I’m not a fanatical cyclist. I'm not a professional writer or photographer either. I’m just a guy who began this blog when I was working in Washington, D.C., and used my lunch break each day to go for a bike ride and discover some of the eclectic sites and events in and around the city. Now I’m retired and I still ride. But now I can ride whenever I want. I take a few snapshots along the way, and then use this blog to post the photos and write about what I see, what I learn, and what I think about while I continue to explore our nation's capital one ride at a time.
On this bike ride I stopped by the Newseum building, located at 555 Pennsylvania Avenue (MAP) in northwest D.C.’s Downtown neighborhood. But that’s not anything new. I have done that hundreds of times before over the years. That’s because the Newseum had an exhibit entitled “Today’s Front Pages Gallery,” in which it displayed the front pages of dozens of newspapers along the front of its building each day so that passersby on the sidewalk could stop and read them. So I used to frequently stop and read the headlines and a story or two. Also, being able to see all the different newspapers together is something I’ve always found it interesting because of how different newspapers from different parts of the country, as well as foreign newspapers, cover the same story so differently. For example, the way the different newspapers reported the election of Donald Trump in November of 2016 were vastly different. Similarly, the coverage of the killing of Osama Bin Laden back in 2011 was covered quite differently by different newspapers, especially foreign ones.
After today’s visit, however, I decided it was about time I wrote about it. I figured if I don’t write about it now, it might soon be too late. Because the building will soon be known by another name. Sadly, The Newseum is closed. And not just temporarily because of the pandemic. Last December, citing financial difficulties, the Newseum closed down permanently. However, on May 15, 2020, the Newseum began searching for a new location. So while the building, purchased by Johns Hopkins University for $372.5 million, will change, hopefully the Newseum won’t when it opens in its new location, wherever that turns out to be.
As I was riding my bike this afternoon though Downtown D.C., I found myself in an area named City Center (MAP), which is a unique, pedestrian-friendly, 10-acre mixed-use project developed by Hines and Qatari Diar. The City Center project is home to more than 191,000 square feet of retail stores and restaurants, 520,000 square feet of office space, 458 rental apartment units and 216 condominium units, a 1,550 space parking garage, a public park, a central plaza and pedestrian-oriented streets and alleyways. Additionally, construction of a 370-room luxury hotel, The Conrad, with 30,000 square feet of additional retail space, is almost complete and expected to open later this year.
But I had been to City Center before, and it was none of these things that captured my attention. What interested me most during today’s ride was a blue, industrial-looking cargo container set up in the park area of the development. It was open on one end, and people were going in and out of it. So naturally I was curious and had to find out what it was and what was going on. So upon closer inspection I was able to find out that it was a mobile art museum sponsored by CulturalDC, an organization that provides a wide range of programs and services that support artists’ ability to live and work in the city.
The mobile art museum’s sole exhibit is by an artist named Jamea Richmond-Edwards, and is entitled “Stay Fly.” Richmond-Edwards graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Art degree from Jackson State University in 2004 where she studied painting and drawing. She went on to earn a MFA from Howard University in 2012. In addition to being an artist, she is also currently an Adjunct Professorial Lecturer in the Art Department of American University here in D.C.
“Stay Fly” is an immersive exhibit that explores black Americana, haute couture and fashion, and status symbols. Comprised of the some of the artist’s colorful, textured paintings, as well as large and small-scale collages, and some of the artist’s personal designer clothes and items that reflect the personal styles which surrounded the artist as a young woman growing up in Detroit in the 1990’s. The totality of the exhibit is intended to draw attention to the historical and often complex relationship between Black consumers, capitalism, fashion, luxury goods and personal creativity.
Instead of happening upon it by accident like I did, I recommend you make plans to go experience “Stay Fly.” The exhibit is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 11:00am until 7:00pm, and will be in City Center through April 13th, and admission is free. And while you’re there, make a day of it and enjoy the rest of City Center’s stores, restaurants, and the uniqueness of the project’s park and open spaces.
