discover DC....   A - L

A
ALLEN CHAPEL AME CHURCH
ALLEN CHAPEL AME CHURCH is a historically black Methodist Church.

AMERICAN LATINO MUSEUM [proposed]:
The Latino Community, after the African American Museum was announced, sought to build a NATIONAL AMERICAN LATION MUSEUM in Washington DC. FRIENDS OF THE AMERICAN LATINO MUSEUM COMMISION, after submitting its report to Congress, solicited opinion votes from the public on the Museum and its mission. The Survey was simple. VOTIFI.com asked One question with four options '[ ] strongly support [ ] Somewhat support [ ] Somewhat oppose [ ] Strongly oppose ' for answers. The question was "Do you support or oppose building a National American Latino Museum in Washington DC?'

ANGELS:
Classical motifs of unglazed angels appear in gardens around the District.

ARLINGTON CEMETERY:
Few people know Arlington National Cemetery was a working farm before it became Hallowed ground final home to Presidents and heroes. Today, Arlington Cemetery is managed by the National Park Service.

In 1802, George Washington Parke Custis commissioned architect George Hadfield to design a house atop the hill site. Custis was the adopted grandson of George Washington. Custis house, intended to be a place to store his adopted grandfather's momentos, would be seen from many vantage points in Washington DC. George Hadfield completed the house in 1817. Custis was survived by his only child Mary Anna Randolph Custis. Randolph Custis married her second cousin, Robert E. Lee, a hero of the South. Lee was an up and coming Army officer, a graduate of West Point. Randolph Custis and Lee married and lived in the mansion 30 years. Six of their seven children were born atop the Hill.  Lee declined an offer of commanding the Union Army when the Civil War broke out instead choosing to stay with Virginia which was seceding from the Union. It was in the mansion study that lee wrote his resignation letter from the US Army which the Lee family soon departed with the Union Army moving in making the mansion in to their head quarters. Union Army General Meigs who hated that Lee joined the Confederate cause, knowing the Union Army was seeking burial grounds for their Union dead, suggested the Union Army use Curtis Lee Farm relishing their decision to do so.

Arlington Cemetery began as muddy fields. It was filled with graves of unknown soldiers and graves of soldiers whose families were too poor to take their dead home for burial. The Lee family lost the family farm to the US Government when a property tax payment of $92.07 was refused. The payment was sent by messenger. Mary Lee was confined to a wheelchair. The law said taxes had to be paid in person by the owner. Mary Lee suffered rheumatoid arthritis and could not appear. The US Government bought the farm at a tax sale for $26,000. The year was 1864. The farm's name was changed. Arlington Cemetery was born.
In 1882, the Lee family won back their farm contesting the tax sale all the way up to the Supreme Court. The Government fearing they would have to dig up their heroes and rebury them elsewhere agreed to sell the property back to Mary and Robert E Lee's son for $150,000. While the Lees agreed to keep the Lee farm as a cemetery, Robert E Lee never set foot back on the family farm since the day he left it April 22, 1861. 

Annually, Military Chaplains deliver Easter Sunrise Sermons in the Amphitheatre. The Amphitheatre, made of Danby marble quarried from Vermont, sits adjacent to the Tomb of the Unknowns. The amphitheatre was designed by Carrere and Hastings, a 20th Century prominent architectural firm. A pair of 9' towering decorative historic marble urns originally flanking Arlington National Cemetery's Memorial Amphitheatre showed up on the Potomac Company auction block after being replaced during a mid 1990 renovation of the amphitheatre. The urns, carved with decorative eagles, serpents and rams heads, had been on display at DHS Designs Antique store for 14 years. The owner said he bought the urns from another dealer he would not name. Potomac Company withdrew the Urns from the auction block after receiving a request to do so from the Department of the Army who has oversight of Arlington Cemetery said "pending additional research to determine the rightful ownership and disposition" after preservation groups were outraged the urns, appearing in historic photographs of Arlington Cemetery would be sold to the highest bidder. Hew Wolfe, the Army's historic preservation officer said the Army was not sure what they would do with the urns. Army officials said the original renovation designs did instruct the contractor to "dispose" of the urns but preserved. The Virginia Department of Historic Resources reviewed and applroved those plans. The Department protects against discarding of historic artifacts. The Urn Incident spurred Arlington Cemetery to seek listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The listing, if approved, would document the site's monuments and protect the historic Cemeteries artifacts. Arlington

ARLINGTON CEMETERY: CHAPLAINS HILL

US chaplains serve as spiritual counselors to all members of the military and as clergy to members of their own faith.

There is a hill in Arlington Cemetery upon which stands monuments honoring Chaplains who died in combat, some receiving the Medal of Honor for their ultimate sacrifice. More than 250 have died in active d...uty. The first Chaplains monument was erected in 1926 honoring 23 chaplains who died during WWI. The second memorial was erected in 1981 memorializing 134 Protestant chaplains who died in WW I and II. A memorial honoring 83 Catholic chaplains who died in WWII, Korea and Vietnam was erected on Chaplains Hill in 1989.

The greatest story of a chaplain’s sense of service is the story of the Four Chaplains. The Immortal Four- Reverend George L Fox, Reverent Clark V Poling, Father John P Washington and Rabbi Alexander Goode- two Protestants, a Catholic and a Jew. The four, arms linked together, perished aboard the Dorchester, the day after she was torpedoed and sunk. Eyewitnesses tell how the four sang hymns to God as the ship went down. The chaplains stayed on board until the last lifejackets were given to men on board. When there were no more lifejackets to give, the chaplains removed their lifejackets, gave them to men, and continued singing until the waters closed over their heads taking them down to a watery grave.

The initiative to honor Jewish chaplains was initiated by Kenneth Kraetzer of White Plains New York, a Catholic, and Sol Moglen of Caldwell New Jersey. Kraetzer had noticed during a visit to Chaplains Hill in 2007 he could not find a monument to Jewish Chaplains especially Rabbi Alexander Goode when he researched the Four Immortal Chaplains. Kraetzer learned to submit a monument proposal he needed to provide the names of all Jewish chaplains who died in conflicts along with proposed funding to be approved by the United States Fine Arts Commission.

Fourteen Jewish chaplains who served in active duty in the military were honored. Jews have served in conflict from the Revolutionary War to present date. David Salisbury Franks was aide to camp to General George Washington. Leopold Karpeles was the first Jew to win a Medal of Honor for his service during the Civil War. Uriah Levy rose to the rank of commodore in the Navy. Levy abolished flogging as punishment for American sailors. Jewish chaplains did not serve during the Civil War. Congress had adopted a law denoting that “a regularly ordained minister of some Christian denomination” could be a chaplain. Reverend Arnold Fischel backed by the communal defense organization, Board of Delegates of American Israelites, approached President Lincoln to appoint a Jewish military chaplain. Levy argued to Lincoln appointing a Jewish chaplain would uphold the Untied States “principle of religious liberty.” Lincoln passed legislation in 1862, over the objections of some members of Congress allowing chaplains who were “Jewish rabbis, Chinese priests and Indian conjurers.” The Civil War chaplaincy law lapsed after the Civil War. It was renewed in 1946.

October 24, 2011, a monument was erected to FOURTEEN RABBIS OF CHAPLAINS HILL: Nachman S Arnoff, Meir Engel, Frank Goldenberg, Alexander Goode, Henry Goody, Joseph Hoenig, Samuel Dodkin Hurwitz, Herman Rosen, Samuel Rosen, Solomon Rosen, Morton Singer, David Sobel, Irving Tepper and Louis Werfel.

The widow of Alexander Goode, the chaplain who went down with the Dorchester, was present at the unveiling of the monument. Alexander Goode was a member of the Washington Hebrew Congregation currently located in NW DC. Assisted by family, she cut the swaddling covering the stone. Chaplains of all religions were in attendance a the wreath laying, the private unveiling of the headstone and also at the Arlington Cemetery Amphitheatre Presentation. The Amphitheater event was attended by Law Enforcement and military- present and veterans- family of the chaplains, guests, media, a survivor of the Dorchester who witnessed the Four Chaplains going down with the ship and a survivor of the rescuers to the men of the Dorchester. The superintendent of Arlington Cemetery spoke. A Republican and Democratic congressman spoke. Funders of the memorial spoke in tribute to the over $10 million dollars the events cost. Vocal entertainment was provided by West Points Jewish choir most of whom are not Jewish. The weekend was prefaced with Chaplains dinner at 6th and I Synagogue. It was followed by a reception. The event is remembered a commemorative booklet, a commemorative coin and with a monument in place at Chaplain’s Hill all visitors to Arlington Cemetery can see along with appreciation and reminder, these men died so American can have the Freedoms Americans enjoy.

