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D.C. Chronicles Volume 36

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 36

Hello Everyone! We are now just over three weeks away from 2021! I, for one, will welcome the New Year with open arms and a heart full of hope for a better year for us all. For all of the challenges 2020 has brought both to me personally and to us collectively, I continue to be grateful for the blessings in my life and the opportunities that have come along as well. It’s been an amazing experience to spend time with a 2 year-old and a 13 year-old and help them along in whatever way I could this year. I’ve also gotten to spend a lot of time with my folks here in Washington and know that I’m helping keep them safe and vice-versa. I’ve also been grateful to have some time to explore my hometown more than I ever have before which has brought me a lot of joy and contentment. While I’m looking forward to getting a vaccine and getting back on the road as soon as possible in 2021, I will always look back at this year as a time I was able to stop, reflect on the blessings I have in this life and make real plans for the future.

Speaking of a vaccine, there’s definitely been good news this week on that front. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved and the first shots administered in the UK. Approval should be right around the corner here in the US, and then the long and slow process of administering it can begin. I read yesterday morning that the FDA’s initial perusal of the application for approval was extremely positive. I know there are plenty of people out there who have read a lot of whacky things regarding the upcoming vaccine and vaccines in general for that matter. With all the travel I’ve done in my life, I’ve gotten every vaccine available and will gladly step to the front of the line for this one. I have plenty of family and friends in the medical industry and they have their people who they listen to and trust. If they tell me this is a go, I’m in. I simply don’t have time to waste on conspiracy theories and look forward to moving ahead with my life.

This week has been another busy week with my 2 year-old buddy, Mason. I’m happy that he’s continued to want to go outside and play despite the temperatures dropping into the thirties and forties. We bundle up tight but we’ve still been getting outside and going for long walks in neighborhood. He really loves running through the big piles of leaves and spent today sitting in one and just throwing the leaves up and watching them float down. It was a joy to watch him enjoying such a simple pleasure so much, and he’s definitely gotten me to run through more leaf piles than I have in many a year. We continue to look for berries, acorns and pretty colored leaves and he has been good about having me take off his mittens so he can grab these treasures and then letting me put them back on immediately after. We’ve also been having fun watching dead leaves float down the stream in the park as well, which really is pretty cool. He’s enjoying the few Christmas decorations which have sprung up around the neighborhood this week, but is particularly fond of his Christmas tree at home and loves showing me all the different ornaments and the stocking his grandmother sent him. Today we were reading the Night Before Christmas, and he is starting to recognize “Danda” (Santa). In one picture with Santa and his reindeer he was telling me that the reindeer were named Nick and Matt which are his cousin’s names (Nick is the young man I tutor on Mondays). I couldn’t figure it out, and then realized the text talks about “St. Nick” and the only Nick he knows is his cousin. Since he knows who Santa is, the reindeer must be the Nick they keep referring to and since Nick and Matt are twins, his brother must be one of the other reindeer. At least that’s how my mind processed what he said. Either way, he’s enjoying the holiday season so far and I’m enjoying it right alongside him.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 33

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 33

Hello Everyone! Well late November is here and Christmas decorations are starting to spring up around the city. In a normal year I would complain that they were jumping the gun a little bit, but this year I welcome and embrace them. Anything that can make things a little more tolerable for everyone is something I will throw my support behind. It’s still hard to believe the end of the year is in sight, but I don’t know many people who won’t be happy to put 2020 behind them, myself included. Temperatures have continued to drop in D.C. this week, and I finally had to winterize my van as we’re expecting freezing temperatures tonight. Beyond that, a lot has happened this week, so I’m going to get right into it.

There has been more good news on the vaccine front as there are now two promising vaccines fast approaching approval for distribution. This is great news in my opinion and shows what great minds can do when they work together towards a common goal. From what I understand they will only be able to produce and distribute around 20 million doses a month (still amazing when you think about it), but with the possibility of starting in December that means that at least that ball can start rolling which will be a relief in and of itself. I’m really hoping to get mine by the middle of next year.

