In 1796, the City Tavern building was constructed as a tavern and quickly became one of the most frequented spots in Washington, DC during the Federal period of the United States. Many of the Founding Fathers, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, frequented the tavern fairly often and held many a conversation within its walls. Additionally, due to its location, the tavern was more or less Georgetown’s central hub. During the 1800s, the tavern would change hands numerous times, finding various degrees of success. As the 1800s reached an end, so too did the tavern’s function as an inn, leaving it solely as a bar. Even this status did not last long, however.The City Tavern was repurposed numerous times for commercial business operations between 1900 and 1960, no longer being a bar or tavern. In 1960, however, a small group happened upon the building and formed the City Tavern Association in order to restore the building to its former glory. The association purchased the building outright, and began a restoration effort that same year. In 1962, the association completed renovations and re-opened the building as the City Tavern Club, a private social club. On January 17th of 1992, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the City Tavern continues to host the City Tavern Club.

A view of City Tavern in 2008. Image by AgnosticPreachersKid on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Website

The City Tavern Club is a private social club in Washington, DC’s Georgetown area that is housed in a building of the same name, the City Tavern. Constructed in 1796 as an inn, the City Tavern building changed hands many times throughout its history until it became the home of the City Tavern Club after it was restored in 1962. In January of 1992, the City Tavern was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the City Tavern is still the hosting clubhouse of the City Tavern Club, and it continues to host some of the elite of Washingtonian high society.

City Tavern

This tour begins at the Georgetown campus and walks through the rich history of the Georgetown neighborhood, first established in 1751. In its early decades, it was a prominent shipping port, and later industries like flour mills and factories arose. In the nineteenth century, it grew into a fashionable area of the capital region. After the Civil War, a prominent African-American community grew as freed men and woman settled there. In 1871, Georgetown became part of Washington, DC. After World War I, Georgetown declined in prosperity and living conditions, which the New Deal improved in the 1930s. This tour incorporates sites from a variety of time periods and facets of Georgetown's history.

Patrick Healy was born into slavery as his mother, a light-skinned woman of African descent was owned by his father, a Georgia planter of Irish descent. Healy's parents lived as husband and wife and sent their son to New York where he was able to assume an identity as a white man. Healy graduated from&nbsp;Holy Cross College in Massachusetts and entered the Jesuit priesthood in 1850. Healy traveled throughout&nbsp;the United States and Europe and spoke many languages in addition to acquiring proficient knowledge in literature and philosophy. Healy was assigned&nbsp;to teach philosophy at the small but growing college in 1866 and served as the president of Georgetown 1873 to 1881. His mixed racial heritage was not known until historians discovered Healy's story in the 1960s.&nbsp; Georgetown University, formerly known as Georgetown College (1789–1814) is the oldest Catholic educational institution in the United States. The college was founded in 1789 by John Carroll, America's first Catholic Bishop. Former President Bill Clinton, US Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, among many other prominent figures are Georgetown alumni. The university campus spans about 104 acres and includes numerous historic buildings.&nbsp; The&nbsp;Civil War nearly resulted in the closure of Georgetown, as the student body dropped from 313 to 17 between 1859 and 1861. A total of 1,141 students and alumni enlisted in the war, serving in both the Union and Confederate forces. After the Second Battle of Bull Run in 1862, several campus buildings were turned into a temporary hospital. To celebrate the end of the Civil War, Georgetown students selected the colors blue (Union) and gray (Confederate)&nbsp;as the school’s official colors in 1876.&nbsp; Georgetown's athletic teams, nicknamed the Hoyas, include a men's basketball team that has won seven Big East championships, appeared in five Final Fours, and won a national championship in 1984. Campus organizations include the country's largest student-run business and largest student-run financial institution.

Constructed from 1877 to 1879, Healy Hall is the best-known academic building on the Georgetown campus and one of only a small number of campus landmarks that have been elevated to the status of a National Historic Landmark. The building is named in honor of university president Patrick Healy who was the president of the small but growing college at the time of this building's completion. Healy Hall originally served as a dormitory, library, and classroom space similar to many other colleges at this time. The building was designed by the same architects who designed the Library of Congress, and while the building now serves as a symbol of the university's continuity and stability, it is important to note that the construction of the building left the university with substantial debt. 

Healy Hall, Georgetown University

Released in 1973, the Exorcist was and still is one of the most recognized and enduring horror films of all time. The film follows a twelve-year-old girl, Regan, after she is possessed by a&nbsp;demon, who spits green vomit and can spin Regan's head 360 degrees. Two priests, Father Merrin and Father Karras, confront the demon, trying to remove it from Regan's body. In the climactic scene at the end of the movie, Father Karras takes the demon into himself and jumps from a window onto the stairs below, the Exorcist stairs, causing his death.&nbsp; The film was supposedly based off of a real life exorcism that took place in 1949. This exorcism involved a thirteen-year-old boy from Maryland. The boy, referred to as Robbie Mannheim, showed signs that he might be possessed, and doctors could not diagnose his symptoms, so the family turned to the Catholic Church. The Church sent two exorcists to visit Robbie, and they performed the exorcism. The symptoms of possession went away once the exorcism was completed, leaving many to speculate that the boy was actually possessed.&nbsp; After the film's release, it received&nbsp;widespread recognition, becoming one of the most financially successful horror movies of all time. The film also won two Oscar awards, one for Best Sound and the other for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material From Another Medium. It also received Oscar nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Picture.&nbsp;

These stairs were featured in the film "The Exorcist," which was released in 1973. The film was written by William Peter Blatty and directed by William Friedkin. The film received widespread acclaim when it was released and was one of the most profitable horror movies ever made. The storyline follows Regan, a young girl who becomes possessed by a demon. Regan was played by Linda Blair. The stairs can be found in the latter part of the movie when the priest confronts the demon possessing Regan. 