B
BARTHOLDI PARK:
BARTHOLDI PARK was created in 1932. The park introduces new plants, updating, to reflect trends in American horticulture. BARTHOLDI PARK is located across from the United States Botanic Gardens. BARTHOLDI PARK is a demonstration garden for home landscaping, innovating plant combining and showcasing design themes.

BISHOPs GATE:
Between R and S on 15th Street, Logan's Circle, is Bishops Gate. Bishops Gate used to be the St Augustine School, Rectory and Convent. St Augustine's merged with St Paul's. The land and buildings, sold for redevelopment, were renamed Bishop's Gate. Bishop's Gate is a gated community of 82 condos.

BLACKBURN PATHOLOGY LABORATORY:
BLACKBURN PATHOLOGY LABORATORY was built in 1884. It was the first pathology laboratory in America to be established as part of a mental institution. Almost nothing was known about mental illness when it was built. It is named after Dr. I W Blackburn. Blackburn was appointed as chief of the pathology laboratory at the hospital with the goal of changing the ignorance of mental illness. The hospital operated for 126 years. Many contributions were made to neuropathology by the laboratory. the laboratory's staff published reports of neuropathic changes in patients from St Elizabeth's Hospital who died of nervous and mental diseases. The laboratory's crazy brains collection is housed at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, also known as the Joint Pathology Center.  The BLACKBURN PATHOLOGY LABORATORY was landmarked by the DC Historical world.

BREWMASTERS CASTLE:
The BREWMASTERS CASTLE has been described as Victorian Folly of magnificent outlandishness. Christian Heurich was a brewmaster actively managing his breweries until his deat at home in the Castle in 1945 at age 102.  The BREWMASTERS CASTLE, known as the Heurich Mansion, is the most intact late-Victorian home in the country. Located at the upper right corner of New Hampshire and 20th Street, the Castle, as it is endearingly called, was built in 1892 - 1894 during Dupont Circle's Golden era. Christian Heurich, a German immigrant, became a local brewer and philanthropist. The Castle, the first fireproof brewery, was built in an era when fires were hard to control and would destroy many beautiful homes. The Castle, a 32 room structure, contained 15 carved and cast bronze fireplaces. None were used. It was up to date in technology for its time. It had indoor plumbing, circulating hot water heat, central vaccum system, venting skylight, elevator shaft, pneumatic and electric communication systems and gas and electric lighting fixtures. Heurich, at his death, was the world's oldest brewer, the largest employer of German's in the nation's Capitol and was Washington DC's second largest landowner after the Federal Governor. Heurich build his third brewery, DC's largest, in Foggy Bottom at what is now the site of the John F Kennedy Center For the Performing Arts. Heurich's grandson Gary attempted his own brewery. Gary was successful in enlisting the DC Government to provide a $500 million payment to FRIENDS OF THE CASTLE. Gary Heurich left DC. A relative, adopted the Castle, becoming its benefactor.

BRYAN SCHOOL LOFTS:
The BRYAN SCHOOL, circa 1906, featured soaring ceilings and massive windows. The two entrances of the building feature stone columns and pediments. This building was developed by Eakin/Youngentob Associates to be part of Bryan Square featuring separate town homes. Award winning builder Abdo Development was to restore and convert the landmark building in to luxury lofts.

CAR BARN:
The CAR BARN was converted from a 1986 streetcar depot building with some loft-like units with high ceilings into units originally priced from the low $400′s during their release in 2004. The community isolated from the surrounding area was developed to include 146 units including one-  and two-bedroom condos in three and four-story historic brick buildings, 50 two-bedroom town homes, and conversion of rental apartment building to condominiums with 30 foot gates at both sides, has a pool in the middle, covered parking and patio units as well. An effort was made to return streetcars to the neighborhood in 2009 on H Street NE.

CHARLES C GLOVER BRIDGE  [ formerly called ROCK CREEK PARK BRIDGE ]:
CHARLES C GLOVER BRIDGE:

The CHARLES C GLOVER BRIDGE spans Rock Creek Parkway between the Islamic Cultural Center and the road heading down from American University past the British Embassy.

The CHARLES C GLOVER BRIDGE also plays a role in Israeli history. Over 6 decades ago, Stephen Norman, the only grandchild of Theodor Herzl, Zionism’s visionary, leapt to his death from the CHARLES C GLOVER BRIDGE. Norman was buried in DC then, 6 decades after his suicide, Norman’s body was exhumed and transferred to Israel for burial alongside his family. Stephen Norman’s grandfather, Theodore Herzl, the author of “Der Judenstaadt”, “A Jewish State,” written in 1895. “Der Judenstaadt” was Herzl’s solution to Europe’s not accepting Jews as citizens assimilated into the respective countries. Theodore Herzl had witnessed hordes of people chanting “Death To The Jews” after the conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus’ by French court martial. Herzl wrote, "In Paris, as I have said, I achieved a freer attitude toward anti-Semitism... Above all, I recognized the emptiness and futility of trying to 'combat' anti-Semitism." Years later, Dreyfus was exonerated, serving in WWI, receiving the Legion of Honor.

Theodor Herzl died at age 44 in 1904 of heart failure. In accordance with Jewish tradition of naming a newborn child after a deceased relative, Trude and Richard Neumann, gave their son Stephen, his grandfather’s name for his middle name.

Stephen suffered from the hereditary depression that engulfed his grandfather, mother, aunt and uncle. Three months after learning his mother and father were murdered in the Holocaust, Stephen, sunk so deep in melancholy, committed suicide in North West DC. One morning he walked from his rented one room in a boarding house blocks from his work, neatly laid his jacket over the railing of the Rock Creek Park Bridge renamed the CHARLES C GLOVER BRIDGE, before throwing himself to his death below on to what is now the Rock Creek Parkway. Stephen Norman was just 28 years old. Norman worked in the British Embassy, up the road, for the science and economic mission, transferring there a short time after retiring his position of Captain, in the RAF, the Royal Air Force.  

Sixty one years later, Stephen Norman’s remains were exhumed from Adas Israel Cemetery in NE Washington DC. The date was November 29 2007, by coincidence, the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of the State of Israel. Morticians located portions of the wooden casket he was originally laid to rest in. They also located two femurs, two tibias and one patella. The following Monday December 1, 2007, a Return Ceremony was held at Adas Israel in NW DC.  The Reburial service was attended by leaders and members of the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, members of the Jewish Community and of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC. Stephen’s coffin was draped with the blue-and-white Zionist colors. He was preceded by colors of the Jewish War Veterans. Speakers at the memorial service included Hazzan Jenna Greenberg from the Adas Israel Congregation. She chanted Psalm 23. Rabbis Avis Miller of Adas Israel Congregation read Psalm 126. Rabbi Jeffrey Wohlberg of Adas Israel Congregation made remarks. William Hess, President of the American Zionist Organization spoke representing the World Zionist Organization. Jerry Klinger, President of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation made remarks. Klinger is credited with finding Stephen Norman and returning him to Israel. His Excellency Sallai Meridor, Ambassador of Israel to the United States gave an address. Dr. Avi Beker of Georgetown University spoke. Cantor Jeffrey Weber, Adas Israel Congregation, chanted El Maleh Rachamim. Edward Kopf, president of Adas Israel Congregation recited Kaddish. Rabbi Charles Feinberg, Adas Israel Congregation read Psalms 23 in English. The service was concluded with the singing of Hatikvah, Israel’s national anthem.

Norman was transferred, following the service, to Mount Herzl in Jerusalem Israel for reburial in his family plot. Stephen Norman had seen Israel before his death. He wrote in his diaries, he understood his grandfather’s vision for Jews to walk freely in a place they could call home. It was Stephen Norman’s written wish to be buried in Israel. He was accompanied by Jerry Klinger and Klinger’s wife Judy.

December 2, after sundown, his wish came true. Soon after landing from his flight from America on El Al, Stephen Norman was met by Chevrah Kaddishah, Friends of the Buried, few other supporters before being transferred to Mount Herzl, where his grandfather, aunt and uncle are buried. No remains exist of his mother and father. They were cremated in the gas chamber at  at Teresientstad Concentration Camp.

He was attended by representatives of the World Zionist Organization, the Israeli Embassy and the Jewish Agency. Kaddish,, the Jewish memorial prayer for the dead, was finally recited for Stephen.