Sadly, the numbers of cases are continuing to soar across the U.S. as we still have no centralized plan and governors are hesitant to roll out any new restrictions. That is a huge mistake in my opinion as keeping hospitals below capacity must be the main goal everywhere. The firehouse up the street from here is now doing free Covid testing three days a week instead of one. I can see the line from here, meaning it is more than two full city blocks long. It blows my mind that we still don’t have widespread, convenient testing and that people will literally wait in freezing cold temperatures for hours to get a test. As hospitals continue to reach their capacities across the country we are starting to once again hear about PPE shortages which again is mind boggling. We knew this was coming, we’ve been talking about it for months and yet it still appears to be surprising people. While there are winter waves crashing down around the northern hemisphere, we are definitely less prepared than most. Please take care of yourselves out there.

Some of my mom’s favorite TV shows have started new seasons this week, and it’s been strange to see the characters wearing masks and discussing the virus. I’m sure I’m not the only person who sees a show or movie and thinks ‘oh, no – don’t get that close’. This year has changed the way we interact and view others interacting. I sincerely hope this is something which will soon be behind us and then begin to fade into a distant memory. Someday people will watch these episodes with fascination and questions about the masks and discussions. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating – living through history isn’t always a pleasant or easy experience.

I did see some really good news this week on the work front for me. As you know, my tour guiding company permanently closed their doors over the summer due to the pandemic which brought their income to a halt. While one of the brands I’ve worked with for many years (Trek America) will be shelved for the immediate future, some of the other brands have found a new home with a small company called Incredible Adventures out of San Francisco. They will be expanding their reach this year and have taken the contracts for other companies I’ve worked for like Grand American Adventures and Exodus. Thankfully for me, their entire management team are personal friends of mine and even my last manager is now their General Manager. While I don’t know if I’ll be going back to guiding next summer, it sure is nice to hear that I might not have to start entirely from scratch when I do decide to go back. There is a lot of relief in that, but also a lot of joy in knowing that the brands I know and love will be getting back to business very soon and providing much-needed vacations for people once this is all behind us.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 32

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 32

Hello Everyone! It’s been a beautiful week here in Washington D.C. with warm, sunny days and cool clear nights. In some ways this is all very familiar to me as I’m usually headed home in October or November, tired from a long year on the road and ready for some “home time” over the holidays. I come home to rest and get my affairs in order and begin to plan for the next leg of my journey, whatever that may be and wherever it may take me. It’s a time to catch up – on my projects, on my sleep and with friends and family. Unlike spring and summer which I’ve rarely spent in the city, this feels more normal to me.

Today also marks the three year anniversary of the journey which became Miles2Go. Three years ago today, I set out for Harpers Ferry, West Virginia with a dream of spending a month in each state over the next 4 years. I soon learned that a month was too short to get a real understanding of a state while also maintaining this blog, so my timeframe changed. There were a lot of tough times and setbacks as I got this thing off the ground, and just when I felt like I knew where it was going and how to make it all work, I hit the cruise control button and then this pandemic hit, turning me towards home and grounding me indefinitely. It’s been a bumpy road for sure, but anything that’s worth it will no doubt involve overcoming obstacles. I don’t know what my future or the future of this project will look like at this point, but I’m grateful for the journey and everything and everyone that’s been a part of it thus-far.

Sadly the reason keeping me here, the coronavirus, has continued to rage across the country with still-worsening conditions being reported every day. As we get closer to a quarter-million deaths from the virus here in the U.S. alone, I wanted to put that number into perspective for you. While 235,000 may be just a fraction of a percent of the population of the U.S. as is often pointed out, it is more than our average annual deaths in this country from any cause other than cancer and heart disease. It’s four times our average annual number of flu and pneumonia deaths (all according to the CDC). It’s also more than the number of Americans who died in World War 1, Vietnam, Korea and the American Revolution combined. It’s more than the single-year casualties from our two bloodiest wars – World War II and the Civil War. Keep these statistics in mind when people tell you that the virus isn’t all that bad. In the entirety of the almost 15 years we were involved in the war in Vietnam, we lost less than a quarter of the number of people who have died from this virus this year, and it’s only mid-November. For some reason people in this country refuse to look beyond our borders to countries which got some level of control over the pandemic through the summer months with masks and distancing and continue to believe it’s all some kind of hoax. 80% of current cases in the U.S. can be traced back to restaurants, bars and gyms.