[Click on the photos to view the full-size versions]
I have not been writing as often in this blog recently because several weeks ago I fell and broke some ribs. So I have been unable to ride. No, I did not fall while riding a bike. However, it was related to biking. I wanted to go mountain biking on a section of the Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail near Mount Vernon. However, not being an experienced mountain biker and having never previously ridden on that particular mixed-use trail, I decided to hike it first to scout it out and see if it is within my skill set to try mountain biking there. It was while I was hiking that my foot got caught under an exposed tree root and I fell on a rocky part of the trail, breaking several ribs. So I decided that since I could not even walk it without hurting myself, perhaps I should first get a little more experience mountain biking on easier trails before going back there to ride.
Having given my ribs enough time to heal, I now feel much better. But since I haven’t ridden in almost a month, I decided to transition back into riding and make sure that I don’t overdo it. So for today’s lunchtime ride, I rode to the nearby National Portrait Gallery, located at 8th and F Streets (MAP) in northwest D.C.’s Chinatown neighborhood, to see a painting of John J. Crittenden. He was a politician from the state of Kentucky, and represented that state in both the U.S. House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate, and twice served as the U.S. Attorney General. I went there because tomorrow is the anniversary of Congress’ passage of the Crittenden Resolution, which was named after him.
On July 25th in 1861, just three and a half months after the beginning of the Civil War, the U.S. Congress passed the Crittenden Resolution (also referred to as the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution). The resolution declared that the war was being waged for the reunion of the states and not to interfere with the institutions of the South, including taking any actions against the “peculiar” institution of slavery. The war was fought not for “overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States,” but to “defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union.” The implication was that war would end when the seceding states returned to the Union, with slavery remaining intact.
This meant that for the first year and a half of the Civil War, reunification of the United States was the official goal of the North. It was not until President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of September 1862 that the abolishment of slavery became a goal. The Crittenden Resolution is sometimes confused with the Corwin Amendment, a proposal to amend the U. S. Constitution adopted by the previous 36th Congress, which attempted to constitutionalize slavery. It was adopted by the necessary two-thirds margin in both houses of Congress and submitted to the states for ratification. It was ratified by three states before the war pre-empted further debate.
Today it is difficult to comprehend American society, as it existed back then, in which the institution of slavery was supported or tolerated by the public, and endorsed by the Federal government. However, as difficult as it is to comprehend, we must try. We must try to understand so we can not only understand our own history, but because slavery still exists in this world. Currently there are approximately 27 million slaves in the world – people forced to work without pay, under threat of violence and unable to walk away. Since slavery feeds directly into the global economy, it makes sense that we would be concerned by the ways in which slavery flows into our homes through the products we buy and the investments we make. Slaves harvest cocoa in the Ivory Coast, make charcoal used to produce steel in Brazil, weave carpets in India—the list goes on. These products reach our stores and our homes. So think before you buy, because slavery is not just a thing of the past.
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A petroglyph is defined as “a carving or inscription on a rock that is created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art.” They are found world-wide, and are often associated with prehistoric peoples. So aside from possibly the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, you might not expect to find a petroglyph in D.C. But on this lunchtime bike ride, that’s exactly what I did.
As I was riding on a driveway through the courtyard of a building located at 1145 17th Street (MAP) in northwest D.C.’s Downtown neighborhood, I saw a petroglyph depicting a couple of giraffes. Hiding in some bushes and ivy and partially obscured by a tree, the giraffes seemed to be peeking out at me from behind the foliage. So naturally I had to stop to get a better look and find out more about it.
It turns out that the building with the petroglyph in the courtyard is the National Geographic Society’s headquarters. One of the most well-known and largest nonprofit scientific and educational institutions in the world, the Society’s interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history.
The Society’s headquarters building also contains a museum that features a wide range of changing exhibitions, from interactive experiences to photography exhibitions featuring the work of National Geographic explorers, photographers, and scientists. The museum is centrally located in downtown D.C., just a few blocks from The White House. And admission tickets can be purchased in person at the museum ticket booth or online.