Stephen had written in his diaries "My visit to Palestine is over... It is said that to go away is to die a little. And I know that when I went away from Erez Israel, I died a little. But sure, then, to return is somehow to be reborn. And I will return.” Stephen had stopped in the British Mandatory Palestine, on his way to Washington DC. He wanted to see what his grandfather had done. Stephen Norman’s diaries are located in the Zionist archives in Jerusalem. He wrote “My desire to visit it was of many years’ standing. I cannot say that my upbringing had been markedly Jewish or Orthodox. Nor was the idea of Zionism, in spite of my family connection with it, ever at any time rammed down my throat, either at home or subsequently at school and university. But I had found and read my grandfather’s writings. I believed in the idea and the aims of Zionism, and in the moral, ethical, economic, and social need for it that had been made even more urgent and important by world events and the tremendous problems created by the new scientific anti-Semitism of the last decades. I desired to see with my own eyes a little of what had been created in Palesting, of what the feeling was in the country and what its potential maybe.” 

Stephen Norman’s exhumation and re-interment came of the labor of effort from Jerry Klinger, an east coast resident. Klinger, a Jewish historian,  read a line in Amos Elon’s biography of Theodor Herzl, referencing towards the end of the book, Herzl’s last descendent had committed suicide in Washington DC in 1946.  Klinger, founder of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, is an American Jewry historian. Klinger began researching the life of Stephen Norman in the Fall of 2002, sixty six years after Stephen Norman’s suicide at age 28. Klinger located Norman. The headstone for marking Stephen Norman’s grave in Washington DC, in Adas Israel Cemetery. It reads “Stephen Theodore Norman, Captain Royal Artillery British Army, Grandson of Theodore Herzl, April 21, 1918 - November 26, 1946.” 

10th of Iyar, in Israel, celebrates, Herzl’s birthday. “Herzl Day” was declared by the Knesset to be a day of national mourning. A state memorial service held at Herzl’s gravesite on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Bunyamin Ze’ev Herzl Law, passed by Israeli Parliament in 2004, states “time will be set aside in schools and on IDF bases for studying Herzl’s activities and his vision; a conference in memory of Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl will be held in Jerusalem, where topics relating to Zionism will be discussed in the spirit of Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl’s vision.” 


CHARLES SUMNER MUSEUM and ARCHIVES:
The Charles Sumner School, located at 17th and M Street NW, is one of the most historic buildings in African American history. The school, developed under the Freeman Bureau, was designed by Washington architect Adolph Cluss, was constructed in 1872 on the site of an earlier school, during the 1870’s, a  time the District of Columbia was being transformed under the vision of Alexander R Shepard.

The Sumner school is named for US Senator Charles Sumner, one of the first public school buildings erected in DC to educate DC’s black community. The school was dedicated in 1872. Sumner, a major figure in the fight to abolish slavery including slavery in the District of Columbia. Sumner advocated for the return of fugitive slaves by Union troops. Sumner fought to establish equal rights for African Americans. He opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The U.S. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act May 30, 1854. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, allowing people in Kansas and Nebraska to make their own decision if they wanted slavery within their borders, repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 forbade slavery north of latitude 36°30´.

Sumner fought to establish the Freeman’s Bureau. March 3, 1865, Congress established the Freeman’s Bureau, designed to help former slaves find employment, provide educational opportunities and develop health facilities. A year later, the Freeman Bureau spent $17,000,000 creating thousands schools, hundred plus hospitals and give food and shelter to former slaves. Washington DC’s Howard University, named after Civil War hero and commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees General Oliver Howard. Sumner worked to admit testimony from African Americans in to US Supreme Court proceedings. Sumner fought so black soldiers received pay equal to white soldiers and for African American to ride District of Columbia streetcars.

The Charles Sumner School underwent a $5 million renovation to include a museum and conference center in 1984 – 1986 under the oversight of Richard Hurlbut and others. Hurlbut, a native Washingtonian who worked for decades to preserve DC's historic public schools for over twenty-five years, oversaw curating and acquiring memorabilia and artifacts of the DC public school system including separate hymnals for white children and for African American children.

CHILDRENS MUSEUM:
The 130-year old CAPITAL CHILDRENS MUSEUM at 3rd Street and H Streets near Union Station was converted in to loft units by Abdo Development with Broadway Partners.

CHINATOWNS FRIENDSHIP ARCH:
Dragons abound in Chinatown, on the Friendship Arch, on walls and on the flagstones in the ground. The dragon is a traditional creature that is respected for being both magical and divine. The dragon is the fifth of the twelve animals assoicated with the Chinese lunar calendar. The Lunar New Year is celebrated around the world, for the most part, by people of Chineses, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan and Mongolian heritage. People born in the Year of the Dragon are said to be flamboyant and powerful innovators. In America as in DC's Chinatown, the Lunar New Year is celebrated with special events, parties and parades filled with local notables- political and otherwise- community groups, local Asian Law enforcement, drummers, martial arts troupes, skilled teams of dancers wearing color filled dragon costumes. The dragon in DC's Chinatown is given an offering of cabbage. The dragon offers a red good fortune packet to the Civic leaders, too. The DC Chinese New Year parade caps off with fireworks. Every so often, someone wanders in to the line of fire, fireworks that is, making for more fun.

CIA:
There is a sculpture on the CIA campus that has fixated cryptologists for years. The KRYPTOS monument made by American Artist James Sanborn has codes worked in to the art. Three of the sculptures four segments codes have been cracked by code breakers. The unbroken code segment regers to map coordinates 150 feet south of Langley. Rumor is there are more codes hidden deeoer in already broken parts of the sculpture. Some say two references to the sculpture are in the Da Vinci Code book.

CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY:
CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY:

Seven days a week from dawn to dusk, near enough by the Anacostia River and RFK Stadium, across the street from the DC jail, people can head over to visit Congressional Cemetery at 1801 E Street in South East DC. Twenty four/ seven, guests can go online to www.congressionalcemetery.org  and visit Congressional Cemetery at the  Cemetery’s website maintained by the Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery. There, stories are told, one at a time of American history, of the 55,000 people buried in Congressional, well, some of them, at least of the Cemetery’s most famous residents. Click HISTORY to locate the digitized menu of the Cemetery Map, the Internment Index and Historical News. Blocks from the US Capitol, hundreds of dog walkers pay $100 annual dues for one dog, extra pooches cost more, for the privilege of exercising pets on empty-out runs in of DC’s most historic funeral collection. The National Register of Historic Places listed Congressional Cemetery, on June 23, 1969.

Congressional Cemetery is a phenomenon of blending God business with dog business. Clanking metal and baying amidst century-old tombstones, giveaway before sunrise to shadowy figures approaching through the dawn. One. Three. Two. Dogs. And their humans. Late summer evenings, as soft light falls over Congressional’s 55,000 gravestones, four and two legged walkers amble weathered paths. People walk their dogs through the gravestones and Cenotaphs in the park. Cenotaphs are squarish, half buried like caps, commemorating the lives of national political leaders. Weekends and mornings, Capitol Hill residents and others meet, for bagels and downtime. The cemetery looks like a neighborhood Cosi’s. People chat while their dogs romp, albeit amongst graves. Dog owners are alone in their visits to this cemetery, except for the occasional bereaved. Once, the 191 year old graveyard, founded in 1807 by parishioners of Christ Church place, was as big an attraction as Arlington National Cemetery. Until recently, the 32 acre grounds, ½ mile from the Capitol, is a neglected patch of America’s history. Congressional Cemetery aka Congressional Dog Park, was at first DC’s only fenced in Dog Park. The grounds, still owned by nearby Christ Church, has long been haunted by money problems. Congressional Cemetery stewardship, in a long reach, invited Dog to bring new life to the dead.

Dog walkers took over the cemetery following its decline in the ‘70’s. There was no one to stop pet owners from running Rover alongside graves. The cemetery was in disrepair. Grass was overgrown. Drug deals were going down. Linda Donavan Harper, chair of the Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery said "In 10 years since the dog walkers, there has been no vandalism to the cemetery."  Pet owner Jack McGrath told one journalist he tends to think the dead like their company. Ann Quarzo, told another, ``It's a beautiful way to start your morning. You can meditate, reflect, get your thoughts together.'' 

                                                                                                          

The Committee For the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery describe dog and dead as a “symbiotic relationship” ensuring grass gets cut, and the grounds restored. At first, K-9 Corps was instituted to fundraise for repairs, fallen, broken tombstones still litter the grounds. Branches had laid untouched for days at a time. Drivers wove around graveyard’s roads pockmarked with potholes and broken surface.  A quick visual suggested the K-9 club failed to accomplish the Board’s goals. Dogs raced out of owner’s visual, amongst fallen tombstones, marking where dead lie. No one seemed to enforce the K-9 corps golden rule ‘clean up after your pets.’ That was a rule made to be broken.