The Exorcist Steps

In 1787, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert began constructing a home for himself and his wife, calling the home “Halcyon.” Stoddert lived in the house with his family for a time, but when his wife died, Stoddert left the home and gave it to his daughter and her husband, Elizabeth and Thomas Ewell. The Ewells remained in the home until 1818, and the home would go on to switch hands numerous times until 1900. Records do not appear indicate the succession of owners in this eighty-year period. In 1900, one of Mark Twain’s nephews, Albert Clemens, bought the home. Clemens was under the impression that if he continued to renovate the house almost constantly, he would be able to prolong his life. As a result of this, Clemens would go on to renovate the house for 38 straight years, purposefully disfiguring portions of the home. The building, unsurprisingly, was disastrous to see.In 1938, Clemens died, and the house remained vacant for several years before beginning yet another chain of succession of owners for the house. In 1966, architect Edmund Dreyfuss bought the home and opted to turn the home into a commercial venture, but plans fell through, and nothing came of the idea. During this period of attempted reform for the building, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 31st of 1971. After the failed attempts to commercialize the building, Edmund turned the building over to his son John Dreyfuss, who oversaw the maintenance of the building, beginning in 1978. A massive restoration project for the building was begun that same year, lasting all the way until 1995 in an attempt to fix some of the damage Clemens had done and to restore the building to a reflection of its former glory. In 2011, the Halcyon House was purchased by Dr. Sachiko Kuno and Dr. Ryuji Ueno, the founders of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, who renovated the building and converted it into the headquarters of the nonprofit S&amp;R Foundation.

Halcyon House is a historic home located in the Georgetown area of Washington, DC. Built in 1787 by Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert, the Halcyon House sports a Federal-era-styled architecture, and in its heyday, the home was a hotspot for social events in Washington, DC. On March 31st of 1971, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. After undergoing a restoration effort, the home is currently occupied as the headquarters of the non-profit S&R Foundation.

Halcyon House

The Forrest-Marbury House was built in 1788 by a man named Benjamin Stoddert. At some point in the 1790s, Uriah Forrest, then the mayor of what would become Georgetown, began to live in the home. During the late 1780s and very early 1790s, a dispute between Georgetown and Carrollsburgh was underway with regards to where the Federal City would be located. To settle the dispute, George Washington himself came to Georgetown in March of 1791, ate with the involved parties at the Forrest-Marbury House, and settled the dispute with all parties agreed by the end of the evening. In 1800, ownership of the home was passed to William Marbury, a real estate investor who would go on to oppose President Thomas Jefferson in the case of Marbury v. Madison in 1803.

After the case, the home remained in Marbury’s family for a number of decades, and in 1888, the home was sold. From that point on, the Forrest-Marbury House was converted for a number of different uses over the years, including a series of apartments, a nightclub. On July 2nd of 1973, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and in the early 1990s, the home was restored to that of a residential space. As of 1992, the building has served as the US Embassy of the Ukraine.

The Forrest-Marbury House is a historic home in the Georgetown area of Washington, DC. Originally built in 1788, the Forrest-Marbury House went through several different phases of ownership in its lifetime, serving as residential, government, and commercial space. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in July of 1973. Today, the building is home to Ukraine’s US Embassy.

Forrest-Marbury House

In 1795, Washington, DC’s first recorded public market
opened for business. Previously, the property had been a butcher’s market,
which had at some point been replaced by a debtor’s jail. The jail was moved in
1795, however, in order to make way for the frame of what was to be a frame
market house. The frame market did not remain long in the town, however, as the
town experienced a surge in growth and required a more substantial market. As a
result, the market was torn down in 1796 and replaced with a much larger
marketplace. Over the years, the market was expanded several times over in
accordance with the continued growth of Georgetown, but as the American Civil War
raged on, the market was damaged numerous times. By the time the war had ended,
the market seemed to be beyond repair, and the town tore what remained down. In
1865, a new market was built, and it still remains in Georgetown today.

The Georgetown Corporation owned and operated the market
following its construction, but in 1871, Georgetown was incorporated into the
District of Columbia. As a result of the incorporation, DC’s government began
regulation of the market. DC government leased out the building to multiple
businesses in the following years beginning in 1935, but in 1966, Congress ordered
the District Government to begin a preservation effort for the building and
re-convert it into a public market. It was not until May 6th of 1971
that the Georgetown Market was actually added to the National Register of
Historic Places, however. As per the orders of Congress, the Georgetown Market
building currently serves as a market for the Georgetown neighborhood area.

The Georgetown Market is a historic market house in the Georgetown area of Washington, DC. Built in 1865, the market was built into a pre-existing market structure dating back to 1795. On May 6th of 1971, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The market underwent renovations in recent years, and it currently hosts a number of businesses.

Georgetown Market

In the first half of the 1800s, when Georgetown was still largely a port town, two Episcopal Parishes were active in the area: St. John’s Georgetown and Christ Church Georgetown. Though pew rentals were the custom of the day in churches, the two parishes collaborated and gave funds to form a mission church in the area to care for those in the population that could not afford to rent out pews for worship. In the 1850s, three men from the Christ Church Georgetown finally founded a chapel for the mission church, and services were held in the building with the help of volunteers from the nearby Virginia Theological Seminary. As the church grew, a member of Christ Church, H. D. Cooke, donated a significant sum and funded the construction of the Grace Episcopal Church in 1867.

The church became a force in the community, not only providing church services for the poor, but also going out into the community and giving aid to those truly in need in the area. The church continued to thrive and grow over the coming century, and by the 1960s, Grace Episcopal Church was still hugely important for its neighborhood and the community therein, and began to establish community programs for the homeless among Georgetown. On May 6th of 1971, the Grace Episcopal Church of Washington, DC was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the Grace Episcopal Church is the only religious institution active in the lower part of Georgetown, and its community outreach programs are a continuing effort by the church congregation and community.

Grace Episcopal Church is a historic church located in Washington, DC’s Georgetown neighborhood. Also known as the Mission Church for Canal Boatmen, the church is known for its Gothic Revival architecture. On May 6th of 1971, the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places under the name of Grace Protestant Episcopal Church. The Grace Episcopal Church is still active today.

