Unlike most of the other properties I’ve featured in this series, Wheat Row hasn’t had any really famous residents. Nor has it hosted presidents or had any major historical events take place within its halls. If anything, it is reminiscent of how the regular people lived in the early days of Washington D.C. - just a common set of row houses set along an ordinary street.
The four connected townhouses which make up Wheat Row were built around 1794 and designed by architect William Lovering, whose architecture has featured prominently in this series so far. Even when they were built, the Georgian architectural style was considered out of date. People found the houses “small and poorly constructed of inferior materials”, and yet there they stand, 225 years later.
Wheat Row takes its name from one of its early residents, John Wheat, who lived in 1315 as early as 1819. Wheat was a local designer of gardens in the city and was listed in one census as a congressional messenger. He would later purchase 1319 and 1321 as well and his family lived along Wheat Row until a few years after the Civil War.
Hello Everyone, another week has come and gone here in Washington. Rains have brought cooler temperatures and I’ve been out taking lots of photos and hanging out with my favorite two year old. It’s been a fast week – they just seem to be speeding up on me. I guess routine will do that to a person. I’ve been very spoiled in my life to usually be doing so much over the course of a week that they often stretch out and feel longer than they are. Now the opposite seems true. I’m still happy to be healthy and safe and home with my people. It’s not a bad place to be or a bad group to be with, I just wish I knew there was an end date to all of this so I could make some concrete plans. Sometimes I find myself making travel plans just to be making travel plans because it’s something I’m used to doing. I guess that’s not a bad thing and it keeps me in practice. I’ve been reading Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing this week and have been enjoying it. It came recommended by two of my friends so I thought I’d give it a go. I don’t usually read a lot of fiction because there’s so much great non-fiction in the world, but this book is pretty quiet and reminds me of some of the beautiful places I’ve visited in coastal Carolina. It’s been a nice break. A few nice walks in the park as well have made it a pretty good week.
I’ve had a couple of nice days enjoying some time with Mason, my friends’ two year old son who I wrote about last week. I’m watching him a couple of times a week and really having fun with it. He’s a really sweet little boy and I love to see him laugh and smile and make connections in his head. We play with his trucks and read books together and when the sun is out we can go for a walk or a bike ride. He’s brought me a lot of joy over the last few weeks and reminds me that while the past is past, the future is yet to be written. I hope his will be a bright one in a healthy world and a country which celebrates its differences instead of destroys itself over them. At one point last week, the sun was shining in the back room where we play and he looked up and started catching things. I thought he was just playing, but soon realized that he was going after tiny strands of the dog’s hair which were floating in the afternoon sun. I couldn’t help but think what a magical world this is through his eyes. Spending time with him is special and will probably end up being the best part of this pandemic.
Friday we did our usual rounds to the grocery store and whatever other errands we needed to run for the week. That night we gathered to celebrate some wonderful Washington D.C. traditions. We had some half-smokes (traditional D.C. half pork – half beef sausages) with a chili sauce I tried to copy from Ben’s Chili Bowl, a local institution. We had some mambo wings – using sweet and tangy mambo sauce, another D.C. tradition. We listened to the sounds of Chuck Brown and Experience Unlimited and others who made our local gogo style of music, which never spread too far outside the beltway. We listened to others too, from Duke Ellington to Marvin Gaye to Fugazi and back again, which have brought our local musical talent to the masses. Friends have been sending me some things to help enhance our parties from all over the country, and it was fun to incorporate some into our weekly celebration…
The Maples was originally built for Captain William Mayne Duncanson between 1795 and 1796 on property he purchased for $960. The Late Georgian style mansion is the oldest building still standing on Capitol Hill. The two story main house and detached outbuilding which served as slave quarters and a carriage house was designed by architect William Lovering who designed several of the properties I’ve features in this series. During the house’s construction, the captain lived in the Duncanson-Cranch House on N St. SW which was the last property we looked at. George Washington was a dinner guest at The Maples while Duncanson lived there and the president was said to have called it “a fine house in the woods”.
Duncanson’s real estate investments in the city eventually led him into bankruptcy, and he lost this house in the process. It served as a hospital after the Battle of Bladensburg during the War of 1812 and soon thereafter was purchased by recent Star Spangled Banner author and future D.C. District Attorney Francis Scott Key. Interestingly, at the time he purchased The Maples, Key was living at 3518 M St. in Georgetown, a block or so away from the Forrest-Marbury House featured earlier in this series. The Key family likely never lived in The Maples though, except perhaps briefly after selling their Georgetown home in the 1830s.