What should we be doing about this? First and foremost we need to start listening to the experts. This country’s leading medical experts and virologists have laid it out pretty simply from the start, and have been able to make things even clearer as we’ve learned more. And yet people refuse to listen to them, searching out someone, anyone, who will tell them what they want to hear instead of what the consensus of the experts is. I want to get back to my normal life more than anyone, but I’m willing to put that all on hold for the greater good of my countrymen. To me, that’s a pretty good definition of patriotism.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 31

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 31

Hello Everyone! Welcome to November! Temperatures took a dip here in our Nation’s Capital this week, but when I see pictures of snow on my Facebook timeline from other parts of the country it doesn’t seem so bad. We had a big weekend celebrating my birthday and Halloween, Mason and I continued our adventures when the weather allowed and of course the 2020 election happened this week as well. It’s been busy, busy, busy here in Washington but we’ve made it through another week and another month and the end of the year is within sight.

It wasn’t a week without sadness though as I also found out that my aunt passed away on Tuesday morning. She has been struggling with Lewy Body Dementia and had been in a care facility since the beginning of the year. She came down with Covid19 last week and quickly deteriorated. She was only 63. I hadn’t seen her very much in the last 20 years except at the odd wedding or on a quick visit, but she was always kind and ready to have a good time. Sadly this brings this pandemic very close to home. While I have friends who have had the virus, this is the first person I’ve known who has died from it. Say what you will about her underlying conditions, but she’d be alive today if she hadn’t gotten the coronavirus. I know none of our family has been able to visit her for 7 months to protect her from this virus, and she ended up getting it anyway. It’s possible that she may have caught it no matter what precautions were taken, but I can’t help but think of all of the parties and gatherings I’ve seen happening in Wisconsin lately which I really hope were worth it. It makes me angry and I don’t get angry often. When only some of the people are serious about containing the virus, other people’s bad behavior affects us all and with no national policy, plan or guidelines, our fellow Americans are going to continue to die. No matter what happens in the election, this president has been more focused on his reelection than on the pandemic and that is very apparent. No matter what, he will be president for the next few months at least, and I sincerely hope he starts listening to the two actual experts on his advisory team who are telling him the truth instead of what he wants to hear. If you’ve got a problem with your sink, you may call in another plumber for a second opinion, but you wouldn’t call in an electrician. The president is currently listening to a neuroradiologist who may be an MD but has no specialty in autoimmune disorders. He is essentially an electrician working on your sink. Currently an American is being diagnosed with the virus every second and someone is dying from it every minute. We need to start taking this more seriously entering the colder months. Wherever you are, please know than your actions don’t just affect you, they affect the people around you and the people around them.

Thankfully the counter to the anger I feel in losing my aunt this week comes from the time I get to spend with Mason who doesn’t know or care about the pandemic or the election. He cares about big trucks, mushrooms, bumblebees, acorns and making me laugh. We had a couple of bad weather days at the end of last week and ended up inside working on his ABCs, building things with blocks and reading books together. On Friday, even though it was cold, we headed down to the creek to throw some acorns and rocks which he really enjoys. He doesn’t like throwing dirty rocks from on shore though, but nice clean rocks which he pulls from the water. As the weather has gotten colder, the water has gotten colder, so we spend less and less time doing this, but we still go when we can. When we were leaving on Friday, I took his little cold hands between mine to warm them up. Yesterday when we were putting his mittens on his stuffed monkey and I told him that Monkey’s hands were cold, he took them in both of his like I had last week to warm them up. It warmed Monkey’s hands, but it warmed my heart. Monkey introduced Mason to a fun phrase last week which he really enjoys: “neat-o mosquito”. Now if I see something which is cool and different, I say “neat-o” and he says “’skeeto” – it really is too cute. Monday and Tuesday were pretty cold, and while he seems to really like the wind on his face, I want to keep him bundled up so we can continue our outdoor adventures as long as possible. It’s a little sad to see him interacting with his favorite mushrooms and berries with mittens on because he’s such a tactile little guy and I know he’s not getting the same feelings from things through his mittens. We also said goodbye this week to all the wonderful Halloween decorations in his neighborhood which he has been chatting with and enjoying for the last month. It’s amazing how he seems to remember each little zombie or skull and where it was because yesterday he kept pointing to the places they had been and saying “ooohh, no skull” or “oooh, no ghost”. We had talked about them going inside until next year most of last week, and he seems to be taking it in stride. Soon enough the Christmas decorations will be up though which is something to look forward to…

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Snapshots: Mount Olivet Cemetery

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Snapshots: Mount Olivet Cemetery

By 1852, the central section of Washington D.C. was developing quickly and the local citizenry wanted to be sure what land was available was available for the living. They therefore banned any new cemeteries from being established within the city center. Soon thereafter, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, then the overseer of Washington’s catholic churches, purchased 40 acres in the surrounding countryside and established Mount Olivet Cemetery. This cemetery was and is the largest catholic cemetery in Washington D.C. and was also one of the first racially integrated cemeteries in the city. With commanding views over the city, it is a beautiful place for a wander, and as long-time readers know I very much appreciate funerary art of which there are some stunning examples in Mount Olivet. Mount Olivet is the final resting place of such notable people as White House Architect James Hoban, Supreme Court Justice Joseph McKenna, and Lincoln assassination conspirator Mary Surratt, the first woman executed by the U.S. Government.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 27

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 27

Hello Everyone! We’re a week into October and the weather in Washington has been fabulous. The leaves are starting to change and while the days are getting noticeably shorter, they’re still long enough to enjoy some time outside in the evening. It’s probably just about my favorite time of year. It was nice to get away to New Hampshire last week and get away from the news for a while, but it’s almost like they were saving it up while we were gone because this week was a crazy one. When the president is sick, whether you like him or not, it’s hard not to keep checking the news. I certainly wish everyone who has contracted the virus, whether they are newsworthy or average Joes like me, a full and speedy recovery. Beyond that, it’s been a full week of getting back on schedule and trying to keep some of my projects moving forward while carving out some time for enjoying my friends and the weather.

It’s been a full week with my 2 year-old friend Mason who is really enjoying the leaves changing color and the Halloween decorations which have sprung up around the neighborhood. I think it’s fascinating that because he’s never really seen any of these things in the context of being scary, he looks at a dog skeleton as just a dog, hands coming from the ground as hands and giant spiders as, well, giant spiders which he likes (we saw our first daddy longlegs today in the woods and he thought it was hilarious). I guess he is demonstrating to me that fear is often a learned behavior, and this kid is pretty fearless. The weather has been so good we’ve been out almost all morning every morning which has been wonderful. We’ve been having some interesting discussions this week which I think are worth sharing here.

Since the acorns have been coming down, we’ve been picking up a pocket-full on the way to the creek so that we can throw them in when we get there. If I take two out of my pocket and hold them out to Mason, he will grab the first and throw it without looking while he’s already grabbing for the second one. I think many of us are guilty of this behavior in that we are always looking towards the next thing and are often unable to savor the experience that’s happening in the moment. If you enjoy throwing acorns in the water, focus on the acorn you have and the experience of throwing it and hearing the plunk in the stream and the ripples that come from it. Watch as it bobs in the current and makes its way downstream. Think about its course, watch it float away, listen to the leaves rustle overhead and feel the cool breeze of fall on your face. Then reach for the next acorn. If we’re just thinking about the next acorn and not the one we currently have in our hand, then what is the sense of bringing more than one?

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 26

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 26

Hello Everyone, well this week officially marks the half-year point of being sheltered-in-place here in Washington D.C. This is definitely not what I had planned for my 2020, but it is what it is and I’m still grateful to be here all things considered. I have watched spring turn to summer, hung on through the long, humid summer days and now I am watching the temperatures drop and the leaves start to change. I’ve tried to keep myself and my folks active and busy the best I can and I’ve really enjoyed being able to read more, play some music, do some writing and learn more about the history of my hometown. I’ve made friends with a 2 year-old who shares my daytime adventures with me and traveled with my mom around the region to explore Civil War sites and local scenic byways and neighborhoods. I’ve tried hard to keep this blog going despite the fact that it’s supposed to be a travel blog which 2020 simply had other plans for. If you’re still reading and following along, I really appreciate you. Believe me when I say I hope that I can get back on the road sooner rather than later and continue my adventures around the country. There are a lot of unknowns in the future, even on the other side of this, but I’m excited and hopeful for what’s to come.

This week has been pretty quiet. There is definitely a chill in the air and nighttime temperatures have dipped near freezing. Mason and I continue our exploration of the woods near his house and have found several new-to-me trails to wander down. Now that it’s cooler I can’t have him splashing around in the water, so we spend more time walking and exploring and less time throwing things in the creek. He seems to learn and grow every day and we both continue to learn from each other. He definitely wears me out, and when he takes an afternoon nap, I take one too.

I’ve finished The Pirate Hunters book and enjoyed it so much I’m staying on that vein for a while as I picked up a book I had started many years ago called …and a Bottle of Rum. It’s a fun look at the history of rum from its origins in the Caribbean through to more modern times. I bought it when I worked as a kayak guide on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands to have something to teach my adult participants, which was fun but I never got through to the end of it. I’ve got another book on pirates lined up for after this one as well before I shift gears to something else.

On Friday, we did our weekly basement party with a theme of Blues, Brews and Barbecues. We tapped into our home-brewed IPA which is finally ready to drink and we really enjoyed it…

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D.C.'s Oldest Homes - The Sewall-Belmont-Paul House

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D.C.'s Oldest Homes - The Sewall-Belmont-Paul House

In 1632, King Charles of England granted a charter for a huge tract of land in what was then the colony of Maryland to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord of Baltimore. Within that tract was a hill known as Jenkins Hill which today we know by its far more famous name: Capitol Hill. In 1663, lawyer George Thompson acquired 1800 acres from Lord Baltimore and leased the land to future Proprietary Governor of Maryland Thomas Notley for 1000 years at the rental rate of “40,000 pounds of tobacco and one pepper corn” per year. Notley called his plantation Cerne Abbey Manor.

Cerne Abbey Manor would remain in Thomas Notley’s family for several generations and eventually was inherited by his great-great-grandson Daniel Carroll. When Washington D.C. was established, Daniel Carroll ceded Jenkins Hill to the Federal Government, and later received part of that land back which he then leased to Robert Sewall. On that lot was a small one-room farmhouse which had been built perhaps as early as 1750. Sewall built a considerably larger house facing the newly designated B Street (now Constitution Ave), keeping the farmhouse as his kitchen. It is likely that this house was completed around 1800. The architect of the house is unknown, but there is some conjecture that the designer was Leonard Harbaugh, who we remember for his designs of Old North for Georgetown University, the old U.S. Treasury Building and Holy Trinity Church and who is buried in D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery. Sewall had this house built as his “town house” but soon thereafter his uncle died and left him a large tobacco plantation in Southern Maryland called His Lordship’s Kindness. The fact that the manor house on that plantation was designed by Harbaugh lends some further credibility to his designing the Sewall House.

Because Sewall was busy sorting out his newly inherited plantation, the house was leased to Albert Gallatin who served as Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. A disproven rumor once existed that the Louisiana Purchase was signed in the house while Gallatin was in residence there, but it would certainly have been an important discussion around the dinner table, perhaps with Thomas Jefferson himself in attendance. Gallatin lived in the house from 1801 to 1813 and after he left, Sewall left his son, William, to watch the house, but it is unlikely that William ever lived there.

After the Battle of Bladensburg in the War of 1812, British troops marched towards Washington. It is believed that shots were fired from inside the Sewall House, marking the only American resistance to the invasion of the Capital. Whether shots were fired or not, the British did set fire to the house which lends credibility to the story because as we learned when discussing the Octagon House in this series it was not British policy to burn private residences. Regardless, the house did burn and Sewall rebuilt it in its current form soon after the war making some small changes to the original design. He applied for reimbursement for this work from the U.S. government, but his application was denied. Robert Sewall died in the house in 1820, leaving it to his wife and four daughters…

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 25

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 25

Hello Everyone, another week has come and gone as I continue to wait patiently for an end to the pandemic. We’re already halfway through September which is really hard for me to believe. Next week will be week 26 in this series, marking half a year since I turned my headlights towards home and chose to wait this pandemic out here in D.C. Some of that time has passed really slowly, and yet it doesn’t feel like I’ve been here for six months at all. I’m still just trying to make the best of it. As always, I’m very grateful to my folks for having me and giving me a safe harbor through this storm. It’s not how I would have chosen to spend my 2020, but as the saying goes: life is what happens when you’re making other plans.