Grace Episcopal Church (Washington, D.C.)

<div>The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is a 184.5 mile canal that runs parallel to the Potomac River. &nbsp;The canal stretches from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, D.C.. On July 4, 1828 President John Quincy Adams started the construction by breaking the earth. &nbsp;However, he had trouble doing so which showed that the construction of the canal was going to be a long and labor-intensive project. &nbsp;The canal construction called for higher costs of labor and materials than were originally estimated. &nbsp;The terrain, cost of labor, disease, and legal battles over land caused the construction to move a lot slower than planned. Twenty-two years after the start of the construction when the canal reached Cumberland, Maryland the project was halted due to a lack of funds. The original plan for the C&amp;amp;O Canal was to have it extend from Georgetown (in Washington D.C.) to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>	Many of the workers who built the canal were Dutch, German, Irish and English immigrants who were promised a better life in America. &nbsp;They worked long hours for little pay and created a stair case effect by constructing seventy-four lift locks that changed the water level to move cargo from Georgetown to Cumberland and vice versa. As construction moved west from Georgetown sections of the canal opened. In 1830 the canal stretched from Georgetown to Seneca, then in 1833 it reached Harpers Ferry, then to Hancock, Maryland in 1839, and finally reached its end of Cumberland, Maryland in 1850.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>	The C&amp;O Canal operated from 1850 until 1924. &nbsp;It was a seven-day trip from Cumberland to Georgetown. &nbsp;The canal boats carried loads of cargo mainly coal. &nbsp;The canal boats design was to move a much cargo as possible. &nbsp;The boatmen had only 12 feet by 12 feet space for living on the ship what was the family's living quarters. In the 12' x 12' cabin it had the basic living necessities of a coal burning stove, bunk beds with hay mattresses, a table, and a small cupboard for supplies. The boats also had a stable and hay storage for the mules who pulled the boats along the towpath. &nbsp;Lock tenders were also an important part of the canal operation. They worked around the clock; they were constantly on duty and had to look for approaching boats. &nbsp;They would listen for the boatman's call of "hey-y-y-y lock" which singled that the lock tender was needed. &nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>	Today, the 184.5 miles is tended by the National Park Service. &nbsp;The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park offers visitors a chance to embrace the history as well as nature. &nbsp;The park offers visitors the opportunity to walk or bike the towpath, as well as horseback riding along the path. &nbsp;Many of the lock areas have visitor centers where one can learn more about the history of the canal and experience ranger led programs. &nbsp;Both Williamsport and Great Falls offer boat tours and rides for their visitors to enjoy and gain a hands on approach to history. &nbsp;</div>

This 184.5 mile canal took over 22 years to be built. Construction was started in 1828 by John Quincy Adams but the growing cost of labor, prevalence of disease, and instability in the area caused problems throughout the building process. Once operational, the canal offered a seven day trip from Cumberland to Georgetown. The Canal was open from 1850 until 1924. The area is now preserved by the National Park Service. Exhibits in the museum inform visitors about the construction of the Canal and the wildlife in the area.

Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park

In 1764, the plot for the Old Stone House was bought by settlers Christopher and Rachel Layman, who sought to make a new life in Georgetown for themselves and their two sons. The Laymans paid for the construction of the house and used local materials, such as blue fieldstone and oak boards, to build their new home. The house was simple, but functional and it served the primary purposes of the Layman family, who soon began growing crops and raising farm animals after construction on the house was finished. However, Christopher died in 1767 and Rachel remarried selling the Old Stone House to a widow, Cassandra Chew. Cassandra funded money into construction projects for a new kitchen and the addition of a second floor.Cassandra had a significant amount of wealth being apart of the upper middle class and she owned numerous other properties and even some slaves. Cassandra died in 1807, however, and the Old Stone House was given to her eldest daughter, Mary Smith Brumley, who ran a business out of the front room of the house. For some time, the Old Stone House was sold and bought multiple times as a private home by man owners. Many businesses ran at the house as well like Blacksmiths, tailors, carpenters, and house painters. The federal government purchased the property in 1953 for $900,000 as it was a place of historical significance. The house was transferred over to the National Park Service, who removed many 19th and 20th century items as well as turning the nearby parking lot into a garden.After some needed renovations, the Old Stone House was turned into a public museum and opened in 1960. It became apart of George Washington Memorial Parkway and ownership of the house went to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. The house would be on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and designated as a National Historic Landmark Contributing Property in 1967. In the 1980s, ownership went over to the Rock Creek Parkway. As of today, 85% of the house has been unchanged from it’s 18th century construction.

Built in 1765, The Old Stone House in Washington, D.C. is the oldest building in the District of Columbia. It is also Washington’s last pre-revolutionary colonial building on its original foundation and it has remained unchanged over the years since it’s construction year. Local folks have preserved the house from demolition and remains untouched unlike most colonial homes in the area that were torn down or redeveloped into new buildings. In the 1950s, the house was converted into a public museum and is apart of the Georgetown Historic District.

Old Stone House (Washington D.C.)

<h2>Newton D. Baker</h2>Born in West Virginia in 1871, Newton D. Baker served as both the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio and as the Secretary of War under Woodrow Wilson during World War I. Prior to entering politics, Baker attended John Hopkins University, where he graduated in 1892. He then obtained his Bachelor of Laws in 1894 from Washington and Lee University. Baker practiced law on and off for many years. Baker's first political appointment was as a secretary for the Post Master General under President Cleveland. He left this job in 1897, moving back to Ohio at this time. He served as the mayor of Cleveland for two terms from 1912-1916. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Baker Secretary of War. He served in this position through World War I and was responsible for mobilizing the American troops for the War. <h2>Newton D. Baker House</h2>The Newton D. Baker House was built in 1794 by a prominent architect named Thomas Beall. The house was designed with a New England style of architecture, contrasting the Georgetown homes that surrounded it. The first occupant of the home was John Laird, who purchased the home in 1796. In 1868, the house was used as a Georgetown Female Seminary, but it was later turned back into a private residence. Baker purchased the home in 1916, during his tenure as Secretary of War. This was the only home that he lived in while in Washington D.C. during this stint. He moved out of the house in 1920 and headed back to Ohio. The house was later occupied by Jackie Kennedy for a short time after the death of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, in 1963.