 

For people trying to get in tune with history, Congressional Cemetery was considered kind of the government burial ground  because of its proximity to the Capitol. There was never a official legal connection. Congress neither owned nor administered the property. The vestry of Christ Church, Capitol Hill bought the original 4 acre site for $400 in 1807 by Capitol Hill residents. Five years later the cemetery was turned over to Christ Episcopal Church, the oldest religious community on the Hill. When Congressional was a parish, it cut its timber to sell and raise money. Cleared land was rented to farmers. While many churches prioritized serving their own members, Congressional Cemetery and Rock Creek Park, two largest Episcopal graveyards in the District of Columbia – opened their gates other denominations and faiths. In the mid-1800s the parish decided to expand its small burial ground into a public cemetery.  By 1812, land deeded to the church, was stipulated to include one quarter of the property be reserved for burial of the poor. The cost of a burial was not to exceed $2. The cemetery was renamed Congressional Cemetery, after 1816. A committee was put together to determine what part of the cemetery would be for members of Congress.

Periodically between 1820s to the 1870s, Congress appropriated funds to upkeep and improve Christ Church’s “Burying Ground.” Roads needed paving. The grounds keeper needed a house. A chapel was built.  A 1939 military report said Congress appropriated for the cemetery as far back as 1823. Congressional Cemetery was “the first national cemetery created by the government." In 1846, a $500 appropriation was needed for repairs after heavy rains and flooding. Soon, interest waned. A bill was introduced in Congress in 1973 transferring the cemetery from private control to responsibility of the National Park Service. The National Park Service cares for Congressional Cemetery as a historic national landmark. Burials take place on occasion. Plots are still being sold today. Prices range from $2,000 to $4,000.

 

Over the years, Christ Church expanded the cemetery to the size it is today. June 16, 1997, the National Trust for Historic Preservation declared Congressional one of America’s 11 most endangered historical sites. The church owned land is now managed by a private foundation –The Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery, the same group that runs Congressional’s website. The preservation group, seeking money from donors and support of Congress, wanted to fully restore the cemetery by 2007, its 200th anniversary. The House Appropriations Committee fostered the bill, clearing Congress Sept. 25, providing $1 million in matching funds to clean the cemetery up. The National Trust administers the endowment established by Congress as well as the matching funds raised by the Association.  

 

June 1976, Vestry of Christ Church leased Congressional to the Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery. APHCC is, until 2019, responsible for “operating, developing, maintaining, preserving and enhancing the cemetery grounds.” Congress authorized the Architect of the Capitol to assist with the Cemetery’s care, providing oversight and being an ex officio voting member to Congressional’s Board of Directors. Volunteers maintain grounds and buildings. In 1997, the Marine Corps sent a team of 100 to rake, cut trees and remove high brush. Fort McNair sent a crew to upright tombstones and organize cemetery records. In 1939 the Veteran's Administration surveyed Congressional's records and grounds, producing a list of over 1,100 veterans, in most cases provided the name, rank, unit, and type of headstone, too. Another project included cataloguing inscriptions from the cemetery's 20,000 headstones.  Yet another involved computerizing the names of everyone interred on the grounds, from handwritten logs dating back to the 1820s. The Board wants $28 million to repair roads, paths, preserve historic tombs, mausoleums, grave monuments, gatehouse building, chapel and plant hundreds of trees.

 

From its beginning, Congressional Cemetery was an official burial site for leaders of the new country and members of Congress. Pre Civil War sculptures dot the landscape. Jane Watterstons gravestone dates back to1804. Walter Jone’s dates to 1861. Lieutenant George  Migglin Bache an d Crew’s Cenotaph is dated 1846.  The cenotaphs, squat odd looking empty tombs are erected for members of Congress buried elsewhere commemorate congressmen who died in office. In fact, 80 congressmen are actually interred there. Connecticut Congressman Uriah Tracy, of Connecticut, was interred at the cemetery in 1807. Between1816 and 1823, government reserved 500 plots, later adding an additional 500 spaces.

              

 Funerals for three presidents, congressmen, war heroes, generals and prominent people were held at Congressional.  Luminaries include “Stars and Stripes” composer John Philip Sousa, Capitol architect William Thornton and Robert Mills , Vice President Elbridge Gerry, a vice president who signed the Declaration of Independence is buried in range 29, near the FBI’s memorial to its director, J. Edgar Hoover (1895- 1972). American military are inscribed on tombstones. Veterans from the Revolutionary war, Tripolitan war, War of 1812, Indian Wars, Mexican War, Civil War, SpanishAmerican War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, Secretary of the Navy, Admirals of the Navy, Commander in Chief, Army, West Point Graduates stand silent guard for the Nation. Forgotten.  Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Archibald Henderson, Choctaw Indian Chief called Push-ma-ta-ha, (1764-1824); civil war photographer Matthew Brady, the father of photojournalism (1822-1896), Tobias Lear, secretary to George Washington. Silent film star Mary Fuller lies in a pauper's grave. Dolly Madison was in Congressional for a couple of years, too.  One foreign minister from Prussia, 1 Catharine Bressone, wife of a member of the French legation in 1824. John Quincy Adams and Presidents Harrison and Taylor lay for months in the Neo-Baroque Public vault built in 1835 with funds from Congress before they were removed for burial elsewhere.

At Congressional Dog Park aka Congressional Cemetery where dog blends with God.

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 Congressional residents include William Thornton the Capitols first architect, George Hadfield the Capitol's second architect, Robert Hall the man who designed the Washington Monument, Civil War's most influential war photojournalist Matthew Brady who died penniless, with his headstone being paid for by a group of 11 people from Ohio. Stephen Pleasanton, the man who rescued the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence from being captured and burned by the British in the War of 1812 is buried there. Pleasanton shoved what he could in to bags, stole some carts, escaping by the skin of his teeth to Georgetown. The first female candidate for President, Belva Ann Lockwood, is buried there. Belva ran for president in 1884. She was an attorney, an educator, an author and a suffragist. Belva received or 4000 votes not one of which came from women. Women were not given the vote for another 36 years. John WIlkes Booth fellow conspirator Lewis Powell hid in a vault at Congressional before escaping across the river. The doctors who helped bleed Lincoln's body are buried there along with the policeman who helped carry the President's body out of Ford's Theater in to Peterson House across the street. The District's finest Madam, Mary Ann Hall, bought plots in Congressional for her mother, sister and nameless men guessed to be clients. Or lovers. Hall's gravestone was inviting even in death. It reads "Welcome." The 9th President of the United States, William Harrison is buried at Congressional Cemetery. Harrison sat in Congressional's public vault three months, three times longer than he sat in office. Harrison died from a long speech on a cold day. John Philip Souza, composer of the "Stars and Stripes Forever," is buried at Congressional. Two or three times a month, a marching bad in full dress regalia troops over to Souza's grave, staying long enough to play a song or two. Sousa, a local boy, was born in Southeast DC. Leonard Matelovich's tombstone reads "When I was in the Military, they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one." The grave of Clyde Tolson, J Edgar Hoover's long time companion, sits 30 yards down the road from Hoover's grave. Tolson's family did not Tolson next to Hoover. Hoover, a local DC boy, is in a small family plot. The plot is surrounded by Iron Fencing. Thirteen native American tribes have members buried in Congressional. A Choctaw Indian, Push Ma-Ta-Ha, who came to Washington in the 1820's seeking the debt owed to his nation by the government, is buried there. His deathbed wish was that "big guns be fired over him."Scarlet Crow is buried in Congressional. Scarlet Crow was kidnapped and murdered. Yellow Knife met Mary Lincoln then died a month later. Tom Lantos, Congress' only Holocaust Victim, a Congressman, is buried at Congressional, DC’s historic cemetery showing it is ok to mix dog and God.

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CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI  (1805 - 1880) ARTIST OF THE US CAPITOL
Constantino Brumidi, the Italian-born fresco artist spent 25 years, from 1854 to 1879, painting the United States Capitol with mythological and historical art woven around American themes in his ornate Renaissance and Pompeian style murals. Brumidi’s cherubs and classical Greecian/Roman figures, were intended to uplift and inspire all who work and walk through the US Capitol building. "The Apotheosis of Washington," Brumidi’s grand mural, covers the canopy of the US Capitol dome. There is more to the story of the art behind the man allowed to decorate America’s most important building.

Constantino Brumidi was born in 1805 in Rome in to a Greek father and an Italian mother. For years, Brumidi painted murals for the Catholic Church and Italian noblemen. During the turmoil of the 1849 revolution, Brumidi was accused of stealing church artwork and furniture. Brumidi argued he moved them for safe keeping. He was imprisoned, pardoned at a later date on the condition he leave Rome forever. Brumidi left for America.

In 1852, three years after arriving in  NYC, Brumidi was on the Capitol’s payroll painting walls and ceilings, the first major trained full-scale muralist to work in America. Brumidi became an American citizen in 1857. His peer artists resented him for his being an immigrant succeeding to being selected to paint the Capitol murals. Brumidi signed one fresco "C. Brumidi Artist-Citizen of the U.S." His art was rejected over as art styles changed. People said the Capitol was filled with bad art.