I’ll have to go back to the museum on another day when I have more time to spend so that I can more thoroughly enjoy it. But for today, happening upon the giraffes petroglyph and finding out about the museum was enough.
[Click on the photos above to view the full size versions]
For this Independence Day bike ride, I chose a destination which is both patriotic and outside of the city, as I tend to prefer on these long, holiday weekends. On this bike ride I stopped by the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Located just over 30 miles south of D.C., at 18900 Jefferson Davis Highway (MAP) in Triangle, Virginia, the museum is situated on a 135-acre site a short distance away from the main entry gate to Marine Corps Base Quantico.
The museum is a cooperative effort between the United States Marine Corps and the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. The Foundation manages the museum operation, while the building, which was purchased privately and then donated to the Marine Corps, is under the command of Marine Corps University. The museum opened on November 10, 2006, and replaces both the Marine Corps Air-Ground Museum in Quantico, Virginia, which closed in November of 2002, and the Marine Corps Historical Center in The Washington Navy Yard, which closed in July of 2005.
One of the most unique aspects of the 120,000-square-foot museum, which was designed by Curtis W. Fentress of Fentress Architects, is that the design of the building evokes the image of the marines raising the flag over Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima, as famously depicted Joe Rosenthal’s Pulitzer prize-winning photograph and the iconic Marine Corps War Memorial.
Inside the museum, visitors can see permanent exhibits on World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, as well as a number of collections which include more than 60,000 uniforms, weapons, vehicles, medals, flags, aircraft, works of art and other artifacts that trace the history of the Marine Corps from when it was founded in 1775 to the present. The museum also includes class rooms, a theater, a gift shop, a bar, a restaurant, and a laser shooting range.
The museum, which draws over a half a million visitors a year and has become one of the top tourist attractions in the state of Virginia, is open every day except Christmas, and is free to the public. But if you are unable to ride a bike to or otherwise go to the museum in person, you can still experience the entire museum virtually from your computer or other streaming device. You can tour the exhibits virtually with high definition panoramas, zoom in on treasured artifacts, watch videos created specifically for the museum, and listen to docents recount Marine Corps history.
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I don’t like it when retailers start focusing on Christmas well before Thanksgiving. And if it were up to me, I would have all stores be closed on Thanksgiving to allow employees to spend the day with their families. I’d even be okay with stores staying closed on Black Friday. However, I don’t mind when some early signs of the holiday, such as the many Christmas decorations that adorn the city during the holiday season, start appearing in November. For example, as I was riding through Lafayette Square Park on this lunchtime bike ride, I was happy to see a sign advertising a Christmas exhibit of gingerbread houses was already open. So I decided to stop and check into it. When I asked the very helpful lady at the entrance about the exhibit, she told me no one else was currently there. So with the place all to myself, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take the self-guided tour right then.
The holiday exhibit is sponsored by The White House Historical Association, and is entitled “White House Gingerbread: Holiday Traditions.” The exhibit celebrates the official national gingerbread house created each year by the White House’s executive chef, and explores the tradition of gingerbread at the White House dating back to the Nixon administration. The main display features the largest gingerbread White House ever designed by the chef. And surrounding it are gingerbread panels illustrating many of the White House’s neighboring buildings, such as the Old Executive Office Building, the U.S. Treasury Department Building, and St. John’s Episcopal Church, to name just a few. The exhibit also incorporates examples of marzipan figures and sugar sculptures that have accompanied and accented many of the gingerbread houses over the years.
The exhibit also features photographs of the various types of gingerbread houses of different presidential administrations, including the Obama Administration’s version from last year, with historical information of each. Along with the wide variety of gingerbread houses, many of the photographs also feature the inhabitants of the White House. While I enjoyed each of the houses, I guess I am somewhat of a gingerbread house traditionalist, because I did not favor the more recent creations. Dating back to the George W. Bush Administration, the most recent houses have been made out of white chocolate rather than gingerbread. I hope this trend ends soon and they return to the old-fashioned gingerbread.
