Archive for the ‘Monumental’ Category

Monumental: National Japanese American Memorial To Patriotism During World War II

Crane and Barbed Wire 2 by tbridge
The National Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II stands on a small triangle of land just north of the Capitol between D St NW, New Jersey Ave and Louisiana Ave. The beautiful bronze crane in barbed wire rises above the low cement landscape, a 14-foot [...]

$78M for Mall Monument Renewal

Monumental: Titanic Memorial

Monumental: Cherry Blossoms

On March 26, 1912, probably the most famous ‘monument’ in the Washington DC area arrived from Japan: 3,020 cherry trees.
Year after year, these trees bloom in a beautiful display that gives us a sure-fire sign that spring is upon us. It’s also the time of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival and probably brings the [...]

Monumental: Enjoying inside

‘Solitude’
courtesy of ’sashapo’
Our weather seems to be doing its best to find painful and interesting ways to whipsaw between different combinations of wind, cold, rain, gloom and shine. It can be discouraging to try to plan an outdoor trip more than five minutes in advance and downright unpleasant to be out there sometimes. So in [...]

Monumental: The American Meridian

Longitude is probably one of the most important scientific solutions of the modern era. It was easy to work off a set of common star charts and figure out how far north or south of the equator you were. Take a couple readings at sunrise, midday and sunset, chart a few stars, and [...]

Monumental: Dumbarton Bridge

Tatonka!  Tatonka!  Tatonka! Tatonka!  This week’s Monumental goes by the aliases of the Buffalo Bridge and the Q Street Bridge, however the correct DC nomenclature is the Dumbarton Bridge.  Constructed between 1914 and 1915, the bridge spans high above Rock Creek Park and connects Georgetown to Dupont Circle.  However, bridging these two DC neighborhoods turned [...]

Monumental: John Ericsson Navigation Memorial

John Ericsson, a Swedish inventor, has a beautiful monument just south of the Lincoln Memorial on the median near the intersection of Ohio Drive SW and Independence Avenue SW. The beautiful pink granite statue was placed on its current location in 1927, at a cost of $60,000. $35,000 of that was federal funds, [...]

Monumental: Nathanael Greene

In the center of Stanton Square in Northeast, stands Revolutionary War Hero and native son of Rhode Island Nathanael Greene. His controversial advice (including burning New York City to the ground as part of a retreat in 1776, which, to me, sounds like the wisdom of the sages) won him favor with General Washington, [...]

Monumental: James Abram Garfield

You know how you have a favorite president growing up? Like, you get assigned the guy, knowing he’s not one of the big five, but he turns out to be interesting in his own right? Meet mine, James Abram Garfield. I think it was in Mrs. Franti’s third-grade class that we all [...]

Monumental: Daniel Webster

The statue of Daniel Webster that stands next to the Embassy of the Philippines on Massachusetts Avenue is largely ordinary. It’s a 12-foot bronze in the classical revival style, a stern and somber great man with his cape over his shoulder. The Gaetano Trentanove bronze was presented to the United States by Mr. [...]

Monumental: U.S. Navy Memorial

Architect Pierre L’Enfant envisioned a memorial in the capital to “celebrate the first rise of the Navy and consecrate its progress and achievements.” However, it never took shape until 1980 when Rear Admiral William Thompson, USN (Ret.) received blessing from Congress to construct a Navy Memorial on public land.
The Memorial Foundation, formed in 1977 by [...]

Monumental: Tomáš Masaryk

Tomáš Masaryk stands on Massachusetts Avenue across from the Embassy of Luxembourg, atop a granite slab. The monument is a gift from the Czech Republic, and was placed on its site in 2003, making it one of the newer monuments in the city. Masaryk was the first President of Czechoslovakia after World War [...]

Monumental: Casimir Pulaski

Casimir Pulaski in the Snow by tbridge
On the Eastern side of Freedom Plaza stands a horse-mounted General, with one hoof raised. It’s Casimir Pulaski, the Polish-born Father of the American Cavalry, a Revolutionary War Hero. I only mention the one hoof in the air because of the old “How many raised hoofs determines [...]

Monumental: Martin Luther

Martin Luther, photo by Tiffany Bridge
Happy Reformation Day, all.  What? You didn’t know that October 31, 1517 was the day that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenburg Church door? If you were paying any attention at all in your high school European History class, you know that the resulting excommunications, politically motivated breaks [...]

Monumental: John Paul Jones

Where 17th Street dead-ends in Independence Avenue, just to the south of the World War II Memorial, stands John Paul Jones, atop a Marble Platform. The monument, built in 1912 as the first in Potomac Park, stands as the memorial to our first great Naval hero. While his remains lie in the chapel [...]

Monumental: The Pentagon 9/11 Memorial

Pentagon 911 Memorial
You don’t need me to tell you about the history of this memorial. If you’re old enough to read this then you have some memories of the day that necessitated it. I don’t know that this town has ever put up a site paying homage to lives lost so recently; the opening ceremony [...]

Monumental: Lincoln Park

Lincoln Park on East Capitol Street between 11th and 13th is an idyllic little piece of real estate. Surrounded by old victorian rowhouses, the two-block wide park has plenty of grass and some lovely walking paths, and two monuments that I found fascinating. I decided not to choose which one, but rather share [...]

Monumental: Hahnemann Memorial

 
Dr. Samuel Hahnemann courtesy Flickr user kimberlyfaye
On the East side of Scott Circle at Massachusetts Ave. and Rhode Island Ave. NW, there’s a wide concrete and bronze monument to German physician Dr. Samuel Hahnemann. What an odd thing to memorialize in the capital of the United States, I thought. I vaguely recognized the name because [...]

Monumental: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben

DSC_0077, courtesy of Me
The statute memorializing America’s first drill sergeant sits in the northwest corner of President’s Park, as the area immediately north of the White House is commonly know. [fixed, thanks Kate!] Lafayette Park, as the north end of President’s Park above the White House is commonly known. Of course, most of us know [...]