Constantino Brumidi died in 1880, penniless and alone. His ex-wife allowed him to be interred in her family plot. There wasn't enough money to bury him. Brumidi’s grave went without a marker until 1951. As the
walls and ceilings of the Capitol aged,  Brumidi's work was painted over in colors that matched the aged paint. Dr. Barbara Wolanin, Capitol curator since 1985 wasn't convinced Brumidi was that good until prominent Italian art conservators, experts in Raphael and Michelangelo, arrived to consult on the project of cleaning and conserving Brumidi’s overpainted and dirty frescoes in the canopy of the Rotunda and trompe l’oil in the Senate corridors.  Much of the painstaking restoration work has been done for the past 13 years by Christiana Cunningham-Adams and her husband, George Adams, an engineer, carefully chipping away layers of dried and hardened paint revealing work whose lost to time. Back in 2005, DC Mayor Anthony Williams designated Constantino Brumidi Day in the District of Columbia. President Bush sent good wishes.  



D
DANTE:
A bust of DANTE Alighieri sits on the face of the Library of Congress. A bronze bust of DANTE sits in Meridian Hill Park. A marble figure of DANTE stands beside Verdi, Marconi and Michelangelo at Casa Italiana Cultural Center at 3rd Street NW.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:
The District of Columbia is named for sailor Christopher Columbus who discovered America. A statue for Columbus stands outside Union Station at Columbus Circle. Columbus' heritage played a role in the Roman architecture of DC including the world's largets Corinthian Columns located inside the National Building Museum. The founding father's admired the Italian Empires Palladian look and symbolism of Law and Order. The Italian influence is shown inside the United States Capitol in Constantino Brumidi's murals including the mural showing George Washington as Ceasar.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WAR MEMORIAL:
The Peristyle Doric Temple located on the National Mall in West Potomac Park was built to remember and honor local heroes who served America in WWI. The DC War Memorial was the first War Memorial on the Mall. It lists all 499 District Residents, regardless of rank, race or gender, who lost their lives in the war. The WWI Memorial was closed for renovations after the WWII Memorial opened. The re-opening celebration, scheduled for November 10, 2011, included speeches by invited guests.

DUBLANE HOUSE:
The DUBLANE HOUSE is a rare Greek Revival style cottage in the District. It is thought to have been built in and around 1939 by John Mason from Virginia. The Dunblane Hunt, a society fox hunt, started at the Club between 1885 to 1890. The Hunt Club met twice a week during hunt season. A north wing was added on in time. The DUBLANE HOUSE, prepared for nomination by the Tenleytown Historical Society, was landmarked by the DC Inventory of Historic sites.

DUKE ELLINGTON:
Byron Peck's murals pay homage at 1214 U Street to DC's native son jazz legend Duke Ellington

DUMBARTON OAKS LIBRARY:
Italian postmodernist architect Robert Veturi designed the DUMBARTON OAKS LIBRARY located in Georgetown.

E
EASTERN MARKET:
Crafts, collectibles, fresh produce, music plus decorate EASTERN MARKET.

EISENHOWER MEMORIAL:
A Washington Memorial for former President Dwight D Eisenhower is underway. The site, about four acres of land, near the National Air and Space Museum, was selected in 2006. Architect Frank Gehry submitted three recent proposals for the Memorial to the National Capitol Planning Commission. The Commission's staff expressed interest in one particular design including woven metal photo tapestries. Gehry's favorite design includes a giant colonnade running parallel to Independence Avenue near the front face of the Lyndon B Johnson Department of Education Building with sycamore trees lining the plaza.

A stainless steel mesh woven like fabric depicting images of Eisenhower's life and career will be hanging from the freestanding limestong columns. Two smaller tapestries will be hung closer to Independence Avenue. The Commission expressed concern the designs tall columns would intrude on views of the nearby Capitol. Architect Frank Gehry changed his proposed design for the Dwight D Eisenhower memorial by creating woven metal tapestries framing the memorial with a Heartland scene reminiscent of where Ike grew up, showing grain silos in a Kansas landscape. Members of the National Capital Planning Commission expressed concern Gehry’s proposed 80’ tall columns that would hold the metal tapestries up would block the view of the US Capitol.

January 2012, the Eisenhower family asked that planning for President Dwight D Eisenhower's memorial honoring America's 34th president stop. The Eisenhower family objected to the memorial's design. President Eisenhower's family said architect Frank Gehry's concept ignored Ike's many accomplishments during his time at the White House and during World War II  instead focusing on President Eisenhower's Kansas roots.

EXORCIST STAIRS:
The Exorcist Stairs located near the Francis Scott Key Bridge are named such because they appeared in the movie the Exorcist. William Peter Blatty a grad of nearby Georgetown University was inspired to write the novel by a 1949 Washington Post article about a Prince George County boy.  Short of his head turning around and vomiting pea soup, the boy, successfully exorcised by a Catholic priest, exhibited the behaviours same as Linda Blair exhibited in the movie the stairs are named for.

F
FEDERAL RESERVATIONS:
Pocket Parks throughout the District

FRANCISCAN MONASTERY:
The FRANCISCAN MONASTERY houses replicas of the Holy Land inside the chapel and in a grotto.

FREEDOM PLAZA:
Italian postmodernist architect Robert Veturi designed the FREEDOM PLAZA located in downtown DC at 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue opposite the John Wilson Building and the Reagan Building.

G
GEORGETOWN:
Georgetown was founded in 1751 during the reign of King George II of Great Britian. Some speculate the town was named after him. Others speculate the town was named after George Washington. Even others think the town was named after George Gordon and George Beall. Georgetown, once a placid 18th century port, is now a politically intriguing, hip, action packed picturesque town packed with trendy spots and historic homes turned into museums. Historic homes include the Dumbarton House, Tudor Place and Old Stone House, the oldest original structure in Washington DC. There are many churches in Georgetown. The synagogue, Kesher, is where Senator Joe Lieberman would on occassion attend services when in DC. The 100 acre plus Georgetown University Campus is on the west end of Georgetown. Georgetown University was founded by the Jesuits in 1789 chartered by an Act of Congress.

Georgetown is located along the Potomac River in the Northwest quadrant of Washington DC surrounded by parkland and green space. There is no Metro Station in Georgetown situated on bluffs overlooking the Potomac because there are very steep grades running north to south. People walk, drive, bike or bus to and from G'town as insiders will call it. Georgetown does not have a Metro station. Residents drive walk bike or bus in and through Georgetown. Residents, in the 1960's, protested and blocked a proposed station believing criminals would find their way in to Georgetown. Planners also realized digging under the streets of Georgetown was problematic because it is too close to the Potomac River or to build a Potomac River crossing tunnel.

Georgetown was a municipality until 1871 when its 10 mile square boundaries became assimilated in to the City of Washington DC. Georgetown thrived as a Port. It facilitated trade, including tobacco and other goods, from the C&O Canal and colonial Maryland on the Potomac River. Georgetown's primary corridor, today, is M Street running from DC to Virginia and Wisconsin Avenue running from the Potomac River towards and past Glover Park.

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY:
Georgetown University's tower and spires are DC icons visible for miles. After DC's August 23rd earthquake, the crosses above Georgetown University's main and landmark building Healy Hall were removed from concerns of stability.

GEORGE WASHINGTON MASONIC MEMORIAL:
The George Washington Masonic Memorial looking over King Street in Alexandria suffered little during DC's
2011 earthquake. Contrary to the Washington Monument, the Masonic Memorial damage was limited to a clay pot falling over. A crazy quilt of Parthenon design and Alexandria Egypt's Lighthouse, the Memorial was put together in bits and pieces between 1910 and 1970 as funds came in to the fraternity of Freemasons. Freemasonry has beginnings in Scottish stoneworkers guilds. George Washington joined when he was 20. The year was 1752. The Memorial is decorated with George Washington related murals, with placards archived over time and artifacts including a replica of the Ark of the Covenant that resided inside King Solomon's temple, the pocket watch used at George Washington's deathbed, stunning views of DC from the Memorial's tower and a rock said to be from the Temple.

GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY:
Annually, GW hosts a PATRIOT WEEKEND for parents and alumni. A world class comic is invited to entertain the students and parents. Robin Williams was the featured talent one year, a show that remains spectacular and memorable, albeit for one joke in which Williams pointed out the average annual student tuition at GW was, in 2009, $54,000 a year. GW is a private university.

GW, as it is called hopes to build a 3 story 65' limestone topped with glassfaced office space museum on the site of the existing rose garden in the 700 block of 21st Street as part of GW's Campus. The museum will become home to Washingtonian artifacts and materials the museum already owns along with donated artifacts and materials. The Textile Museum up in Sheridan-Kalorama will relocate in to the new facility, too. The museum will attach to the Woodhull House with part of that building becoming exhibit space. The loading dock and visitors entrance will be off of 21st Street.