The “White House Gingerbread: Holiday Traditions” exhibit is on display at Decatur House on Lafayette Square, which is located at 1610 H Street in northwest D.C. (MAP). It is open from 10:00am – 3:00pm, Monday through Saturday, and will remain open and free to the public through December 22nd. I highly recommend stopping by if you’re in the area, or even planning a specific trip to see it and the many other Christmas decorations throughout the national capital city during the upcoming holiday season.
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Whether it’s referred to as the War to Preserve the Union or the War to End Northern Aggression, American Civil War history is all too often thought of in terms of white Yankees from the North fighting against white Southern Rebels, with African Americans relegated to the sidelines of history as their fate was decided for them. The truth, however, is much different.
In 1861 before the Civil War broke out, African Americans comprised about 14 percent of the country’s population, compared to 12.2 percent in the most recent U.S. census. There were approximately four million slaves in the United States, and almost a half a million free African Americans. But only about one percent of all African Americans in the country lived in the North at that time.
Although African Americans had served in the U.S. Army and Navy during the American Revolution and in the War of 1812, they were initially not permitted to enlist on either side during the Civil War. In the North, a 1792 law barred them from bearing arms in the U.S. Army. Additionally, President Abraham Lincoln did not support it at that time because he was concerned that accepting black men into the military would cause more of the border states to secede. Free black men were finally permitted to enlist in the Union Army in late 1862, following the passage of the Second Confiscation and Militia Act, and Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. In the South, General Robert E. Lee eventually convinced the Confederate Congress to begin enlisting black soldiers near the end of the war. The legislation required the consent of the slave and his master, and would confer the rights of a freeman after the war.
By the end of the Civil War in 1865, it is estimated that 209,145 African-Americans had served as soldiers, participating on both sides, although to a far lesser degree in the South than in the North. Eventually, several thousand blacks were enlisted in the Rebel cause, but they could not begin to balance out the nearly 200,000 blacks who fought in the United States Colored Troops (USCT) for the Union, and it was too late in the war to make a difference regardless of the numbers. All together, over 60,000 died over the course of the war, with sickness causing thirty times more deaths than battle.
The African American Civil War Museum, where I went on this lunchtime bike ride, is dedicated to preserving and telling the stories of these men, and African Americans’ involvement and impact during the American Civil War. The museum is located in the historic Grimke Building at 1925 Vermont Avenue (MAP), just a block east of The African American Civil War Memorial in the Shaw neighborhood’s historic U Street Corridor, an area traditionally considered to be the heart of African-American entertainment and theater in the city.
The museum opened in January of 1999, with a mission “to serve the educational needs of its local, national, and international community with a high-quality and effective learning experience while interpreting the history of the USCT and the community life of African Americans prior to, and after, the American Civil War.” This is achieved through the communication of information and stories using historic documents, photographs, newspaper articles, replicas of period clothing and uniforms, military weaponry and other artifacts, seminars by staff, and historic presentations by volunteer re-enactors. With more than 200,000 visitors each year, the museum serves as a unique resource for teachers, scholars, students and professionals of museum studies, as well as the general public. And through the museum’s African American Civil War Descendants Registry, the museum documents the family trees of more than 2,000 descendants of the men who served with the USCT.
As I was leaving the museum, I couldn’t help but think that its importance is even greater at a time like now, when the Confederate flag is getting so much attention and causing debate and divisiveness around the country. The museum enables visitors to instead learn about the largely unknown role of those 209,145 black men who fought for freedom and to preserve the union, the 23 who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the emergence of three important amendments to the Constitution — the 13th, 14th and 15th — which ended slavery, gave blacks equal protection under the law, and guaranteed black men the right to vote. All in all, I’d say that’s not a bad achievement for a museum.