The Newton D. Baker House was built in 1794 by architect Thomas Beall. The house reflects a New England style of architecture. At five stories high, the home includes six bedrooms, three fire places, and a library. Newton D. Baker, for who the house is named, lived in the house from 1916 to 1920. The house was also occupied by Jackie Kennedy after John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. It was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

Newton D. Baker House

In 1826, Lydia Scudder English (1802-1866) founded the Georgetown Female Seminary against the wishes of her father, who refused to support her in this endeavor. Starting with three pupils, the school quickly grew and its student community grew to include the daughters of prominent Washington citizens and politicians. The school educated 1800 pupils over the course of its existence. English was a secessionist and owned slaves who worked in the school. Accounts of the school have recorded only one name of an enslaved person who worked there, a woman called "Old Aunt" Abby. The seminary held a festival on the first day each May, in which Miss English crowned three kings and three queens. The festival also included a band and speeches, and the school invited the town. Narratives of the school's history note the mischief of young men hanging around the school, drinking at a pump nearby and using a system of baskets on ropes to pass gifts to the female students. The school nevertheless had a reputation for its strictness and discipline. The building itself is three stories, and had 19 bedrooms, a parlor, a library, and several porches, and featured hot running water. In 1861, the Union army confiscated the building for a military hospital for officers after the First Battle of Bull Run. Hating to see the Union flag flying over what had once been her school, English moved out of sight of the building, around the corner. According to the National Park Service, Doctor Mary Walker, the first woman to receive the Medal of Honor, may have served at the hospital. After the war, alumnae of the school, Mary E. Bibb and S. A. Lipscomb, opened the Georgetown Female Seminary here in 1866. Lipscomb ran the school after 1871, and later moved it into Washington, renaming it Waverley Seminary. This building eventually became apartments, and underwent restoration in 1953.

Miss Lydia English's Female Seminary occupied this building in 1826. The had the support of powerful patrons such as US Presidents Martin van Buren, James Buchanan, and Andrew Johnson as well as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and General John C. Fremont. After the Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run in the American Civil War, it commandeered the building for use as a military hospital. After the war, another school, the Georgetown Female Seminary, operated here under the direction of alumnae from Miss English's school. Later, the building was converted into apartments. It underwent historical restoration in 1953.

The Colonial and Female Seminary

The property which the Isaac Owens House was built on is recorded to have belonged to a Thomas Beall around the beginning of the 19th century. Beall subdivided the property around 1804, and that same year, he sold part of that property to John M. Gannt. The home was originally thought to have been built by Gannt around this time, but records indicate that instead, it was purchased by Elisha Williams in 1809, and then once more by Isaac Owens in 1816. Not much is known about renovations made to the home during the time Owens owned it, but Owens passed the building on to his descendants, and they subsequently sold the building in 1835 to William Nichols. Nichols lost the building in 1856 after defaulting on his debts, however, and the building was bought by John Lumsden. Lumsden and his family lived in the building for the next two decades or so, and in 1887, they sold the home to Sallie Jones. After living in the home for around a decade, Sallie sold the home, and it was then used as a rental property.

In the early 1900s, the property passed among several other owners, until a certain Katherine Cunningham purchased the building in 1921 and began to carry out heavy renovations on the property. In 1940, it was purchased by John Walker, the director of the National Gallery of Art from 1956 until 1969. On June 19th of 1973, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Isaac Owens House is a historic home in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. Built in 1816, the house is a notable example of Federal-era architectural style, and has served as the home of several notable persons during its lifetime. On June 19th of 1973, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Recently, the home underwent a period of restoration.

Isaac Owens House

The property on which the John Stoddert Haw House stands was originally owned by Thomas Beall, who went through the process of subdividing the property for sale and ended up selling part of it to John M. Gannt in 1804. The property was sold several more times in the span of a decade, until it was purchased by John Stoddert Haw in 1815. Haw began to construct a home for himself on the property in 1816, and in 1817, it is indicated that the home was completed. John and his family lived in the house well into the 1840s, but at some point during that decade, they moved elsewhere, retaining ownership of the house all the while. From then into the 1900s, the home was rented out to various tenants, and in 1921, retired US Navy admiral Spencer Wood bought the house to serve as his own residence.Wood was deeply invested in the community of Georgetown, and becoming a chairman of the Georgetown Citizens Association, and a short time after buying the home, he began to restore it for his own purposes, as well as for the benefit of the neighborhood. In 1941, Wood passed ownership of the home to his daughter Anne Elizabeth, married to Joseph Harsch, who was then a CBS and NBC leading commentator. The Harschs did not remain at the home long, and in the 1950s and 1960s it was host to a number of foreign diplomats from Britain and Brazil. It was purchased again in 1967 by George McGhee. Shortly after, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 19th of 1973.

The John Stoddert Haw House is a historic home located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. Built in 1816 by John Stoddert Haw, the nephew of United States Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert, the home would go on to pass between multiple owners over the years. On June 19th of 1973, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the home also contributes to the Georgetown Historic District.

John Stoddert Haw House

This building was the birthplace of Bishop Leontine Turpeau Current Kelly (1920-2012), who in 1984 became the first African-American woman to serve as a bishop in the United Methodist Church. Bishop Kelly was the daughter of Rev. David D. Turpeau, Sr. and Ila Marshall Turpeau. The church built this parsonage in 1897.

