Whenever I am at a loss for a subject to write about, I go back to my store of articles about the Washington Navy Yard to find something that happened there worth delving more deeply into. I have frequently written about accidents that happened there; it was far from a safe workplace in its early […]
I recently gave a talk about the history of Eastern Market in its North Hall. Sadly, I was not able to cover everything I wanted to talk about, for the simple reason that I had 45 minutes, not several hours. So, herewith, another detail of the story of the market, and how its architect went […]
Legal guns are, by design, difficult to acquire in Washington D.C. This has been the case for quite some time, and in spite of some liberalization since the Heller decision, not that much seems to have changed. It was therefore somewhat surprising to discover that there used to be a gun store just two blocks […]
Five years ago, we looked at the aftermath of a raid on Henry Wilson, a young enslaved African-American. Despite having almost bought himself free, he was taken away from Mrs. Sprigg’s boarding house and sold. Joshua Giddings, Abraham Lincoln’s messmate at Mrs. Sprigg’s, attempted to rescue the young man from a slave pen, but was thwarted […]
Over the last few weeks, we looked at Charles William Janson’s book The Stranger in America, and, in particular, what he saw and did on Capitol Hill. When we last saw him, he was looking at the Navy Yard and its surroundings. He finished up his section on the neighborhood by casting a jaundiced eye […]