In 1838 The Maples was purchased by Major Augustus A Nicholson, the Quartermaster of the United States Marine Corps, and became the center of military entertainment in the Capital City. Sadly, Major Nicholson’ wife committed suicide in the house and is said to still haunt the property with her tormented cries…
As many of you remember, we spent much of the spring and early summer tracing the battles of the Eastern Theater of the Civil War from Manassas to Appomattox. As we got to the end of the war though, we came to realize that there was one more casualty we needed to consider and one more route to follow to gain some closure to our tour. That was the trail taken by John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln on April 14th, 1865 at Ford’s Theater. Booth and his accomplice David Herold led the authorities on a nearly two week manhunt which ended on April 26th when Booth was cornered and killed on the Garrett Farm in Virginia. This route is now one of Maryland’s scenic byways and one of the country’s more historic ones.
Our day began at historic Ford’s Theater. Ford’s Theater is a wonderful place managed by the National Park Service and just blocks from the White House which still functions as an active theater. My folks and I try and get there every December to watch their wonderful rendition of A Christmas Carol. The box where President Lincoln was shot is preserved and well cared for and there is a small museum in the basement dedicated to the assassination. After Lincoln was shot, he was taken across the street to The Peterson House, where he would die of his injury soon thereafter. The Peterson House is also managed by the National Park Service and is open for tours.
Booth, on the other hand, leapt to the stage, catching his boot spur and breaking his leg in the process, but still managed to escape out the back door of the theater. There he mounted his horse and sped off into the night, crossing the Potomac on the Navy Yard Bridge and then rendezvousing with his accomplice David Herold. The two quickly made their way to the tavern of Mary Surratt in Surrattsville near Clinton where they retrieved rifles, field glasses and other supplies they had stashed there…
This house was built in 1794 and designed by architect William Lovering who is also credited with designing the Thomas Law House (featured last in this series), The Maples (which will be featured next), the Octagon House and Wheat Row, both of which will be featured later in this series. The house was designed in the Federal style popular at the time and was built as a double house, occupying 468 and 470 N. St. SW.
The lot on which the house was built was originally owned by Notley Young who deeded it to the City Commissioners when the site of the federal city was first determined. Captain William Mayne Duncanson, a wealthy merchant who came to Washington from Europe on a boat with Thomas Law in 1795, lived in the 470 half of the double house from 1795-96. He lived in the house while awaiting his new home, later known as The Maples, was being built on Capitol Hill. The Maples will be featured next in this series.
Several years later, the other half of this house was occupied by William Cranch. Cranch was the son of Mary Smith whose sister was Abigail Adams, making William the nephew, by marriage, of President John Adams. William married Nancy Greenleaf in 1795 and had four sons and three daughters. Their great-grandson was poet T.S. Elliot
A Harvard educated lawyer, Cranch moved to Washington D.C. in 1791 where he worked in private practice for 10 years. From 1800-1801 Cranch served as a City Commissioner for the District before being nominated by his uncle, John Adams, to serve on the newly established U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia
Hello Everyone, it’s hard for me to even fathom that this is week 20 of this post series. I was hoping when I arrived home in the beginning of April that I would only be here for a few weeks and then I would be back out on the road, but here I am 20 weeks later. I’m still enormously grateful to have a place to weather this storm, especially knowing that things could be much worse if I didn’t. I just wish I knew what the end date to all of this was so I could make some plans. It’s been a quietly busy week here in Washington and I’ve actually done quite a bit which has been really nice. I’ve also had some good news in my feed this week which also helps. One of my best friends welcomed a new baby boy to the world this week in New Orleans, so welcome Theodore. Another friend of mine from grade school has announced his wife’s pregnancy this week as well. These are both reminders to me that the world has continued to turn even if my wheels have stopped doing so.
Last Thursday I began a new role which I’ve really enjoyed, even though I’ve only done it a couple of times. My friend James was called back to work after a few months of furlough, but his two year old son’s daycare is still closed. So I’m going to be spending some time with young Mason over the next few weeks or months so they can work and we can play. Mason is a sweet kid, and it’s been a real treat to watch him. His smiles and laughter are such a counterbalance to the challenges we are facing in this country and in the world, and it’s a welcome change. I’ve always loved working with kids, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to spend some time watching him grow up. It’s been great to experience the world through his eyes and I’ll be gladly helping out with this for a while until things change. That could happen tomorrow or a year from now, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Last weekend was also a lot of fun here. After celebrating the “holidays” the last few weeks, we settled in on Friday for a quiet “pub night” of wings, nachos and beers. It was nice to have a relaxing night, listen to some good music and enjoy our time together. Saturday my mom and I headed out to check out some of Washington D.C.’s oldest firehouses for an upcoming photo essay I’m putting together
This post shares photos and a brief history of the Thomas Law House in Southwest Washington D.C.
