began work on the Ellipse in 1867 and worked on it through the late 1880s.