Touching History in Washington DC: Historical Sites off the Beaten Path

Sandra and my sister at the Sotterley Plantation

Have you spent time in Washington D.C.? I went to our nation’s capital with my parents at age nine, but two springs ago I got to visit again, this time with my sister. It was partly a writing research trip for me, and we stayed with my dear friend and critique partner, Sandra Barnes, and her family.




While we still saw the White House, Washington Monument, and Smithsonian, Sandra also helped us find some places not as many tourists know about—partly because of my research about D.C.’s Civil War, African-American, and abolitionist history. And it was in some of these spots where our nation’s past came to life for me the most. So I thought it would be fun to share a few with you!

One of the first places we visited was the Sotterly Plantation in Maryland, about an hour outside Washington D.C. I’d been to a plantation once before, but the truth of what life there meant sank deeper into my heart seeing one with Sandra, who is African American—as we stood first in the sunny, attractive dining room of the family, and then in the dirt-floored, rough-roofed cabin of the slaves. When I gazed below the sloping grain fields sweeping down from the house to the river where slaves used to try and escape, I could almost picture the real people, black and white, who had lived here only a few generations ago.

Sotterley Plantation dining room

Sotterley Plantation slave cabin

Frederick Douglass's office

Next we toured the home of renowned abolitionist,speaker, American ambassador—and former slave—Frederick Douglass, located in the southeast corner of Washington D.C. itself and open only by guided tour. History sprang to life as we viewed grocery budgets and books belonging to Douglass and his wife, as well as his personal office and library, today set to replicate almost exactly an existing photograph of Douglass sitting at his desk. Many of the books and furniture are original. Perhaps most fun was discovering the “Growlery” out back, a little, windowless outdoor building where Douglass would go alone to write, and “growl,” if he needed to! I know some writers who might like to have a Growlery today. :)








Frederick Douglass's "Growlery" out back


In the heart of D.C., we arrived at Ford’s Theatre, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. We walked through historical displays on that fateful night and then sat in the theater itself to see a musical production on the Civil War. The very box where the president and first lady sat for the show that evening—and where John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in the head—rose to our right, draped in sober red, white, and blue.



Ford Theatre: Lincoln's box just below chandelier





But I think when history hit me most vividly was at the historic 15th Street Presbyterian Church, an African-American congregation founded in 1841 and involved in the Abolitionist movement I was researching. We met with Dr. Tressie Muldrow, the church historian. She gave us much valuable history on the church, but my sister and I sat most riveted when she began telling us some of her own story, of being one of the college students to participate in the Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960.


Sitting with Dr. Tressie Muldrow


Dr. Muldrow and the other students, black and white, had sat respectfully but firmly in their chairs at the counter, enduring mayonnaise and mustard smeared in their hair and other abuse from white customers simply for sitting outside the “colored” section. She told us how they, the demonstrators, met together every evening for training and debriefing, and of the satisfaction she feels today when she visits the site of that restaurant and sees it gone, a civil rights museum in its place.


When we visited the Smithsonian's Museum of American History a bit later, we saw those very stools they had sat on at the Woolworth’s counter. It still gives me chills a bit to think of it. 





Woolworth's counter stools at the Smithsonian




We made many other memories, though I don’t have space to detail them all: a chance visit at the Charles Sumner School, one of the first schools for African-American students in D.C.; seeing the “I Have a Dream” paving stone at the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech, as well as the MLK memorial itself; the Korean War Memorial, simple but moving, with its realistic statues of soldiers pushing their way through a living “jungle” of bushes; and Arlington Cemetery. Perhaps I can share more another time!



So, have you ever been to Washington D.C.? What unusual historical sites did you find? Please comment and share!



Kiersti Giron holds a life-long passion for history and historical fiction. She loves to write stories that show the intersection of past and present, explore relationships that bridge cultural divides, and probe the healing Jesus can bring out of brokenness. Kiersti has been published in several magazines and won the ACFW Genesis Award - Historical for her manuscript Beneath a Turquoise Sky. She is currently revising her third novel manuscript, a Civil War story set at Fort Tejon in frontier California. A high school teacher and member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Kiersti loves learning and growing with other writers penning God's story into theirs, as well as blogging at www.kierstigiron.com. She lives in California with her wonderful husband, Anthony.

Galveston Isand

Not Just a Beach
by Martha Rogers

Galveston is another Texas city with a fascinating past. She’s part Southern, part Texas and uniquely her own. She has more history than many cities much larger than she is. Galveston has always been “a town in its own right,” and even today she is often referred to as “The Republic of Galveston Island.”

The first people to land on the island besides the natives were the Spaniards led by Cabeza de Vaca who shipwrecked on the island around 1528. The inhabitants at that time were the Akokisa and Karankawa Indians who camped, fished, and buried their dead there in the marshes.