Mt. Zion United Methodist Church Parsonage

In the nineteenth century, Georgetown was home to a community of Black residents. Mount Zion Cemetery is named after Mount Zion Church, the oldest Black congregation in the city. White residents founded the cemetery in 1808 for the interment of its congregants and enslaved workers. The cemetery is joined with the Female Union Band Society cemetery, founded in 1842 by a group of free Black women; the border between the two cemeteries has been lost. The secrecy of the Underground Railroad resulted in a lack of written records documenting the vault as a waystation on the route to freedom, but oral histories describe the structure as a shelter for those who had escaped slavery. Some stories describe local residents leaving water and food out in the cemetery for those making the journey north or west. The wooded landscape and the vault's contents made this location ideal for staying hidden. From the vault, travelers did not have to go far to reach Rock Creek, and from there could continue along the Potomac and then to the free state of Pennsylvania. Beginning in the middle of the century, the cemetery fell into disuse and dilapidation as gentrification of Georgetown pushed away the city's Black residents. Vegetation took over, and headstones became worn or were stolen. The descendants of some white people buried there dug up their ancestors for reburial in Oak Hill Cemetery, which opened in the 1849. While burials continued at Mount Zion, after the Civil War the horses of the Metropolitan Railroad grazed among the graves. In the 1960s, the Afro-American Bicentennial Corporation began to rehabilitate the cemetery, restoring the grounds and cutting a path to the vault. Volunteers seek to raise money to fully restore the cemetery and build a museum.

People escaping slavery may have hidden in the brick vault of this primarily Black cemetery as they headed north on the Underground Railroad. This eight-by-eight-foot structure, built into the side of a hill, stored corpses when the ground was too frozen to dig graves. The seclusion of the area and nature of the structure allowed the formerly-enslaved people to travel unseen through Georgetown toward freedom.

Mount Zion Cemetery Underground Railroad Shelter

The name “Dumbarton” goes back almost a century before
the mansion was built. In 1703, Scottish immigrant Ninian Beall, a member of
the Maryland House of Burgesses and commander of Maryland Provincial Forces, purchased
795 acres of land near the Potomac River. He named it “Rock of Dumbarton” after
a geological feature in Glasgow, Scotland. Four acres of the Beall property was
sold in the late 1790s to Samuel Jackson, a Philadelphia merchant. Jackson
built the Dumbarton House was built around the same time the Federal government
moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.&nbsp;

In the early nineteenth century, the house changed owners
and residents multiple times. In 1804, the house was then purchased by Joseph
Nourse. Born in London, England, Norse settled in Virginia and joined the American
Revolution, serving as secretary to General Charles Lee and deputy secretary of
the Board of War. In 1779, he was appointed Assistant U.S. Auditor General in
the new federal government and, in 1781, First Registrar of the U.S. Treasury.
He followed the federal government to D.C. and purchased the Dumbarton House. The
Dumbarton House museum emphasizes this period in their interpretation of the
house’s history. In 1813, Nourse sold the property to Charles Carroll, who
named the house Bellevue. Carroll owned the house for around thirty years,
though mostly rented it out to tenants. Carroll brought First Lady Dolley
Madison and the Secretary of the Navy’s wife, Eleanor Jones, to Bellevue as the
British encroached on D.C. in the War of 1812.

The house was then sold and occupied by different
families until purchased in 1928 by the National Society of the Colonial Dames
of America (NSCDA). The organization was founded in 1891 for women who can
trace ancestry back to the American colonies. Dumbarton House is one of around
thirty historic house museums operated by the NSCDA. The mansion was known as
Bellevue until its restoration in 1932, when the Society renamed it Dumbarton
House.&nbsp;

Dumbarton House is documented as "an outstanding
representation of American architecture of the early Federal Period." It
exists much as it did when occupied by Joseph Nourse, a major difference being
that the house was moved 100 feet to the north of its original location in
1915, during the rerouting of Q Street. Dumbarton House's collection of
furniture, textiles, paintings, silver, and ceramics, consists primarily, but
not exclusively, of objects dating from the Federal period (approximately
1790-1830). The Dumbarton House manuscript and document collection includes one
of the original known copies of the Articles of Confederation, as well as
papers, journals, account books, ledgers and letters documenting nearly 300
years of Nourse family life.

The museum’s collections tell the story of life in the
City of Washington during the formation of the Early Republic and a new
national identity, and the experience of becoming a Capital City during a time
of great uncertainty and great accomplishments. Dumbarton House also
illustrates the past and present role of women and of The National Society of
The Colonial Dames of America in the national historic preservation movement. &nbsp;

In its educational programming, Dumbarton House offers
tours of the collection for the general public and groups, summer camp, school
and Scout programs, adult programs and lectures, chamber music concerts, family
programs, and various other public programs.

Built in 1800, Dumbarton House is a Federal style mansion located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is the headquarters of The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America (NSCDA) and features a museum of colonial history. Its first occupant was Joseph Nourse, the first Register of the Treasury. The property was acquired by the NSCDA in 1928 and was given the name “Dumbarton House” after the original name of the land. The NSCDA hoped to illustrate domestic life in Georgetown during the early Federal period and opened the two main floors of the structure as a museum in 1932. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 1991.

Dumbarton House

In 1794, businessman Samuel David purchased a plot of land in the Georgetown area with the profits from his land transactions. David wanted to build a house on the property, and so he assembled a small team to design and construct the home. Nicholas King, Washington, DC’s first surveyor, was called on to draw up the designs for the home, and Nicholas Hedges, a Georgetown local carpenter, was tasked with the home’s construction. With a Federal-era design in mind, construction of the building began in 1801 and finished the same year. Davidson lived in the home after its completion, but Evermay underwent extensive interior changes in 1818. Under different ownership, Evermay was renovated once again in 1877, but these renovations encompassed the exterior of the building as well, changing its façade to fit the Victorian architectural style that was widely popular at the time.

In the twentieth century, Evermay was purchased by F. Lammot Belin, who disagreed with the inclusion of the new Victorian façade. In 1923, Belin decided to renovate the house, and in his renovation, he removed the Victorian exterior and re-beautified the underlying Federal-era designs of the building’s exterior. The home was bequeathed to Belin’s son upon his death in 1961, after which Evermay stayed within the Belin family for some time. During this time, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 3rd of 1973. In 2011, Dr. Sachiko Kuno and Dr. Ryuji Ueno, the founders of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, purchased the home for themselves.