The Thomas Law House was built between 1794 and 1796. It was designed by architect William Lovering who is credited with the design of several other properties which will be featured later in this series including The Octagon House, Wheat Row and the Duncannon-Cranch House. Thomas Law, formerly of the British East India Company, had recently immigrated to the United States with two of his three illegitimate sons born from his Indian mistress. He met and married Elizabeth Parke Custis, who was twenty years his junior, in 1796 and the couple moved into this newly built home which was then dubbed “Honeymoon House”. Elizabeth Parke Custis was the eldest granddaughter of Martha Washington from her first marriage. Elizabeth’s brother was George Washington Parke Custis, the builder of Arlington House (the Custis-Lee Mansion) and the father of Mary Anne Randolph Custis who would marry Robert E. Lee. Thomas and Elizabeth would live in this beautiful Federal Style home for only about five months before moving to a new home which was then under construction. They would divorce in 1811.
From 1814-1827, this house was occupied by Richard Bland Lee, brother of Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee and uncle of Robert E. Lee. Richard was the second cousin of Thomas Sim Lee, whose winter house in Georgetown was featured earlier in this series. Richard had served as a U.S. Representative from Virginia in the very first session of congress and had helped negotiate the Compromise of 1890 which established the Capital City of Washington D.C. He served three terms in congress and then returned to his family’s tobacco plantation – Sully – in Chantilly, Virginia. Financial hardships in the family eventually forced the sale of Sully after which Richard and his wife moved to the Thomas Law House. Richard would serve under President James Madison as a commissioner charged with helping rebuild the city after the War of 1812 and would later be appointed as a judge by James Monroe. He lived in this home until his death in 1827.
This post shares photos and a brief history of the Thomas Sim Lee Corner in Georgetown in Washington D.C.
At the end of the block where the Old Stone House has stood since 1765, you can find the historic winter home of Thomas Sim Lee, an associate of George Washington who had served as a colonel during the Revolution. He went on to become the 2nd and 7th Governor of the state of Maryland. During his first term, Lee consulted with then lieutenant colonel Uriah Forrest who would later live down M Street from Lee in what’s now known as the Forrest-Marbury House (read about it HERE). After his second gubernatorial term ended in 1794, Lee moved to Georgetown and built this lovely corner house. In July of that year, Washington offered Lee a role on the Board of Commissioners which was overseeing construction of the new capital city, but Lee turned him down. After the death of his wife, Mary, in 1805, Lee moved permanently to his country estate in Frederick County.
The Thomas Sim Lee house would go through several owners over the next century and a half, but it eventually fell into a dilapidated state and was slated for demolition in 1950. This was right about the time that congress had authorized the purchase of the Old Stone House a block away, and a Georgetown resident named Dorothea de Schweinitz quickly mobilized her friends to save the Lee Corner from the wrecking ball. The Architectural Review Board of the Commission of Fine Arts reviewed the property and recommended against demolition. Miss de Shweinitz organized her neighbors and helped found Historic Georgetown Inc. which sold shares at a dollar apiece and purchased the property outright. They then began renovations of the building and found renters to occupy it. The simultaneous preservation of the Old Stone House and the Thomas Sim Lee Corner was the beginning of a movement to save historic Georgetown, a move I’m sure area residents are grateful for today…
Hello Everyone, well August is upon us and I’ve personally passed the 4 month mark of being sheltered- in-place here in Washington. It’s been a quiet week for the most part which is a very good thing sometimes. I’ve been enjoying baseball games on the radio, long morning walks in Rock Creek Park and working on my book. Hurricane Isaias passed by us yesterday dousing us with some much needed rain and the heat and humidity seem to have backed off for a minute. Despite the fact that the pandemic is still in full effect, I feel pretty calm and balanced this week, and for that I am grateful. Perhaps it’s the break in the heat and the beginning of August – both of which signal that summer is winding down. There are many things I love about summer, but the heat is not one of them. Whatever it is, I’m happy to be feeling more like myself this week.
