Preservation Month is coming up in May. One of the lesser-known and long-forgotten acts of preservation in the Washington region is the crucial role St. Alban’s Church played in the late 1890s. A developer wanted to build a private home where the National Cathedral stands today. The Natio...

Here’s a really tough question. Where in the District of Columbia is there a glebe land? What a minute. Glebe land in the District? That can’t be. Glebe lands were owned by parishes in colonial times. By the 1810s, they were sold off. Well, Virginia, there is a glebe land in DC, somet...

Here’s a really tough question. Where in the District of Columbia is there a glebe land? What a minute. Glebe land in the District? That can’t be. Glebe lands were owned by parishes in colonial times. By the 1810s, they were sold off. Well, Virginia, there is a glebe land in DC, somet...

The other day the better half and I were driving along Route One south of Alexandria. Passing by Fort Belvoir, we noticed a brown-colored roadside sign that said, “Historic Route One.” I was pleased to see the sign and its northbound counterpart. They are an indication of the way the county an...

In 2009, an attractive bronze marker affixed to a block of smooth granite stone was installed at the corner of Route One and Potomac Avenue. One half of the marker provides a list of elected and city officials associated with the construction of the Monroe Avenue Bridge. The other half l...

“That little piece of land on King Street doesn’t amount to a hill of bean.” - Mayor Frank E. Mann (quoted in The Washington Post, September 10, 1978), reacting to a request to take down a six-foot-high chain like fence that ran across the foot of King and gave members of the Old Dominion Boat...