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While on a recent bike ride in the Embassy Row area along Massachusetts Avenue in northwest D.C., I saw a statue of George Washington on the front lawn of what appeared to be an embassy. Wondering what country’s embassy would be displaying a statue of the father of this country, I stopped to check it out. It turns out that it is not an embassy after all. Rather, it is Anderson House, also known as Larz Anderson House. Mr. Anderson was an American businessman, diplomat and philantropist, and the Beaux Arts-style mansion was he and his wife’s winter residence during the Washington social season. Mr. Anderson was also a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and after his death his wife, Isabel Anderson, donated the house to the Society. It now houses the headquarters, library, and museum of the Society of the Cincinnati.
The Society of the Cincinnati is this country’s oldest patriotic organization, and the oldest lineage society in North America. It was founded in 1783 by officers of the Continental Army and their French counterparts who served together in the American Revolutionary War. The Society’s original purpose was to promote knowledge and appreciation of the achievement of American independence, preserve the ideals and foster fellowship among the American Revolutionary War officer members who founded it, and to pressure the government to honor pledges it had made to officers who fought for American independence.
Now in its third century, the modern Society at Anderson House is a nonprofit historical, diplomatic, and educational organization devoted to the principles and ideals of its founders. Its mission is to promote public interest in the American Revolution through its library and museum collections, exhibitions, programs, publications, and other activities.
Anderson House is located at 2118 Massachusetts Avenue (MAP), between 21st and 22nd streets along Embassy Row in the heart of northwest D.C.’s historic Dupont Circle neighborhood. The Society encourages the public to visit Anderson House and to use the library, attend a lecture, tour the museum, or view one of the exhibitions. Museum Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m., and library Hours are Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. And although it is a privately-owned museum and library, admission is free.
You don’t have to be a philatelist, more commonly known as a stamp collector, to appreciate today’s destination, but it helps. On today’s lunchtime bike ride I went to the National Postal Museum, located at 2 Massachusetts Avenue (MAP) in northeast D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood. The museum is across the street from Union Station, in the historic City Post Office Building that once served as the main Post Office of D.C. from 1914, when it was constructed, until 1986.
The National Postal Museum was established through a joint agreement between the United States Postal Service and the Smithsonian Institution, and opened in July of 1993. As you might expect, the museum houses on of the largest stamp collections in the world. Known as the National Philatelic Collection, it was originally established at the Smithsonian Institution in 1886 with the donation of a sheet of 10-cent Confederate postage stamps. Generous gifts from individuals and foreign governments, transfers from government agencies and occasional purchases have increased the collection to today’s total of more than 5.9 million items.
In addition its vast collection of stamps, the museum also houses many exhibits and interactive displays about the history of the U.S. Postal Service as well as mail service around the world, including postal history materials that pre-date stamps. Among other various items from the history of the postal system, it also has on display vehicles such as stagecoaches and airplanes which were used to transport the mail, as well as mailboxes and mailbags, postal uniforms and equipment, exhibits on the Pony Express, the use of railroads with the mail, and the preserved remains of a dog named Owney, the unofficial Postal Service mascot. The museum also houses a gift shop and a separate stamp shop where visitors can purchase stamps and other collectibles.
The National Postal Museum receives funding through three primary sources: the U.S. Postal Service, the Smithsonian Institution’s annual Federal appropriation, and gifts from private individuals, foundations, and corporations. So for visitors, admission is free.
On this bike ride I went to meet a dog named Owney. Also known by the nickname “Globe-trotter,” Owney was a scruffy terrier-mix mutt, who was nation’s most famous canine during his lifetime.
Owney first wandered into a Post Office in Albany, New York in 1888, and eventually went on to become a world-travelling mascot for The U.S. Postal Service. It is thought that Owney’s original owner was might have been a postal clerk who let the dog walk with him to work. Then at some point, his owner moved away and Owney stayed on at the post office where he had made a number of new friends, becoming a regular fixture there. Others speculate that Owney was homeless before wandering into the post office. Whatever the case may be, once he wandered in to the Albany Post Office, Owney found himself a new home and a new family.