The explorer lived among them for several years as a medicine man and slave. He died there among the natives. Later, in the late 1600’s, the French came led by La Salle who claimed the area for King Louis. He named the island St. Louis.

In the 1780’s, Bernardo Galvez, a Spanish colonial governor, sent Jose de Evia to map out the area along the Gulf of Mexico from Texas to New Orleans. Evia named the water between the island and the mainland of Texas, Galveston Bay. Later the city took the name but Galvez died before ever seeing the island named for him.

When the settlers came, the first known one was a pirate. The privateer Jean Lafitte established a colony in 1817. When Lafitte was forced to leave, he burned the town behind him. From the ashes, Michel Menard and Samuel Williams with others rebuilt the town, and many of the homes of these early pioneers are still standing.

Early map of Galveston: 

 Of course everything is bigger in Texas. After she was incorporated in 1839, Galveston took no time in becoming the most active port west of New Orleans and growing to the largest city in Texas at the time.

By SMU Central University Libraries - Busy Dock Scene, Galveston, Texas. Public Domain, 

Galveston had to be first in a number of things, among them were the first opera house, first hospital, first golf course and the first country club. She was one of the richest cities in the world per capita. All major railroads served the city and over half of Texas’ cotton crop was exported through Galveston. The Strand had become not only the financial center of Galveston and Texas, but much of the Southwest as well.

One of the luxury hotels in the 19th century. 

By 1900, the town had become the fourth largest in Texas following Houston, Dallas and San Antonio with a population around 37,000. Then the 1900 Storm hit the island with one-third of the city destroyed and over 6,000 lives lost.

Those who remained were determined to restore the city and make it safer. They did so by raising the entire level of Galveston by eight feet with 17 feet at the seawall slanting down so water would run off into the bay. It worked when fifteen years later, another storm hit and only eight lives were lost.

Despite their efforts, the city never returned to its former glory. Even her shipping suffered when Houston built a ship channel and the vessels sailed up the channel to larger city. An economic decline in the mid-1960’s caused many of the beautiful old buildings to fall into disrepair and some were demolished.  

Ashton Villa is one of the homes built in 1859 that was restored. 

The 36-block business district was fully restored with the persistence of Cynthia and George Mitchell. Once known as the “Wall Street of the Southwest,” opulent Victorian buildings and residences lined the streets with banks, wholesale houses, shipping companies, auction houses, and sailor boarding houses. The buildings restored by the Mitchells were held to the highest standard of preservation and restoration. They have been recipients of numerous awards. They overhauled the downtown historic Victorian style buildings and it became an historic landmark with 2,000 buildings scattered across Galveston listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

One of the Historical Markers: 

Two huge events occur every year on the island. One is Mardi Gras which turns the town into a carnival with parades and parties down the street spanned by Mardi Gras arches built by world famous architects. This 75 year old tradition was restored in 1985 after it had been lost during WWII.

The second event is Dickens on the Strand which takes place in December and takes the city back to the Victorian times of Charles Dickens for the Christmas season.  

 

Another event that is well attended is the annual Historic Home Tour held in May before the real heat and humidity of Texas take over. Here is one of the homes featured on the tour. This home was built in 1893.

Taking a stroll through the area and visiting the many shops and eating places along the way is a step back in time. Modern improvements make the time spent in the historic district of Galveston an enjoyable experience.

What historical places have you visited?

Here's my latest novel, just in time for Christmas.

Christmas at Stoney Creek

News reporter Tom Whiteman befriends a homeless man, Joe, and brings him home to Stoney Creek, a town that accepts people for who they are and not how they appear. Tom’s journalistic instincts suggest there’s more to the old man than appearances tell. A carpenter by trade, Joe works at odd jobs around town and makes many new friends including Faith Delmont, a girl who grew up with Tom. Contradictions in the man’s manners and way of speaking whet Tom’s nose for news and raises even more questions. As he and Faith seek the truth, they learn that God’s love can turn tragedy and loss to triumph and true love comes to those who seek it.     

Martha Rogers is a free-lance writer and multi-published author from Realms Fiction of Charisma Media and Winged Publications. She was named Writer of the Year at the Texas Christian Writers Conference in 2009. She is a member of ACFW and writes the weekly Verse of the Week for the ACFW Loop. ACFW awarded her the Volunteer of the Year in 2014. Her first electronic series from Winged Publications, Love in the Bayou City of Texas, debuted in the spring of 2015.  Martha is a frequent speaker for writing workshops and the Texas Christian Writers Conference. She is a retired teacher and lives in Houston with her husband, Rex. Their favorite pastime is spending time with their eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren