Washington, DC, July 2023
I hadn’t been on Upshur in years. We were crossing the northern part of the city on our way to South Dakota Avenue. And I certainly didn’t remember Lincoln’s summer cottage. How could I be seeing things for the first time after growing up in Washington?
I have always been proud to call Washington, DC my birthplace. It’s a large and diverse city. The Federal Government touches almost everyone’s lives in one way or another but it doesn’t have home rule. It is in a special “district” and Congress can override the City Council on a whim. The residents don’t even have a voting representative in the House. Despite this nonsense, many of DC’s citizens work to make the country better and believe in helping others. (Hence, the city’s license plates have the phrase “End Taxation Without Representation” emblazoned on the bottom. I, for one, couldn’t think of a better way to encapsulate the vibe.)
It’s a low rise city with extensive green areas. No building can be taller than the Nation’s Capitol. Rock Creek park runs up the spine and is home to the National Zoo along with dozens of trails. There are horse stables and old mills. Beach Drive, once only closed on the weekends for bikers, is now closed every day to car traffic. It’s a shade filled roadway next to a rushing stream, overflowing with brown water from the previous night’s thunderstorm.
The city is packed with new restaurants, nice sidewalks and curbs - even curb cuts! Some of the places I long remembered gone, replaced with thriving businesses - Hello Bread Furst with your amazing pastries, Goodbye Burger King where I first learned the pleasures of mixing various fountain sodas. In fill development is packing interesting new apartments buildings and grocery stores where I remember large asphalt parking lots.
The Northwest Quadrant of the city (it’s no longer a diamond shape because of the retrocession of 1847) is my particular quarter of the city. My home and schools were there. Many of the streets have particular memories. That’s the one where I got t-boned in my sister’s Camry. That’s the corner where my friend lived. That’s how I walked home from school. That’s where a sinkhole consumed a car.
DC experiences all the seasons, but the summer is the one that feels most like home. It’s hot and muggy, but that city wears it well, particularly in the evening. Fireflies blinking. Cicadas and crickets providing background noise on a humid evening. Big thunderclouds building to the west. Marine One doing loops pausing conversation. Newspapers well read, re-folded, slightly yellowed from the summer sun strewn about the table on the back patio.
The museums are incredible. We have our favorites. Many are getting major facelifts. Almost all are free. Udvar-Hazy is a new must do with its extensive collection of planes. It’s a long drive, but so are lots of things. Not in the city, of course, but there are often reasons to go beyond the cities limits. Past the dreaded Beltway.
The Metro with its blinking floor lights and unique concrete paneling is still perhaps the most fun way to get around. The lines run a little further, but still stick with the simple “name by color” scheme. The Red Line to Metro Center always seemed to be the first step for us. The stops along the way all have great names, rich with American history. Dupont Circle. L’Enfant Plaza. Farragut North.
Oh, what names! In a young country the names of things in Washington make it feel rich in history. Back to Upshur Street. From an article about the naming of the city’s streets:
Abel B. Upshur served as Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of State and was instrumental in negotiating the secret treaty that led to the annexation of Texas. But he also is known for the way he died. In February 1844, President Tyler hosted his cabinet and hundreds of guests aboard the brand new USS Princeton. During their cruise on the Potomac, the captain demonstrated one of the ship's cannons - which exploded, taking the life of Upshur and seven other people.
Eastern Market, in the heart of Capitol Hill, has an outdoor fair on the weekends. The Singing Capital Chorus graced patrons with a performance this past Sunday and we enjoyed empanadas and frozen yogurts while we watched. As you walk just north of the market, you see the Capitol with it’s newly rehabbed dome, standing strong despite the horrific attack a few years ago.
Georgetown is vibrant with M street bustling and a green, interesting waterfront park where a gravel lot used to sit under the Whitehurst Freeway. A few blocks north the Potomac Boat Club sits on the Potomac with a view of the buildings of Rosalyn rising above Roosevelt Island.
All of these places sit close to each other but feel distinct and separate. All part of a rich tapestry that you can’t really see until you visit place by place, person by person. This is what great cities are supposed to be like, and this one is thriving.