GOD BLESS AMERICA [Irving Berlin, Library of Congress, Kate Smith, Presidents]:
GOD BLESS AMERICA  (IRVING BERLIN):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnQDW-NMaRs

Irving Berlin had tossed the song GOD BLESS AMERICA out of a show he wrote 22 years before Kate Smith the biggest star on radio a fiercely patriotic American deeply worried about her country sang it for the first time on air. GOD BLESS AMERICA, a prayer for America, appeared in the movie YOU’RE IN THE ARMY NOW. Smith, born in Columbia, Missouri asked Irving Berlin in the 1940’s for a song to spark America’s spirit of patriotism and faith. Irving Berlin, a first generation European immigrant, born Israel Baline, gave Kate Smith for free a song he penned in 1917 during WW I but never used. Berlin felt America needed a peace song.

When Smith realized how good she felt about the song, she called Berlin wanting to pay him. Berlin refused money from Kate Smith. Instead, Irving Berlin and Kate Smith agreed money made from the song, totaling millions of dollars in royalties over the years, would go to Boy and Girl Scouts of America. GOD BLESS AMERICA was published in 1918 as a PATRIOTIC genre song. It was revised in 1938, with the rise of Hitler, after which the recording by Kate Smith became her signature song. The day was ARMISTICE DAY. Smith was accompanied by full orchestra, chorus, grand march tempo, trumpets tying together harmonies between stanzas ending on Smith’s a capella high note brought to finale with orchestra and chorus joining in.

The first paragraph Smith always used was heard less and less as time passed. Those words are "While the storm clouds gather far across the sea, Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free, Let us all be grateful for a land so fair, As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.” Musician Woody Guthrie disliked the song so much he wrote THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND, in 1940, as an antithesis to IRVING BERLIN’s song. The song went on to become a good luck game charm for NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers. In time it became a song sung nationwide at sporting events. The day the Flyers brought Kate Smith to sing the song live before Game 6, the Flyers won the 1974 Stanley Cup. The day was May 19. Smith honored Americas Bicentennial singing GOD BLESS AMERICA on nationwide TV at the 1976 Rose Bowl. Smith was accompanied by the UCLA Band. August 26, 2008, respect for the song at sporting events changed. Prior protocol was to remain standing. A fan at Yankee Stadium sued the New York Yankees because NYPD restrained the fan who left his seat, he said, to go to the bathroom. The NY Yankees settlement included no longer restricting movement of  fans while the song played. During the Vietnam War, Wrigley Fields organist included the song in his playlist. Fans would file out of the Chicago stadium. Three high school students sued Newarks Bears team president and co owenr Thomas Cetnar who tossed them out because they refused to stand during the June 29 2009 game they attended at Eagles Riverfront Stadium.GOD BLESS AMERICA had the final word July 21 2011. The final wake up call for the astronauts aboard the Atlantis flight ending the 30 year shuttle program was the recording of KATE SMITH singing Irving Berlin’s GOD BLESS AMERICA.

Post 9/11 , GOD BLESS AMERICA was sung a lot during MLB, Mahor Baseball League, 7th inning stretches on Sundays, Opening Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, All Star and Labor Days, September 11th and post season Major League Baseball games. San Diego Padres Assistant Media Relations director for the team, John Dever, recommended replacing GOD BLESS AMERICA with TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME for the 7th inning stretch. Soon, the MLB followed for the whole league. Teams can make their own decisions. Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium, Safeco and Turner Fields ar ethe only Major League ballparks to play GOD BLESS AMERICA every game with the Yankees network and FOX SPORTS WEST broadcasting the song before going to commercial, often  with Irish born, Johnstown, County Kilkenny to be exact, Tenor Ronan Tynan singing the song.

Tynan says "America is powerful and intense, and it begs you to take it on," Tynan marvels.  "If you do that and do it right, it will give you absolutely everything you want. The thing I love about America is that there are so many people who want you to do well. They will you to do well. They encourage you, and they rejoice in your success. That's a great virtue. I think Americans are fantastic people, amazing." 6’4” Tynan who went on to sing for America’s Presidents, was born with phocomelia causing both of his lower legs to be unusually short,  his feet splayed outward with three toes on each foot. One of a twins, Tynan survived. His twin brother died age11 months. Tynan’s legs were amputated  below the knee, after a car accident. It was impossible for him to use his prosthetic legs without the amputation. Within a year, Tynan was winning international track and field competitions representing Ireland in the ‘84 and ‘88 Summer Paralympics. Tynan won 18 eighteen gold medals from various competitions. Tynan holds14 world records.Tynan became a doctor specializing in Orthopedic Sports Injuries. His father Edmund, after who Ronan’s deceased twin brother was name, was encouraged to study voice by his dad. Tynan won awards then joined the Irish Tenors.

The Flyers had a singer singing duet with a video of Kate Smith singing GOD BLESS AMERICA.

An obscure version of "God Bless America!" written by Robert Montgomery Bird published in 1834 is available online from the Library of Congress.

God bless the land that gave us birth!
No pray'r but this know we.
God bless the land, of all the earth,
The happy and the free.
And where's the land like ours can brave
The splendor of the day.
And find no son of hers a slave?
God bless America!
God bless the land, the land beloved
Forever and for aye!
God bless the land that gave us birth.
God bless America!


GRACE CHURCH:
Grace Church was built on the corner of 9th Street SE and South Carolina in 1981.  Grace Church served its congregation for 60 years until it became Faith Baptist Church. Capitol Hill Developer Herrema Associates acquired Faith Baptist Church in the 1950's. Faith Baptist Church had run down. The property with special architectural details was neglected. Capitol Hill Developer Herrema Associates converted the property a block from Eastern Market, near enough to Barrack's row and the Hill  in to 24 boutique condos.

GUNS IN TO PLOWSHARES:
GUNS IN TO PLOWSHARES was a massive 4 ton plow blade sculpture, by Esther Augsburger and her son Michael, encrusted with hundreds of disabled guns collected during DC's Wild West 1990's that once stood in Judiciary Square. The phrase appears twice in the Bible. It appears in Isaiah 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Micah 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Augsburger said her sculpture was moved without her permission violating her 1997 agreement with all parties when GUNS IN TO PLOWSHARES, to Blue Plains in Southwest DC accomodate construction across the street from Metropolitan Police Headquarters. And then the sculpture was moved again without her permission near Police Impound. Augsburger offered to take the sculpture back. MPDC refused to return the sculpture to the Augsburgers saying the sculpture belongeed where the public could see the message of GUNS IN TO PLOWSHARES was coming from the police.

H
HECHTS:
Hechts Department Store F and 7th Street had a segregated lunch counter

HILLWOOD ESTATE MUSEUM:
The HILLWOOD ESTATE M USEUM is the former home of cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. It showcases her art, jewels and icons.

HOWARD THEATRE:
The HOWARD THEATRE is one of Washington’s most historic entertainment venues. The Howard Theatre, designed in 1910 in the Beaux-Arts style by J. Edward Storck showcased many of the early and mid-twentieth century’s great musical artists including  Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. The Howard Theatre, listed as one of Washington’s Most Endangered Places in 1999, sat vacant for nearly 30 years. The Howard Theatre Restoration, Inc. has advocated and fundraised for years to return the building to use by early 2012.

I
IMMACULATE SEMINARY:
The IMMACULATE SEMINARY, landmarked by the DC Inventory of Historic sites, is located on Nebraska Avenue in NW DC, was founded in 1904 by the Roman Catholic teaching order the Sisters of Providence. It was called the Seminary of Our Lady Immaculate. It was opened in 1905. The Baroque stonemasonry towered over the residential buildings already in the neighborhood.  The Tenleytown Historical Society prepared and submitted the nomination.

IM Pei's Water Wall sits in the corridor linking the wings of the National Gallery of Art.

INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR

INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR

The Perry Belmont House located at 1618 New Hampshire Avenue in NW DC’s Dupont Circle Historic District, boundaried by a wrought iron fence inset with pentagrams, is the International Temple world headquarters of the General Grand Chapter of the Order Of The Eastern Star. The General Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star was organized in 1876.

The Order of the Eastern Star was founded in 1805 by Dr. Rob Morris. Dr. Morris, Free Masonry’s poet laureate used biblical stories to depict heroism and morality. The Order of the Eastern Star, the largest fraternal organization with both male members and female members, is one of several organizations affiliated with Freemasonry. Over a million people worldwide of many faiths are members of the Order of the Eastern Star. The Order, of no one faith, is a meeting place for people coming together to share spiritual convictions.

