Hi Everyone! It’s really hard to believe how quickly these weeks are flying by. I can’t believe it’s been 6 weeks since I got home and started writing my weekly updates from here in D.C. I’m still keeping very busy and still have plenty of things to do, but the days really start to mush together when I’m not out there on the road or at least making plans in that direction. The weather has been decent this week, and we’ve been spending some good time outside enjoying it, which has been great.
This week has been one of celebrations, which has also been really good. On Friday we celebrated another week gone by with our weekly “Forget About It Friday” party in the basement. This week I broke out my blacklight from college and went a hundred years into the future for a “future party”. We had some glowing gin and tonics and a few laughs and played a new-to-us card game called The Game which we all enjoyed. Saturday we all threw in together in the kitchen and created a huge and wonderful New Orleans inspired Italian meal. Monday we celebrated my folks’ anniversary with another nice meal and last night we had some tacos and margaritas for Cinco de Mayo. Because television and walks only boost your spirits so much, we’ve enjoyed these celebrations as an excuse to be together and enjoy something fun and different. The themes just give it some direction.
I got some good news this week from a wooden puzzle company in England who wants to use one of my photos of Cloudland Canyon in Georgia on one of their puzzles…
Another week has come and gone for me here in our Nation’s Capital, and with it the month of April is coming swiftly to a close. I have spent the entire month under quarantine here at home, and I know many of you have been shut in longer than I have. It has definitely become a “new normal” for me, and this week I’ve started to fall into a good rhythm and routine. I’ve also come to terms with the idea of being here for a while and am trying to make the best of it.
First off, I know how incredibly lucky I am to be in the situation I’m in. My folks have been willing to take me in for an indefinite amount of time. They have retirement income and no mortgage to worry about and we all have enough space to not be under each other’s feet all the time. I myself have no debt and really no bills to speak of and because I cut my winter travel plans way short, I still have a reasonable amount of savings in the bank. All of this is good news because as long as this will last for the country, it will last significantly longer for the travel industry. I would be surprised if there’s any real work for me at all this year. I am trying to scout out a few writing gigs and maybe some virtual guiding, but as far as multi-week face to face stuff, it could be a while.
The area we now call Cleveland Park in Washington D.C. was once a part of a massive 1000 acre estate owned by Colonel Ninian Biell. He called his estate Pretty Prospect and built a small stone cottage on the land in 1740. In 1790, the property was acquired by General Uriah Forrest, who would later become mayor of Georgetown, and a large wood-framed house was built onto the front of the stone cottage. Forrest renamed the property Rosedale. When his son inherited this land, he built an even bigger home and called it Forrest Hill. In 1886, Forrest Hill was purchased as a country retreat by then-president Grover Cleveland who converted the house into a Victorian mansion and renamed it Oak View. It is from President Cleveland that the current neighborhood takes its name.
After Cleveland lost his reelection bid in 1889, the land was purchased and converted into housing subdivisions. The neighborhood’s early success was made possible by the Rock Creek Railway line which ran up Connecticut Avenue from downtown all the way to Chevy Chase Lake in Montgomery County, Maryland. In order to make this streetcar line happen, a massive bridge had to be built over the Klingle Valley and Rock Creek connecting the area to the rest of the city. The neighborhood developed around the natural contours of the land, with a little help from the firm of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, and you’ll find more winding roads here than in most parts of the city. Many of the houses were built to be unique to those around them and many were designed by renowned architects of the day. The result was that Cleveland Park was once heralded as the “prettiest suburb of Washington”, and many of those beautiful houses survive in the neighborhood today.
Hello Everyone! Well, another week has blurred past. It’s gotten a bit colder this week in Washington, but we’ve had a lot of sunshine which has helped prop up my spirits most days. It’s already light when I get up in the morning and the sun is out until almost 8 p.m. which I’m really enjoying. I’m looking forward to some beautiful spring days with plenty of sitting-outside weather in the coming weeks. We can fire up the barbecue and the outdoor fire pit and at least be able to enjoy the outdoor section of our shelter. I’ve still been getting out for at least one long walk a day, and the flowers are still fantastic around our part of the city. If nothing else it’s been wonderful to focus on the changing colors of spring in our Nation’s Capital.
Emotionally, it’s been another week of ups and downs though. I had another friend in my close friends network lose a parent this week, and my heart goes out to her and her family. Hard times on top of hard times. Meanwhile another friend is slowly recovering from the virus and doing better by the day. One of my good friends and loyal readers of this blog celebrated his birthday this week, so a big shout-out to Rob on his special day. Ten of us got together on Zoom to celebrate and it was good to see that particular group all in one place, even if it was done virtually. I have one photo that’s on the back of my sun visor in Shadow Catcher which I look at when I’m feeling particularly lonely on the road. Most of the people in that picture were on this call so it made me feel good to be a part of it. On Friday, my folks and I had a Roaring Twenties Prohibition Party in the basement. We sipped fancy cocktails, threw some dice, listened to some cool jazz and big band music and focused our attention away from the quarantine and virus for a few hours. It’s been really nice to have these “parties” and escape from reality for a little while.
Tenleytown grew up around the intersection of what are now River Road and Wisconsin Avenue, two roads which long predate both the city of Washington D.C. and the United States. River Road, in fact, predates European settlement to the area altogether, serving as a Native American trail to the Potomac River. In the early days of European settlement, the roads were used to transport goods from surrounding farms to Georgetown, then a major port city on the river. It is not surprising, then, that John Tennally, from whom the neighborhood takes its name, would build a tavern and blacksmith shop at the intersection of these historic roads. A small community soon grew up around the tavern and was known as Tennally’s Town. During the Civil War, Fort Pennsylvania was built nearby to protect the Capital City and was later renamed Fort Reno. After the war, a small African-American community known as Reno City was built in the area. When a streetcar came through at the end of the 19th century which connected Tenleytown to Downtown Washington, the neighborhood began to grow and flourish. Woodrow Wilson High School, Alice Deal Middle School and a water revoir and water tower were built, sadly displacing many of the residents of Reno City in the process. A proposed hospital on the site was never built. As the neighborhood developed, two major retailers, Sears and Roebuck and Hechinger’s Hardware Store, opened for business in Tenleytown and a Metro station further connected the neighborhood to the rest of the city. Today, Tenleytown is embracing its history as one of the oldest neighborhoods in what is now Washington D.C. with a wonderful historic walking tour and several historic plaques around town.