Owney was attracted to something about the mailbags. Perhaps it was the texture, or maybe the scent. No one really knows for sure. Anyway, he liked them so much that he would come in and make himself at home among them. In cold weather, postal workers would even bundle him in mailbags to help keep him warm. Owney became somewhat of a guardian of the bags and the mail in them, and would not allow anyone other than mail clerks to touch or handle the bags. In fact, Owney liked the mailbags so much that he soon began to follow them when they left Albany.
At first Owney accompanied the mail bags onto mail wagons. Eventually, he also began to follow the bags that were loaded onto the Railway Post Office trains. Owney rode the trains across the state, and eventually around the country. Then, in 1895, Owney made an around-the-world trip, traveling with mailbags on trains and steamships from the Tacoma, Washington, sailing for China and Japan and through the Suez Canal before sailing back to New York City. He then returned to Albany. Over the next decade Owney traveled by train over 140,000 miles, following postal workers and mailbags almost everywhere they traveled.
At a time when train wrecks were all too common, no train on which Owney rode was ever involved in a wreck. So railway mail clerks considered him a good luck charm, and adopted Owney as their unofficial mascot for the next nine years. Clerks along his routes would mark Owney’s travels by placing metal baggage tags with each city’s name on his collar. Each time Owney returned home to Albany, the clerks there would see the tags and find out where Owney had been.
After a while Postmaster General John Wanamaker, who was one of Owney’s many fans, learned that his collar was weighed down by an ever-growing number of tags. So he gave Owney a vest on which to wear and display the “trophies.” Postmaster Wanamaker also declared that Owney was the Official Mascot of the Rail Mail Service.
By the spring of 1897 Owney was in poor health. He had been “retired” from traveling and was living with a postal worker in St. Louis, Missouri. But the trains and the dog could not be separated for long, and by the summer he was again riding the rails.
On June 11, 1897, a postal worker in Toledo, Ohio was showing off Owney and his collection of tags to a local newspaper reporter. Owney, who was an old dog by then and still in poor health, was agitated and barking. He then turned and bit the postal worker on the hand. The postal worker spread the word that Owney was mad, and the Toledo postmaster summoned the town marshall, who shot him, thus bringing a sad ending to both the life and the career of the famous little mutt.
Despite his one fatal gaff, Owney was still a beloved dog. Postal clerks raised funds to have Owney preserved, and he was given to the Post Office Department’s headquarters in here in D.C. Owney later made appearances in St. Louis at the 1904 World’s Fair, and the Post Office Department’s exhibit at the Sesquicentennial exhibit in Philadelphia, before returning to D.C. In 1911, the department transferred Owney to the Smithsonian Institution, where he was put on display in the National Museum of American History. In 1993 he moved to The National Postal Museum, where he has remained ever since.
After over 100 years, Owney continues to remain popular. In 2011, Owney was deemed worthy of depiction on a U.S. postage “forever” stamp. Owney has also been the main character in five hard cover books, a graphic novel entitled “The Secret Around-the-World Adventures of Owney the Postal Dog,” and an ebook entitled “Owney the Mail Pouch Pooch,” which features Owney’s theme song entitled “Owney — Tales From The Rails,” sung my country music artist Trace Adkins. Owney also has his own blog, as well as a Facebook and Twitter pages. Owney even has his own interactive iPhone app which can be downloaded for free at the iTunes store.
Owney can be seen on display in the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, wearing his vest and surrounded by some of the over 1,000 tags that he accumulated on his travels. Many of Owney’s tags did not survive, but museum currently has 372 Owney tags in its collections. The National Postal Museum is located at 2 Massachusetts Avenue (MAP), next to Union Station in northeast D.C.’s Swampoodle neighborhood. The Museum is open from 10:00am to 5:30pm daily except for Christmas. And you can’t beat the price of admission – it’s free.
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