June 30, 2021

June 30, 2021

From Fort Belvoir, VA we drove into DC and stopped at two sites. Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site and Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site. Both are urban homes off Logan Circle. This area is full of old Victorian mansions built when DC expanded after the Civil War. In the 1940’s, it became a neighborhood for prominent blacks. In recent years, with continued DC expansion, the area is undergoing gentrification and these grand homes are being renovated.  Both Bethune and Woodson were heavily involved in the Negro history movement. Woodson was the founder of Black History Month.

After these brief stops, we drove to the Peirce Mill Visitor Center of Rock Creek Park. This urban park straddles the little stream that flows through the heart of DC into the Potomac at Georgetown. This part of the park was owned by the Peirce family that, like Washington, operated a mill and distillery. The Visitor Center is closed so we decide to do a hike along Rock Creek and then uphill to the park office in the Peirce-Klingle Mansion. It is surprising to have such a backwoods experience in the heart of the city.

Back in the car we drove to the Fort Totten Metro station, parked and took the subway to the National Mall. On the south side of the Air and Space Museum, a section of Maryland Ave has been replaced with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial. This Frank Gehry designed space opened last fall. Gehry has some famous designs (like Dancing House in Prague) but this is not one of them. It consists of three widely separated statues from three times in his life. Behind it is some kind of large screen supported by huge cylinders that is supposed to resemble the D-Day Normandy cliffs of Pointe du Hoc. It is barely visible and unrecognizable. We met a very nice young ranger who gave us the rundown on the memorial. This is his first permanent posting, just having come from Lincoln’s home in Springfield, IL

We have a few hours so we walked over to the Capitol but were shocked to see it still off-limits and entirely surrounded by fencing. George Washington would be horrified. America is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. Only third world governments make laws behind razor-wire. We went to the nearby Supreme court and Library of Congress. Both were also closed to visitors. We punted, had a delicious BLT lunch and took the Metro back to our car.

From Fort Totten, we drove to the nearby President Lincoln and Soldiers’ Home National Monument. It is inside the secure Armed Forces Retirement Home. We are very early for our tour of Lincoln’s Cottage, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem. We spend some time in the small museum and then walk over and get a tour inside the Cottage. Lincoln spent most summers here because it is cooler than the swampland that was DC. With the hundred thousand soldiers camped in DC, the Potomac became a cesspool of typhus. One of Lincoln’s son died as a result. Lincoln would commute daily between here and the White House on horseback, usually alone.

After we finished our tour, I looked at Aimee and said we are turning for home. She got a big grin on her face. We left DC in almost continuous highway construction. There can’t be any more workers available for additional infrastructure spending. After two hours we made it to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. We spent the night in Woodstock, VA. During our Italian dinner, we had some excitement with another patron needing 911 EMT help.