The International Headquarters of the Order of the Eastern Star, a tri-angular shaped house, was built in the Beaux Arts style between 1906 and 1909 for about $1.5 million by Perry and Jessie Belmont. Their land cost $90,000 in the early 1900’s. By 2009, the Belmont property was valued at $7,475,100. May 8, 1973, the Perry Belmont house was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Perry Belmont was the son of August Belmont. His grandfather was Matthew Perry. Perry Belmont served as a United States Congressman (NY). Belmont later served as a US Ambassador to Spain. The Belmont’s Dupont Circle house was used by the socialite couple in the winter time when they hosted their fancy parties for DC’s glitterata along with with visitors including royalty. President Woodrow Wilson asked the Belmonts, in 1919, to host Edward Prince of Wales. The Prince was in Washington DC to present medals to American soldiers honored by Great Britain for their service in WWI.

The Belmont mansion was built by French architect Eugene Sanson. His partner on the project was architect Horace Trumbauer. Sanson was well known for creating inspiring staircases. Sanson’s use of light and space filled the mansion’s interior with dazzle. Sanson then added eleven fireplaces. The eleven fireplaces mantles were hand carved from imported Italian marble. The trapezoidal mansion takes up its own Dupont Circle district block. Sanson signature style was European. Sanson had built a few Chateaus in Europe. Sanson imported for the Belmont mansion wood from Germany & marble from Italy. Sanson brought over wrought iron fixtures from France.

The Belmont’s party budget was through the roof even turn-of-the-century dollars. The Belmont’s entertainment budget in 1925 alone exceeded $1.5 million. The Belmonts decided to put their house up for sale in 1925 with one stipulation, the mansion stay exactly as it was for 20 years.

The Belmont mansion stood empty for 15 years. Perry Belmont sold his mansion, furnishings and all, for $100,000, to the General Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Star, with one condition. His condition was Mason’s Right Worthy Grand Secretary must reside in the Belmont mansion. To this day, the Right Worthy Grand Secretary and his or her spouse live on premise at the Belmont mansion.

To this day, furnishings included in the 1935 sale of the Belmont’s home remain on display. The tiffany vases decorating the house are originals from the Belmont’s decor. The fourfold teakwood screen was a gift to the former ambassador from the Emperor of Japan. Paintings of five heroines of the Order are depicted are on the ceiling of one room.  Thirty seven oil paintings from the Belmont’s collection are still in the mansion as are chandeliers with hand carved rock crystal drops, oriental rugs, china, Louis XIV and XV furniture, oil paintings and Tiffany vases. Gifts received from chapters around the world are placed on display.      

Tours of the Belmont mansion are usually for members only. The Grand Chapter Order of the Eastern Star does open the mansion up by special request to organizations like the Dupont Circle Civic Association. I had the grand fortune of visiting inside the Belmont mansion on such an occasion. A community event was held at the mansion. I was awestruck by the glamour and grandeur of the art on the walls. I wished dearly I had brought my camera gear with. I did write and call a few times following up on my conversation with the then Right Worthy Grand Secretary to return to archive the Mansion’s interior. I know Masons are private sorts. One day maybe….


J
JAPANESE STONE LANTERN:
A Japanese Stone Lantern sits along the Tidal Basin. The 360 years old LANTERN was first lit in 1651 to honor the Third Shogun of the Tokugawa period. The LANTERN was gifted to Washington by Japan in 1954 as a symbol of friendship and peace between Japan and the United States. The JAPANESE LANTERN is lit only once a year as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival National Park Service festivities.

JOHN FOX SLATER SCHOOL:
The JOHN FOX SLATER SCHOOL was built in the Queen Anne style. The school was built in 1891 to relieve overcrowding of students, African American and White students. The school was landmarked by the DC Inventory of Historic sites.

JOHN MERCER LANGSTON SCHOOL:
The JOHN MERCER LANGSTON SCHOOL, landmarked by the DC Inventory of Historic sites, was designed in 1902 by Appleton Clark. The school was named for Langston a former slave who participated in the Underground Railroad. Langston, Acting President of Howard University, served as a diplomat. Langston became the first African American congressman from Virginia. Appleton Clark was one of DC's most successful private architects. The District had begun to commission private practive architects. The private practice architects provided more sophisticated designs for municipal buildings.

JONES POINT:
Jones Point Park is tucked in the shadow of Woodrow Wilson Bridge located in Alexandria. Work, including stabilizating an old pier collapsing into the river and upgrading the 1841 lighthouse is underway. $12 million dollars will be spent to restore the 65 year old National Park upgrading it to include ball fields, playgrounds, more parking and restrooms.

K
KENILWORTH GARDENS
The KENIWORTH AQUATIC GARDENS, an oasis away from DC's busy pace, is located in North East Washington. The KENILWORTH GARDENS is the only National Park Service wetlands in DC. It sits on the east bank of the Anacosti River. This National Park Service, devoted to water loving plants.The KENILWORTH GARDENS, a 12 acre sanctuary, has over 45 man made poinds. The ponds are filled with tropical and hardy water lilies, lotus along with other aquatic species. The water lilies begin blooming in May. The lotus, their leaves feet above the water, bloom midsummer.

KENILWORTH AQUATIC GARDENS were purchased by Walter B. Shaw. Shaw, from Maine, bought 30 acres in the 1880s from his mother-in-law where he then planted a dozen wild water lilies into an ice pond, a hobby he said. Well, Shaw's hobby became a money making business so he planted more exotic lilies in to his ponds and built more ponds. Shaw's daughter, Helen Fowler, helped her father with his business. Together, Shaw and Fowler created sparkling colorful gardens of water and lilies. Somewhere around the 1930's, the US Army Corps of Engineers were ordered to dredge the Anacostia River. The US Army Corps of Engineers attempted to seize Shaw's gardens by condemning them. Congress came to Shaw's aid, buying the gardens for the American people, in 1938, for $15,000, then giving the gardens to the National Park Service to care for. Shaw's gardens were renamed Kenilworth Gardens after the turn of the century community.

KENNEDY CENTER MESSIAH-SING-A-LONG: KENNEDY CENTER MESSIAH-SING-A-LONG: The Kennedy Center a living memorial in the Nations Capitol has continued an annual Christmas family tradition of a HANDELS MESSIAH SING-A-LONG for over 30 years. Choirs with more than two voices each of alto, soprano, tenor and bass have performed this Christmas annual. People come from as far as 1500 miles away being lining up for tickets as early as 2:00pm in the afternoon for the event that begins at 8:00pm. Only 2000 are handed out. People who arrive late to line up risk being turned away. Some guests arrive with Handel Messiah songbooks from the earliest of Kennedy Center performances in hand.

The first performance of Handels Messiah was in Dublin 1742. A small orchestra accompanying thirty or so singers presented George Frideric’s Messiah. By the time it was performed in 1883 at Londons Crystal Palace, over 87000 audience members were entertained by over 4000 singers and instrumentalists. The Kennedy Centers Messiah-Sing-A-Long began 1971, 41 years ago, in the Kennedy Centers first season. The Kennedy Centers executive director asked choral conductor Norman Scribner to create for the Kennedy Center a December Holiday Festival. Scribner came up with the idea of 12 days of Christmas for the public with a free Messiah-Sing-In as a main event. William S Hunt Jr, a local choral director, was invited to conduct the sing in and be its Master of Ceremonies. Soloists were invited. Choral singing was led by volunteer chorus. The Musicians Performance Trust Fund of the Recording Industries fundraised for an orchestra of professional musicians alongside the DC Federation of Musicians and Local 161-70. All the audience had to do was arrive on time, bring their own scores and sing when the on stage chorus sang.

History says the first Messiah-Sing-In was a romp. Hunt stepped on to the stage. His orchestra played their overture. The tenor soloist sang “Comfort ye my people saith your God.” And when it was time, Hunt turned to his audience asking them to tune in to his own stage chorus. When the audience was ready, Hunt led them through to their rousing chorus of HALLELUJAH. Scribner changed the Messiah-Sing-In second year format. Several conductors were invited to direct a few arias.  Scribner’s Paul Hill Chorale sat on stage as the choir. Martin Feinstein brought out a surprise conductor. Feinstein conducted until he died in 2006. A few years after the choral event began, the audience ticket request outgrew the 2500 available seats. For a time, standing room was allowed. After a time, SRO was done away with, citing safety concerns. 50 audience members hoped to join the chorus on stage. Kennedy Center sales staff handed out the tickets. As the popularity of the event grew, ticket seekers became more aggressive to get tickets going so far as to camp out in sleeping bags, bring food, games, books to make the time fly. The Kennedy Center has come under fire for changing seating from open seating to assigned seating separating friends who come together same time each year to sing together.