I’ve spent a lot of time this week with young Mason as we set out on our daily adventures into the neighborhood together. This week we’ve crossed mighty rivers (or maybe just meandering streams), faced off against fierce (decorative stone) lions and ventured deep into the heart of darkness (aka Glover Archbold Park). He’s added some letters to his knowledge base – “E” (for elephant) and “O” (for Ohio) and is getting closer to understanding how many three is. It’s truly special and remarkable to watch him grow and learn and discover and I think every day he learns something from me, and I learn something from him. It’s great when he sees a bumblebee or a butterfly and the way he points it out to me is like it’s the single most remarkable thing that’s ever existed. When he’s really enjoying something, he just coos which is one of the best sounds on earth. He loves big trucks and busses, and it’s fun for us when the bus drivers honk their horns and wave back to us. We continue to have a really good time together and every day is a new adventure.

Last Friday my folks and I once again retired to the basement for our weekly Forget-About-It Friday festivities. We started out this week with a brewing session as we had to get our Oktoberfest brewed if we want it ready to drink by October (which is fast approaching). Then we relaxed into a Renaissance Night in Sherwood Forrest with beer, roast turkey legs, breads, meats and cheeses. We listened to some great old music, played a fun game of Gluckhouse, and generally had a merry old time. It was another successful night.

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 24

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D.C. Chronicles Volume 24

Hello Everyone, well, September is getting into full swing and I’m certainly enjoying the cooler temperatures here in Washington D.C. Summertime flowers are starting to disappear and I know that the leaves aren’t too far from starting to turn. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for it.

It’s been another quiet week here on the home front. Mason and I continue our adventures together in the woods, throwing rocks in the creek and talking about the leaves and the trees. Shadow Catcher is all fixed and ready to get back out there when the time is right. Many thanks to Flower Hill Automotive in Gaithersburg for doing an amazing job with the brakes and the seals – I would definitely recommend them to anyone in the D.C. metropolitan area. In my spare time I’ve been sitting outside and enjoying the transition weather – cool enough to be out there and warm enough to be enjoying it. I’ve been reading Pirate Hunters by Robert Kurson and really enjoying that as well. It’s the story of the search for the Golden Fleece, the ship of the legendary pirate Joseph Bannister. Kurson wrote one of my favorite books of all time, Shadow Divers, and this is a wonderful follow-up to that story of the quest to identify a sunken World War II German U-Boat they found off the coast of New Jersey. If you’re a diver or a boat or pirate person, I definitely would recommend these books. I miss scuba diving and will definitely be hitting a beach and some reef as soon as all of this is over. Other than that I’ve been keeping up with my walks and trying to make the best of things as usual.

Over the weekend I found out that one of the tour brands I’ve worked for for many years, Trek America, has decided to fold entirely. This is a shame because it’s a company that’s been around since before I was born and I had thought it would be there long after I’m gone. Catering to young, independent travelers, I always enjoyed running Trek trips and will miss not having the opportunity to do so in the future. I really don’t know what my corner of the travel industry will look like on the other side of all of this, but this is one more nail in the coffin of my guiding career. I know I’ll find a job, but it’s a shame it won’t be with the same people and same clientele I’ve been with in the past. C’est la vie, I guess. I saw the writing on the wall, but it was still sad to hear the news. I was interviewed about the closure for Frommers, and you can see the story I was quoted in HERE if you’re interested.