I was thrilled to see the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act this week by a bipartisan effort with the support of the president. This bill will give much needed funding to our National Parks in this country to try and relieve some of the backlog of maintenance needs which has piled up for decades. I love the American National Park System and have been on a lifelong quest to visit all four hundred and some units. This year I made a turn into the final hundred. These truly are our greatest treasures and they are even more special because as public lands they belong to all of us. Never listen to anyone if they tell you these are “government owned land”. They are not – they are yours and mine to enjoy and need to be maintained and preserved for future generations as well. Kudos to congress and the president for coming together to do something great. Beyond that, though, I’ve been trying to avoid the news as best I can.
This past Friday, as a follow-up to last week’s Christmas in July celebration, we had a Mid-Year New Year Party complete with some wonderful hors d’oeuvres and (a tad too much) champagne. Since the first half of 2020 hasn’t turned out very well, we were looking ahead at the second half with high hopes of a vaccine and a quick return to a more normal life.
Saturday I spent behind the computer writing about some of Washington DC’s oldest homes – a project which was supposed to be a single post but got too complicated so I decided to look at each property individually. It’s a project I will continue working on for the next couple of weeks.
Last week I decided I wanted to check out a little bit of history and a little bit of seascape as well. It’s the middle of summer and I miss the beach but I’m not heading to the crowded Atlantic beaches right now. So I settled on a Chesapeake Bay view from the western shore towns of North Beach and Chesapeake Beach, only about an hour from Washington D.C. at a straight shot. I also wanted to take some photos at the beautiful Maryland State Capitol Building and wander around Annapolis’ Historic District as well. Connecting these two is Maryland’s Roots and Tides Scenic Byway.
Obviously, some of the key highlights of the journey were closed due to the pandemic, but I still enjoyed a little meander through the countryside, and the beach communities I ended up at sated my need for a little bit of time on the water. It’s definitely good to be out exploring, and I really enjoyed the Roots and Tides Scenic Byway. I hope you enjoy the photos I took along the way…
This post shares photos and a brief history of Rosedale in Cleveland Park in Washington D.C.
The area we now call Cleveland Park was once part of a massive 800 acre estate owned by Colonel Ninian Beall. After Beall’s death in 1717, his property was divided among his 12 children and a tract of it was bought by a man whose name is lost to history. This man built a small stone cottage on the property around 1740 and the estate was known as Pretty Prospects. In 1793, the property was acquired by General Uriah Forrest, who had been the mayor of Georgetown and was at that time serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. Forrest had a large wood-framed house built onto the front of the stone cottage and renamed the property Rosedale. Rosedale was the Forrest family’s country estate which they built while living in the Forrest-Marbury House in Georgetown (read about that house HERE).
General Forrest was a prominent citizen of early Washington D.C. and Rosedale played host to many important people including President John Adams. Forrest himself would die in the front parlor of the house in 1805. Rosedale remained in the family until 1917 when it was rented by the Coonley family.
This post shares photos and a brief history of the The Forrest-Marbury House in Georgetown in Washington D.C.
The Forrest-Marbury House was built in 1788 by John Stoddert and soon became the city home of Georgetown’s 3rd Mayor and Stoddert’s business partner, General Uriah Forrest. Forrest had lost a leg during the Battle of Brandywine in the Revolution, and would go on to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. On March 29th, 1791 General Forrest hosted his old friend and former commander, George Washington, and other prominent local landowners for dinner before their historic meeting at Suter’s Inn which I discussed briefly in my last post in this series on The Old Stone House (read it HERE). In 1794, Forrest moved out of this house and to his country estate across town which he called Rosedale where he lived out his days. Rosedale will be featured next in this series.
From 1800-1835 this house was owned and occupied by William Marbury, a successful local banker. On the last day of John Adams’ presidency, Adams nominated Marbury to be a Justice of the Peace in Washington D.C. This nomination was blocked by incoming president Thomas Jefferson and his secretary of state James Madison. Marbury filed a lawsuit asking for a writ of mandamus which would force the Jefferson administration to complete his commission and in 1803 the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of Marbury v Madison. This case would deny Marbury his commission not on the grounds that he didn’t deserve it, but on the grounds that to do so was outside the constitutional power of the Supreme Court. This famous early case established the principle of judicial review. Marbury’s adversary in the case, James Madison would later live in the Octagon House which will be featured in a later post in this series…