The Honorary Chairs of the Board of Trustees are the current First Lady and her living predecessors. Ppoints 36 general trustees for 6 year terms.The President Members of the Kennedy Center Board are specified in 20 USA 76h. Ex officio members inclide the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Librarian of Congress, the Secretary of State, the Chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts, the Mayor of the District of Columbia, the Superintendent of Schools of the District of Columbia, the director of the National Park The Kennedy Center receives Federal Funding. The Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts maintain ace and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

L
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS:
The LIBRARY OF CONGRESS was founded on April 24 1800. It is the oldest Federal cultural Institution in the nation. It is the largest library in the world with nearly 145 million items on about 745 miles of bookshelves. Congress appropriated $5,000 to set up the Library of Congress for the research needs of the US Congress. The LIBRARY OF CONGRESS was housed in the new Capitol until 1814 when the library was pillaged and burned by British troops. President Thomas Jefferson offered his own personal library within a month of the Capitol Building and library burning. The Library moved into the newly built Library of Congress across the street in 1897. The Library of Congress was later named the Thomas Jefferson building. In time, additional buildings - the John Adams building and James Madison Memorial Building - were added to house the growing collections.

There are more than 33 million books and other print materials, 3 million recordings, 12.5 million photographs, 5.3 million maps, 6 million pieces of sheet music and 63 million manuscripts. In 2010, the LOC produced more than 22 million items in Braille and recorded format for a readership community of more than 500,000 blind and physically handicapped.

There are over 5.3 million items in the LOC’s Geography and Map Division, the largest collection of cartographic materials in the world including fire insurance maps of cities and towns in the United States showing urban change and growth from the late 19th Century to present date. There are over 14 million visual images in the LOC’s Prints and Photographs Division of posters in the world along with a visual record of the Civil War and pioneering documentation of America’s historic architecture. The LOC’s 6 million pieces sheet music collection is the most comprehensive American music collection in the world.

The LIBRARY OF CONGRESS acquires materials for its collection over 10,000 items a working day, weeded out over 22,000 received daily.  The LOC includes the nation’s largest public collection of over 3 million radio broadcast, music and spoken word sound recordings representing more than 100 years of sound recordings in almost every round recording format covering a vast range of subnects and genres. There are over 1 million US PhD dissertation titles on paper, microfilm and microfiche. There are over 5,000 titles and 1000,000 issues in the LOC’s Serial and Government Publication Division. Scientific and technical information make up ¼ of the LOC’s book and journal collection. The LOC’s general collection includes the largest collection of US telephone city directories along with numbers and addresses also referred to as ‘crisscross.’  The LOC’s over 700,000 rare book collection is the largest in North America. The Guttenberg Bible, one of three perfect vellum printed copies in the world, was purchased by the LOC in 1930. Papers from 23 presidents ranging from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge, are housed in the LOC’s Manuscript Division. The first extant book in North America “The Bay Psalm Book’” is included in the LOC’s collection of 15th Century books, the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The largest book in the LOC collection, a book featuring color images of Bhutan, is 5 x 7 feet tall. The smallest book in the LOC, “Old King Cole” is about the size of a period at the end of a sentence. The pages can only be turned with the help of a needle. There are over 1.5 million items in the Archive of Folk Culture in the American Folklife Center, one of the largest traditional cultural documentation in the world, the largest in America.  The LOC’s Asian Division hosts one of the oldest examples of printing in the world, a Buddhist sutra or discourse printed in 770 AD. The LOC’s oldest written material is a cuneiform tablet dating from 2040 BC. The LOC hosts some of the largest African and Middle Eastern, Asian, European, Latin American and Caribbean materials and collection in the world. Starting in 1962, the LIBRARY OF CONGRESS established offices in New Delhi India, Cairo Egypt, Rio De Janeiro Brazil, Jakarta Indonesia, Nairobi Kenya and Islamabad Pakistan. The LOC collects material  from more than 60 countries posting material in its collection on to its internet website www.loc.gov. The materials in the more than 19 million primary source files include newspapers, manuscripts, films, sound recordings and photographs. Over 470 languages are represented in the LOC collection with half of the LOC’s collection in languages other than English. Concurrently to the LOC opening the LOC Experience in April 2008, the LOC opened a personalized website www.myLOC.gov.

LENOX HILL CONDOMINIUMS:
LENOX SCHOOL was built in 1898. Llocated in the historic Capitol Hill area of Washington, it served as a DC public school for many decades. The school comprised of two floors, attic space and a basement partially below grade. All of the exterior windows and trim work for the renovations were reproduced exactly to comply with the rigorous historic rules that govern DC.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL:
Few people know President Abraham Lincoln began barefaced in to the world of campaigning and politics. Eleven year old Grace Bedell of Westfield NY had seen an 1860 photograph of the Candidate. Grace wrote Abe Lincoln telling him to grow a beard. Grace said her Democrat brothers and women, too, would vote for the Republican candidate if he had whiskers on his face, writing "all the ladies like whiskers." Though Lincoln wrote Grace back that some might see a beard as silly, he did show up in Westfield with whiskers on his face, kissing the young lady, telling the crowd he took the advice of this child. Four years later, Grace Bedell wrote the President again, this time asking for a job. President Lincoln was too involved with the Civil War at the time. Grace lived until age 88, dying in 1936. Her 1864 letter to President Lincoln surfaced in 2007.

The location of the Lincoln Memorial was focus of heated arguments. A pyramid was considered for the Lincoln Memorial. John Russell Pope, in 1912,  proposed a step pyramid more like a Mesopotamian pyramid rather than the Egyptian pyramid depicted on the obverse side of the US Seal. Some were offended a memorial to Abraham Lincoln would be built on a spot some considered swamp land. The land was new land created from landfill by the Corps of Engineers a generation earlier when they were dredging the Potomac.



LINCOLN THEATRE:
DC ARTS COMMISSION TO RUN THE LINCOLN THEATRE: Weeks after the DC performance theatres released disappointing self sustainability results, DC Mayor Vincent Gray announced his first coup for the U Streets Lincoln historic Lincoln Theatre, set to close, is bringing “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” for a four week engagement. The District cut off the theatre’s operating subsidies in September 2011. The Lincoln Theatre’s alley neighbor, Ben’s Chili Bowl, DC’s  only U Street business left standing during the DC riots, urged the District to keep the Lincoln Theatre open. DC Mayor Vincent Gray announced the city owned theatre where Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington once played has new management, the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities with the goal the Lincoln Theatre will shift from an independent foundation to management to becoming self sustaining



LITTLE ROME:
LITTLE ROME is located in northeast Brookland near the Franciscan monastery, the John Paul II Center and Basilica of the National Shrines of the Immaculate Conception its interior looking like St Mark's Venice and with its campanile gifted by the Knights of Columbus.

LOBSTERMAN MEMORIAL:
The LOBSTERMAN MEMORIAL is a little known memorial that has sat since 1983, often overlooked, on a discrete plot of grass, not too far from the curb and roadway, in SW DC. Shy south of Cantina Maria, a Waterfront restaurant, the memorial called the Maine Lobsterman Memorial has been the subject of controversy in light of $2 billion expansion plans gentrification redevelopment plans proposed for the area near enough to the United States Capitol. The bronze statue reportedly costing $30,000 is a replica from the 1970’s that was made from the plaster original New York Worlds Fair artist Victor Cahill made for the 1939 Worlds Fair. The statue depicting H Elroy Johnson of Harpswell Maine was donated by a chapter of the Camp Fire Girls.

H. Elroy Johnson agreed to pose for the statue portraying him pegging a crustacean claw. Johnson, a resident of Harpswell Maine, made his living trapping lobsters. The original sculpture destined for the New York Worlds Fair was supposed to be cast in bronze. Maine ran out of money. The artist Victor A. Kahill coated the plaster model with bronze paint then shipped it to New York. Story goes no one wanted H Elroy and his claw friend after their New York debut. The statue was vandalized and repaired. The fake bronze statue was moved over several decades from city hall to museum to museum upon its return to Maine after the New York Worlds Fair was over allegedly ending up in ended up in a warehouse where, some say, it was eaten on by rats.

DC is a District not a state. The District is Federally overseen a subject Congresswoman Holmes has great interest in, assuring DC has representation along with the Taxation paid by District residents. Holmes included in the statute “The Lobsterman lives, he thrives in this new development… He will be front and center.” Sitting Senator Susan Collins, Maine's Republican Senator, worked alongside Democrat DC Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, investing time and effort,  to assure there would be a Lobsterman Memorial proviso in the Federal Legislation needed to be crafted then drafted to move the redevelopment plans forward that the Lobsterman Memorial would remain in the same spot where it was settled in SW DC. The SW focused developers had offered to pay for the cost of the Lobsterman’s mover to parkland or another area in the proposed retail complex.