Mark this historic inauguration week by joining us for a free, 90-minute walking tour, “From Slavery to Freedom in Adams Morgan,” on Sunday, January 20th at 1:00pm. starting at the Sun Trust Bank Plaza at 18th Street and Columbia Road, N.W., Washington, D.C. Our starting point at 18th Street and Columbia Road is about an…
John Paul Jones
Statue: John Paul Jones (July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) Location: 17th Street and Independence Avenue, NW (Potomac Park) Sculptor: Charles Niehaus, New York Architects: Carrere & Hastings Unveiling: 3:00 p.m., April 17, 1912 Cost: $50,000 John Paul Jones was a Scottish sailor and the United States’ first well-known naval fighter in the American…
John Witherspoon
Statue: John Witherspoon, born Scotland, February 5, 1722 – died New Jersey, 1794 Location: Connecticut Avenue, 18th Street and N Street, NW (Dupont Circle, south) Sculptor: William Couper, New York Dedication: May 20, 1909, 3:30pm Cost: Public Funds: $4,000 Private Funds: collected through subscription The John Witherspoon statue was approved in 1907 and in 1908…
Robert A. Taft Memorial and Carillon
Robert Alphonso Taft (September 8, 1889 – July 31, 1953) Sculptor: Wheeler Williams, New York Architect, Douglas William Orr, New Haven, Conn. Bells: molded by firm George Paccard’s Son, Annecy, France Dedicated: April 14, 1959 Dedication: President Eisenhower, and former President Hoover Cost: Public Funds: $0, Private Funds: $1.2 million In 1954, a year after…
Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital
Located at 9th and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, the building now known as the Hill Center was built in 1866 as a Naval Hospital. The Navy used it during the Civil War and up until 1906 when the Naval Hospital was moved to Observatory Hill at 23rd and E Streets, NW (in Foggy Bottom). The large…
St. Thomas Parish
I recently attended a presentation at St. Thomas Parish, the Episcopal church at 1772 Church Street, NW., organized by the DC Preservation League and given by Matt Jarvis, the architect for new church plans. Presented as A Civil Union: Marrying the Historic and Modern – the talk discussed the long history of the church and…
WalkingTownDC
I recently gave a tour of Meridian Hill Park as part of WalkingTownDC – a 10-day festival of tours organized by Cultural Tourism DC. If you haven’t heard of Cultural Tourism DC check out their website at culturaltourismdc.org. They offer a weekly e-newsletter distributed on Wednesdays and filled with activities and other interesting happenings. It’s…
Rock Creek Park Planetarium
The only planetarium in the National Park System is located in Rock Creek Park at the Nature Center. Learn more: http://www.nps.gov/rocr/