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 was recently asked about the house at 312 Independence Avenue SE. Apparently, it has been shown on tours as having been built by slaves. While it is likely that any number of the pre-Civil War buildings were built, at least partially, with slave labor, the evidence for this is spotty, so having one building […]
Over the last couple of weeks, I have looked at the sections of an 1830 guidebook that covered Capitol Hill. In spite of its length, there is really only one more short excerpt and a few snippets to look at: those pertaining to Congressional Cemetery and the churches of Capitol Hill. The section on the […]
Two weeks ago, I looked into the Jonathan Elliott guide to Washington, published in 1830. Today, I want to look at its description of a place near to my heart: The Washington Navy Yard. Elliott’s guide spends about 7 pages describing the Navy Yard, beginning with the usual explanations of its history, its size, the brick […]
We were out enjoying Labor Day yesterday, so we didn’t get around to posting this rerun (with a few corrections) from the early days of the blog: During a hearing in 1962 Representative H. R. Gross asked a witness “You have heard that old saying, Mr. Macy, that there is nothing so permanent in Washington […]
Readers of my column will know of my obsession with old Washington guidebooks– in particular, what they felt was important to write about Capitol Hill. Therefore, imagine my pleasure in finding a book with the incredibly unwieldy title, Historical Sketches of the Ten Miles Square Forming the District of Columbia: With a Picture of Washington, […]