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
I have frequently looked at technology and invention, and how it was done or helped on the Hill. Recently, I realized that I had failed to mention one of the most famous moments in the history of invention: when Samuel Morse first sent a telegram from Capitol Hill to Baltimore. What I discovered in looking […]
We are coming up to a momentous (well, to me) anniversary: The 10th year after my first Lost Capitol Hill column. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been doing this pretty much without fail for 520 weeks, having amassed a quarter-million closely-researched words in that time. My first column was, unsurprisingly, about public transportation, a […]
Ever since I found the image of the bicyclists riding on Pennsylvania Avenue with the Capitol in the background, I have been searching for just the moment to use it. This opportunity has never presented itself, so I had to go find it – in this case by searching for “Capitol Hill Bicycle” in the […]
As far as I can tell, the first piece I wrote for The Hill is Home (or the first one that is still in our archives) ran on July 7, 2009. 10 years on, I want to look again at the subject of that column: Mary McLeod Bethune. Well-known to all the kids in the […]
I began looking last week at the Robert Emmet statue that was to be unveiled and displayed at the “National Gallery of Art” – a single room within what is today the Smithsonian Natural History museum. In spite of it being finished and ready for unveiling, it took a couple of months to happen. An […]