Friday we had another great weekend kickoff party in the basement. This week took us back to the islands for another pirate party (pirates and the islands have been on my mind lately). I went out to grab some delicious bake and shark, a traditional Trinidadian meal, from a nice little Caribbean spot called the Crown Bakery on Georgia Avenue not far from home. It didn’t sit well with my mom, but I enjoyed it. We also had some rum and Ting (grapefruit soda), listened to some Bob Marley music and played a few games of Threes. It was a fun night and a great way to kick off the weekend.

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Snapshots: DC's Historic Firehouses

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Snapshots: DC's Historic Firehouses

I grew up a block away from a firehouse, Engine Company #31, here in Northwest Washington D.C. When you grow up that close to an active station, sirens and horns are a part of your everyday existence. It becomes a part of you. Perhaps for that reason, I’ve always had a thing for old firehouses, and in this post I’ve set out to see some of the classic ones my city has to offer.

The Vigilant Firehouse in Georgetown, which was built in 1844 for a private fire company founded in 1817, is Washington D.C.’s oldest standing firehouse, although it hasn’t been in service since 1883. Most of the city’s early fire departments were private companies usually staffed by volunteers. It wasn’t until 1871 that Washington created a city-wide professional fire department. Over the last 150 years, many beautiful and sometimes ornate firehouses have been built across the city. In more recent years, some of the old ones have been retired and flashy modern stations have taken their places. While this is a good thing for those brave men and women who work in the field as they need and deserve modern equipment and facilities, it is still sad to see some of the old firehouses retired. Some have found new life as gyms, restaurants, churches and even apartment houses and condominiums while others sit quietly empty, fading into the cityscape. In this post I’ve tried to capture some of the classic firehouses of Washington and some of the small details which caught my eye when I visited. These old firehouses are from every corner of the city and I really enjoyed tracking them down to shoot this spread. I’d love to hear your memories of any of these old houses or to go find any I may have missed. Please comment in the section below. Many thanks to all of our wonderful D.C. firefighters, and to firefighters everywhere for your amazing and selfless dedication to the communities you serve.

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D.C.'s Oldest Homes - Octagon House

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D.C.'s Oldest Homes - Octagon House

On a strangely angled corner lot just a couple of blocks from the White House, at the corner of New York Avenue and 18th Street, sits the beautifully designed Octagon House, one of the city’s oldest and most architecturally celebrated homes. The house was designed and built as the winter home for Colonel John Tayloe III, one of Virginia’s wealthiest plantation owners, and for a few months in 1814 served as the Presidential Mansion after the burning of the White House.

John Tayloe III was born on his family estate, Mount Airy, in 1770, the only boy in a family of 11 children. John’s father died when he was just 9 years old and after receiving an education in London he became the soul heir to the estate. In 1792, John married Ann Ogle whose father, Benjamin, had served as the 9th Governor of Maryland. The two would have 15 children of their own. The Tayloe fortune was made primarily through farming, shipbuilding and ironworks, but they were also some of the country’s earliest racehorse breeders. Tayloe was a fine horseman himself and served in the Dragoons under the commands of George Washington and Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee during the Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania. Later he served as a commander of the Cavalry of the District of Columbia. Just before the turn of the century, Tayloe was looking to build a winter residence in the city and had his sights set on cosmopolitan Philadelphia. His friend George Washington convinced him to build in the new Capital City instead. And so it was that John Tayloe III purchased Lot 8 in Square 170 to build his winter home within view of the White House.

There is some debate as to who designed Octagon House with the credit generally given to William Thornton who drew up the original designs for the U.S. Capitol. It is possible that the house was designed instead by our old friend William Lovering who designed several of the other houses in this series and many in early Washington. Regardless, it was Lovering who oversaw the construction of the home, thought to be a high point of the Federal Style of architecture. Needing to fit into a sloped, angled lot the house would be designed with amazing simplicity incorporating a circle, two rectangles and a triangle into the plan.The house was completed in 1801 and it is interesting that the Tayloe family chose to call it “Octagon House” since it only really has six sides. In addition to Mount Airy in Virginia, the Tayloe family also owned a 205 acre farm a few miles north of Octagon House called Petworth (from which today’s neighborhood in that area gets its name). Much to my delight Tayloe also built a racetrack just behind Lafayette Square and a stone’s throw from the White House.

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