MD -- Forest Glen Seminary:
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- Wikipedia Description: National Park Seminary
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
National Park Seminary (later National Park College) was a private girls' finishing school open from 1894 to 1942. Located in Forest Glen, Maryland, it was named for nearby Rock Creek Park. The historic campus is to be preserved as the center of a new housing development.
College:
The campus began in 1887 as "Ye Forest Inne," a summer vacation retreat for Washington, D.C. residents. The retreat did not succeed financially, and the property was sold and redeveloped as a finishing school, opening in 1894 with a class of 48 female students. The architecture of the campus remained eclectic and whimsical. In addition to various Victorian styles, exotic designs included a Dutch windmill, a Swiss chalet, a Japanese pagoda, an Italian villa, and an English castle. The campus also featured covered walkways, outdoor sculptures, and elaborately planned formal gardens. In 1936 it was renamed "National Park College" and its focus was realigned with more modern educational trends; it remained one of the most prestigious women's schools in the country.
Walter Reed Forest Glen Annex:
With the onset of World War II, the United States Army began planning for the medical needs of returning soldiers. In 1942, the property was condemned by Walter Reed Army Hospital as a medical facility for disabled soldiers, thus closing the college. The Army paid $890,000 for the land and buildings that became the Forest Glen Annex.
Preservation:
The U.S. Army abandoned much of the property in the 1970s. On September 14, 1972, a 27 acre (0.11 kmē) National Park Seminary Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the following years, the historical integrity of the property was threatened by neglect and vandalism. The Greek Revival Odeon Theater was lost to arson. Local preservation groups took action and "Save Our Seminary" (SOS) was formed in 1988. In the late 1990s, Senator Paul Sarbanes was instrumental in encouraging the Army to make repairs to some of the buildings, and ultimately in releasing the property, clearing the way for historic rehabilitation. With private donations, SOS began an exterior restoration project of the pagoda in 1999, completed in 2003. Also in 2003, a development team led by the Alexander Company began implementing a plan to preserve the campus as the core of a new residential neighborhood.
- Atlas Obscura Description: National Park Seminary
Silver Spring, Maryland
A girls' boarding school inspired by the Chicago World's Fair, once abandoned, now restored to strange and scenic glory.
Not far from the Capital Beltway is a cluster of formerly dilapidated structures, now integrated into a beautiful condo development. These are the remains of the National Park Seminary.
The development dates back to 1887, when Ye Forest Inn was built as a tourist resort. In 1894, the buildings were turned into a girls’ boarding school called the National Park Seminary. The ornate, classically-inspired architecture on campus was based on plans brought from the Chicago World’s Fair. Girls lived in eight unusual sorority houses, one modeled on a pagoda, another on a Dutch windmill, another on a chalet.
The seminary thrived the first decades of the 20th century as a finishing school for society girls, with 300 students including Hersheys, Chryslers, Krafts, and Maytags. By the Great Depression, only 40 students remained. During World War II, the Army took over the Forest Glen campus and used it for recovering amputees. It was also employed to house wounded soldiers during the Korean and Vietnam wars, as well as for animal research.
By the 1970s, the place was in a state of decay, and by 1978 all patients were gone. The Army planned to tear down the campus, but it was spared by the Save Our Seminary association. Arson destroyed one structure in 1993, and in 2003 a private developer took over the property and since then it has been reborn as a residential community, with the historic structures repurposed into houses and condos. As of summer 2018, only a handful of decaying buildings have yet to be restored, and they seem to be under construction.
Because the buildings are private residences, it’s impossible to see the interiors of the restored buildings, including the famously splendid ballroom, outside of monthly guided tours led by the Save Our Seminary organization. There is also a self-guided tour, comprised of nine markers, that allows you to see building exteriors and learn about the history of the National Park Seminary.
Know Before You Go
From the Capital Beltway (I-495), take the Georgia Avenue Southbound exit; turn left on Seminary Road. Seminary Road bears off to the right at a traffic light, but continue through the traffic light onto Linden Lane. After about a mile, Linden Lane intersects with Cassedy Street; the best way to continue is to park on Linden Lane and proceed onto Cassedy on foot. Once a month, the Save Our Seminary group gives guided tours of the grounds and inside a couple of the buildings; check their website for times.
There really isn't any parking there. Best bet is to park down a side street and walk.
The above was from https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/national-park-seminary
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