Also known as the Samuel Davidson House, Evermay is a historic home located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. Built for businessman Samuel Davidson in 1801, the building is particularly notable due to its design by Washington, DC’s first surveyor, Nicholas King. In April of 1973, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Today, Evermay is owned by the founders of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals as a personal home.

Evermay

In 1848, philanthropist William Corcoran purchased a 15-acre plot of land from Lewis Washington, the great-grandson of George Washington. The purpose of this purchase was build a cemetery, and Corcoran organized a company in order to create the cemetery. In 1849, an Act of Congress declared that the Oak Hill Cemetery Company would be contracted to construct the cemetery. During the construction of the cemetery itself, architect James Renwick, Jr., was commissioned to build a small chapel for the cemetery, as well. The chapel itself was completed in 1950.

The building was particularly well-received due to its Gothic Revival architecture, which critics praised as a peak performance of the architectural style. The chapel stayed in use over the years, and on May 28th, 1967, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark. Not long after that, it was added to the national Register of Historic Places on March 16th of 1972. Today, the Oak Hill Cemetery Chapel is still in use, and remains one of James Renwick, Jr.’s most well-known works.

The Oak Hill Cemetery Chapel is a historic chapel located in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, DC. Built in 1850 and designed by architect James Renwick, Jr., the chapel stands at the highest point in the cemetery and is the only example of Renwick’s Gothic Revival style of architecture known in Washington, DC. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in May of 1967, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in March of 1972. The chapel and the surrounding area is currently operated for tours, weddings, and other events.

Oak Hill Cemetery Chapel (Washington, D.C.)

Richard Parrott, owner of a wool and cotton mill on Rock Creek, built a ropewalk and an estate at this site between 1804 and 1813. The ropewalk constructed rope for ships. The manufacture of rope required a long, straight track for the twisting and spinning of hemp strands into rope that would not unravel when cut. Parrott called the property, with its Federal-style mansion, Elderslie. The area was also known to residents as Parrott's Woods. After Parrott's death in 1822, Clement Smith acquired Elderslie. Fifteen years later, in 1837, it became the property of Mary McEwan Boyce and then her husband Captain Boyce. They renamed the estate Montrose. The property deteriorated, leading to Sarah Rittenhouse lobbying for the establishment of a park at the site. In 1911 the property became Montrose Park, designed by George Burnap and Horace Peaslee under supervision by the Commission on the Fine Arts and notable landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead. Two decades later, the National Park Service took over the maintenance of the park.

This historical marker designates the location of Richard Parrott's ropewalk at the turn of the nineteenth century at his property, called Elderslie. Ropewalks were long covered pathways used in the manufacture of rope for ship rigging. The process required a long, straight track for the turning of strands of hemp, and so ropewalks were essential to the establishment of ports and maritime commerce. For this reason, the British army burned the ropewalk in 1813 when they occupied Washington during the War of 1812. After the property changed hands several times, its new owners renamed it Montrose. The path of the ropewalk became a drive on the estate. In 1911, the property became Montrose Park, and the ropewalk remains as a path. In 1933, the National Park Service assumed responsibility for the park.

Parrott Ropewalk and Montrose Park Historical Marker

Tudor Place was built by Martha Parke Custis Peter and
Thomas Peter. Born at George Washington’s Mount Vernon in 1777, Martha was the
daughter of John Parke Custis, the son of Martha Washington and her first
husband, and Eleanor Calvert, a descendent of Maryland’s founding family. Martha
went by the nickname Patty and grew up at both Mount Vernon and the Custises’
Abingdon Plantation. At age 17, she married Thomas Peter, a businessman whose
father was first mayor of Georgetown. The couple moved to Washington, D.C., and
lived home built by the Peter family. They had eight children, five of whom lived
to adulthood.When George Washington died in December 1799, he left&nbsp;his
step-granddaughter, Martha Peter, both money and land. The Peters sold the land
for $8,000, and in 1805, purchased a city block in Georgetown along the Potomac
River, where they built Tudor Place. They hired architect and family friend,
Dr. William Thornton, to design their home. A medical doctor by training,
Thornton taught himself the crafts of drawing and architecture. He designed a
library in Philadelphia, numerous private residences, and the innovative
Octagon House, drawing from classical styles he observed while traveling
Europe. George Washington and his colleagues selected Thornton’s design for the
United States Capitol Building; this design was modified over time by
subsequent Architects of the Capitol and after the Capitol was partially
destroyed by the British in 1814. Thornton designed for the Peters a beautiful
Federal mansion, which used symmetry, simplicity, and neoclassical flairs to
represent early America.Tudor Place was completed around 1816, and decorated with
objects from Mount Vernon. The Peters raised their children in the house, which
would stay in the family for six generations. With the completion of Tudor
Place came numerous high-profile visitors, such as Josiah and Eliza Susan
Quincy, United States Secretary of State Timothy Pickering, and the Marquis de
Lafayette. Years later, General Robert E. Lee visited Tudor Place in 1869, a
year before his death. Tudor Place remained in possession of the Peter family
through the years, and in 1890, Tudor Place gained widespread recognition when
it was written about in The Century
Illustrated Monthly Magazine because of its extensive collection of pieces
created by the late Martha Washington.As a plantation, Tudor Place was home to more than the
Peter family. Numerous slaves were brought to Tudor Place as part of Martha
Peter’s inheritance. Many of these slaves would have been separated from their
own families through t the Custis and Washington families’ wills. Slaves tended
to the large mansion, its occupants, and the eight acres of property, including
farmland and gardens. Slaves owned by the Peter family also quarried the
redstone at Seneca Quarry in Maryland that would build the Smithsonian’s Castle
in the mid-nineteenth century. Tudor Place remained in the Peter family in 1983.
Armistead Peter III and Caroline Ogden-Jones Peter established a foundation
that accepted the estate after Armistead’s death. In 1988, Tudor Place opened
as a museum for the public to learn about the Custis-Peter family and American
history and culture across two centuries. Today, Tudor Place welcomes visitors
to the mansion and the gardens. Furthermore, the collections, archives, and
grounds are rich resources for historians, archaeologists, and educators to
uncover and share stories from the past.

