Robert Pohl worked for many years as a computer programmer but recovered from that and became a full time stay-at-home dad. With his son now in school, he has expanded his horizons and become a self-taught historian. He has written books about his house as well as Emancipation in the District of Columbia. You can reach Robert at Robert[at]thehillishome.com
As described last week, the house numbering scheme in Washington D.C. through the 1860s was a bit of a mess. And the post-Civil War period in Washington was about nothing if not cleaning up messes – often those created by the huge number of people who had moved to the nation’s capital during that struggle. […]
A few weeks ago (and, I’m sure multiple times in the past) I referred to a street as “F street north,” which of course makes no sense in the current street numbering scheme. I thought it might be wise to have a quick explainer as to how houses used to be referred to and how […]
Last year, in writing about the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, I wrote about the only veteran I could find at the last minute. I was told that there were, indeed, more, and this year I want to look at one of them: a young man with the mellifluous name […]
Looking through events other than those ending in death and which happened at the Washington Navy Yard in 1853, I came across a short article entitled “Resignation and probable Appointment.” In it, it stated that a James B. Elliott, “the efficient Engineer of the Copper Rolling Mill” had resigned. There is no “James B. Elliott” […]
Last week, we looked at two deaths in 1853 at the Washington Navy Yard, and how diarist Michael Shiner reported them in his journal. Today, we will continue with the sad tales, starting with, perhaps the saddest. It occurred not directly at the Navy Yard, but just up the street, at the Marine Barracks, where […]