Tudor Place is a Federal mansion overlooking the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., connected with important individuals and families who founded the nation and its capital city. Tudor Place was built in 1816 by Martha Parke Custis Peter, Martha Washington’s granddaughter, and Thomas Peter, a businessman from Georgetown. Dr. William Thornton, the first Architect of the United States Capitol, designed Tudor Place with architecture styles inspired by ancient Rome and contemporary France. Tudor Place stayed in the Peter family for six generations until the property was deeded to a foundation in 1983. It opened as a museum in 1988 and interprets the multiple historical eras. Tudor Place is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was among the first properties designated as a National Historic Landmark. 

Tudor Place

Robert Woods Bliss
and Mildred Barnes Bliss

Robert
Woods Bliss was the
son of William Henry Bliss, United States District Attorney. Born in St. Louis,
Missouri in 1875, Robert went on to attend Harvard University. After his
graduation in 1900, Bliss became a Foreign Service officer and diplomat. In
1908, he married New York City native Mildred Barnes, the daughter of Anna
Dorinda Blaksley and Demas Barnes. Mildred's father, a wealthy investor who
made his fortune on Fletcher's Castoria, a popular patent medicine of the time
1870s and 1880s. He died when Mildred was nine years old, and her mother
remarried--to William Bliss, Robert's father--in 1894. Robert and Mildred
married in 1908, moving to Paris in 1912 for Robert's career. In Paris, the
couple befriended artists, authors, historians, and art dealers including
Walter Gay, Edith Wharton, and Royall Tyler. These friendships led to the Blisses'
interest in art and book collection, patronage of the arts and humanities, and
Byzantine and Pre-Columbian studies. They went on to travel Europe and South
America, and Robert served as Ambassador to Argentina from 1927 to 1933.Establishment of Dumbarton Oaks



The couple purchased property in Georgetown (in the District of Colombia) in
June of 1920, naming it Dumbarton Oaks. The Blisses altered the existing house
(dating to 1801) and surrounding property, expanding the house in 1929 to add a
music room and working with landscape designer Beatrix Farrand to create
terraced gardens and vistas on the grounds. Mildred and Farrand worked together
on the gardens for 30 years, though other architects (including Ruth Havey and
Alden Hopkins) later changed aspects of the original design.In 1940, a wing was added for the Byzantine Collection, and the Blisses
transferred 16 acres of the property (including grounds, buildings, and the
library and art collection) to Harvard University. As the function of the
gardens inevitably changed due to the transfer, Farrand began work on the Plant
Book the following year; the book still serves, as Farrand intended, as a
guide to stewardship, maintenance, and preservation of the gardens.



Dumbarton Oaks Conversations

As a response to World War II, Robert Bliss hosted diplomatic meetings at Dumbarton
Oaks during the summer and fall of 1944. Officially called the Washington
Conversations on International Organization, Dumbarton Oaks, these meetings
formed the foundation of the United Nations charter (adopted 1945) and were
attended by the following chairmen of their national delegations: Soviet
Ambassador to the United States, Andrei Gromyko (1909–1989); US Secretary of
State Cordell Hull (1871–1955); Wellington Koo (1887–1985), Chinese Ambassador
to the United Kingdom; and Edward Wood (the Earl of Halifax) (1872–1959),
British Ambassador to the United States.Dumbarton Oaks and Harvard University

Robert Bliss died in 1962; the following year, Mildred opened the
Pre-Columbian Pavilion and The Garden Library to the public. Designed by
architect Philip Johnson, the pavilion provided a permanent home for Robert
Bliss' Pre-Columbian art collection (the National Gallery of Art had previously
housed the collection on long-term loan). The Garden Library houses Mildred's
collection on the history of gardens, including a rare book collection. Mildred
Bliss died in 1969, and Harvard University has provided fellowships, grants,
research opportunities, exhibitions and musical recitals, online access to
materials, and publications through Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and
Collection ever since.

Dumbarton Oaks includes the historic Dumbarton Oaks House museum and its associated formal garden, a 27-acre wilderness area, and Harvard University's Dumbarton Oaks Research Library. Founded by Robert Woods Bliss and Mildred Barnes Bliss, the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection specializes in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies, and includes not only books, but also images, art, objects, and documents.

Dumbarton Oaks

George Peabody, a wealthy philanthropist, set up a fund and donated 15000 dollars in 1867 for the founding of a library in the Georgetown area, however, Peabody did not live to see the set up of the library. Peabody's Board of Trustees were offered a site in 1872 in the Curtis School, and the site opened in March 1875.Independently, in 1935, the District opened the now Georgetown Library on the site of the former Georgetown Reservoir. The building was designed by Nathan Corwith Wright in the Georgian Revival style, which was popular at the time. At the competition of the public library, the Peabody Library's collections were transferred to the public library, and a separate room, the Peabody Room was established to hold special collections of Georgetown related material, including books, maps, photos, letters, and clippings. In 1979, the Peabody trustees dissolved and turned over control of the collection to the public library on the condition that the material stays at the Georgetown Library.In 1976, the library was remodeled, and in 1977, it was designated a regional branch, meaning longer hours and more services than a neighborhood branch. On April 30, 2007, a major fire hit the library, and although, the Peabody Collection was miraculously avoided, much of the material received water damage. After the fire, the library was completely redone and the Peabody Room was moved to the third-floor attic. Currently, the Peabody Room is run by Jerry McCoy, hours are available on the DC Library website.

The Georgetown Neighborhood Library is a local branch of the DC Public Library system. The library dates its roots back to 1875  when George Peabody funded the first library in Georgetown. That library opened in 1875 on O Street opposite St John's church. This four-story building was constructed in 1935 in the Georgian Revival style. This library was remodeled in 1976 and 2007. Currently, in addition to being a local branch of DC Library, the library also has the Peabody Room on the third floor, a dedicated special collection collecting history about Georgetown. 

Georgetown Neighborhood Library/Peabody Room

Yarrow was already literate in Arabic when slavers removed him from west Africa. His origins were in the Fulani people and he would have spoken the Fula language. Another tribe may have captured him as a prisoner of war and sold him into slavery. The Beall family of Maryland, tobacco farmers, purchased him and held him in slavery for nearly 45 years. For much of his enslavement, Yarrow was a "body servant" to Samuel Beall, attending to his person and accompanying him on trips. The Bealls manumitted Yarrow in 1796. When Yarrow purchased his house on Dent Place in 1800, it was one of only two on the street. At this time, a free African community thrived in Georgetown. In addition to owning his house, Yarrow owned stock in Georgetown's Columbia Bank. He was an expert brick maker. Portrait painter Charles Willson Peale heard of Yarrow while attending a party and painted him in 1819. The painting linked below is one of only two formal portraits of formerly-enslaved individuals in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In the portrait, Yarrow wears a hat that looks like a kufi, often worn by African Muslim men. James Alexander Simpson also painted Yarrow in 1822 and the National Portrait Gallery holds this portrait. When Yarrow died in 1823, Peale wrote his obituary, published in Baltimore and Pennsylvania. He was buried in a corner of his land, where he used to pray. His wife and son survived him, as did his sister and her daughter. The house remained in the family until 1837, when it was sold at public auction. The legacy of the buyer, Francis Dodge, was the opposite of Yarrow's; in 1848, he lent his steamship to a group looking to capture seventy enslaved persons who had escaped Washington on a sailboat. Dodge likely rented out the house. The house at this address is not Yarrow's, as its Italianate architectural style arose after Yarrow's lifetime. Yarrow's house probably burned down at some point. A tree fell on the current house in 2011, damaging the second story. The house was sold in 2012 and the new owner applied for demolition. Yarrow is still buried at the site, however. In 2015, the Washington, DC's archaeologist office conducted a six-month dig exploring the property, particularly the brick cellar, to learn more about his life and locate his remains, which could be on the lot or nearby. The dig found several thousand objects which needed to be analyzed to find their age. In 2020, workers renovating a home close to where Yarrow lived found nineteenth-century human remains, which may be Yarrow's. The property is privately owned, though efforts continue to memorialize Yarrow Mamout at the location where he lived.

In 1752, slave traders brought Yarrow Mamout or Muhammad Yaro (ca. 1736-1823) and his sister from West Africa to the United States. Yarrow was Muslim and could read and write in Arabic before his enslavement. Tobacco farmers, the Bealls of Maryland, held Yarrow in bondage for nearly 45 years before manumitting him. Yarrow purchased the property at this site in 1800, which he inhabited for the rest of his life. A brick-maker and financier, he was part of a growing free African community in Georgetown. Though the house at this site is not the one that he inhabited, he was buried here and a recent archaeological dig uncovered a number of artifacts possibly from his life.

Home of Yarrow Mamout (Circa 1800-1823)

Bell used money he received from the Volta Prize to found Volta Associates with Chichester A. Bell, his cousin, and Sumner Tainter. In 1879, the French government had awarded him this 50,000-franc prize for his invention of the telephone. The firm researched the transmission and recording of sound. In 1887, the firm sold record patents to the American Gramophone Company. With his share of the profits from the patent, Bell founded the Volta Bureau in the carriage house of his father's home in Washington. The bureau's purpose was "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge relating to the Deaf." Within a few years, the Bureau needed its own facility, so Bell built this three-story structure in the neoclassical style out of yellow brick and sandstone. Activist Helen Keller was present at the groundbreaking ceremony. By 1895, the Bureau's catalog cards numbered over 50,000, and it published the Volta Review to promote its library. Bell was also president of the American Association for the Promotion of the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, which was founded in 1890. The Volta Bureau worked closely with this organization, and the two merged in 1908. In 1956, the Association changed its name to honor Bell. The organization, known as the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, continues to use this building as their headquarters. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1972 and includes a plaque that was added to the structure the following year.

Built in 1893, the Volta Bureau was a research center and library for individuals who were deaf and hard of hearing or researching deafness. Alexander Graham Bell established the Bureau using profits from record patents sold to the American Gramophone Company. The Bureau originally operated out of Bell's father's home across the street, but the growing demand for service led Bell to commission this neoclassical yellow brick and sandstone. Helen Keller attended the building's groundbreaking, and the Bureau soon had over 50,000 items in its library. The organization now operates as Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and still utilizes this building which is a National Historic Landmark.

Volta Bureau and the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

In 1799, Archbishop Leonard Neale, who was then serving as
the president of Georgetown College in Washington, DC, called for the founding
of a school specifically for young women. Three women were called to set about
founding the school, and these three would go on to found the Order of the
Visitation Monastery in the United States of America. With the help of the
order which they established, the three women called upon by the archbishop opened
a schoolhouse, the Georgetown Academy for Young Ladies, in 1799. In the following
years of the school, enrollment increased, and the school began to place an
emphasis on its students performing volunteer work. The school was also known
for teaching slaves to read alongside their other pupils, even though it was
illegal to do so in the early 1800s. Additionally, during the War of 1812, the
school was used as an impromptu hospital for wounded soldiers.

As the years passed, the school continued to expand its
programs, and in the 1900s, it saw a shift, adding college prep courses to its
repertoire, as well as a wide variety of athletics to give the pupils a balance
of education, spirituality, and physical education. Mon March 29th
of 1991, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Two years
later, the main building was struck with a fire that caused a severe amount of
damage. By 1995, restoration was completed, and the main building was re-opened.
Today, the Visitation School serves mainly as a college preparatory school for
those in the Washington, DC area.

The Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School is a private, Roman Catholic all-girls school located in Washington, DC’s Georgetown area. Built in 1799, it was founded by the Visitation Sisters, also known as the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, at the request of Archbishop Leonard Neale’s plea to found a school for young women. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in March of 1991. Today, the school serves as a college prep school for girls.

Georgetown Walking Tour

City Tavern

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information