BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Forest Glen Seminary

MD -- Forest Glen Seminary:

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Description of Pictures: It had been awhile since I'd been there. They wripped up the valley, apparently working on sewer issues. I'd never been down there before because it was too wooded but that wasn't an issue this time! I also ran into a couple of models who were updating their portfolio as ghouls. Although many of the seminary buildings are occupied, it still works well portraying an abandoned haunted landscape.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SEM_130310_451.JPG: Stop 8: The massive Ament Hall, built in 1927, contains an elegant ballroom inside. Seminary students used the ballroom for daily dance practice and frequent formal dances. After 1942, the Army used it as a patient recreation center. The nearby chapel was built in 1898. The three sorority clubhouses visible here are the Japanese Bungalow built in 1899 for the Chi Omicron Pi sorority, the Japanese Pagoda built in 1905 for the Chi Psi Upsilon sorority, and the Swiss Chalet built in 1899 for the Zeta Eta Theta sorority.
2. SEM_130310_468.JPG: Stop 9: The corner marks the transition to the Forest Glen Park neighborhood. The Spanish Mission was built in 1903 for the Theta Sigma Rho sorority. Behind it is the Chauffeur's Cottage, built in the early 1900s and moved there in 2006. The brick Postmaster House and the clapboard Edgewood house were both built between 1880 and 1900. The shingled Miller Library was built in 1901. After 1942, these buildings and the other sorority houses on the campus were used to house Army officers and their families.
3. SEM_130310_480.JPG: Note the uneveness of the alcove
4. SEM_130310_521.JPG: Stop 7: The Forest Inn was built in 1887 as a summer resort hotel. In 1894 it was leased and later purchased by John and Vesta Cassedy to be the National Park Seminary for young women. The hotel buildings became known as Main and was expanded several times, providing space for classrooms, dormitory rooms, and school offices. When the Walter Reed Army Hospital acquired the seminary in 1942, it used Main for administrative offices and convalescent wards.
5. SEM_130310_617.JPG: Stop 5: Hotel guests and seminary students arrived at the Forest Glen railroad station and entered the campus by one of several bridges across the glen. The natural beauty of the glen was enhanced with stone paths, stairways, and a grotto. The bridges were removed and part of the glen was lost when the Capital Beltway was built in the early 1960s. The Italian Villa, a dormitory built in 1907, and the English Castle, built in 1904 for the Pi Beta Nu sorority, can be seen across the glen.
6. SEM_130310_651.JPG: Stop 4: Seminary students belonged to sororities that held their meetings and social events in small, uniquely designed clubhouses. Eight sorority houses were built between 1896 and 1905, three of which are visible here. Starting on the left, the first house built was the American Bungalow in 1896 for Alpha Epsilon Pi. The Dutch Windmill was built in 1899 for Kappa Delta Phi. The Colonial House, built in 1903, was used as the clubhouse for Phi Delta Psi.
7. SEM_130310_659.JPG: These folks were being photographed for something
8. SEM_130310_691.JPG: Stop 3: The Aloha cottage was built in 1898 as a residence for the seminary's founders, John and Vesta Cassedy, and was later enlarged for use as a dormitory. Its name reflects the spirit with which they welcomed students into their home. The distinctive Porch of the Maidens with its row of caryatids, female figures used as columns, was added in the 1920s.
9. SEM_130310_739.JPG: Stop 2: The classical style of the gymnasium, built in 1907, was reinforced by the addition of a columned porch in 1925. Its basketball court, tiled swimming pool, bowling alley, solarium, and nearby tennis courts, ball fields, and riding rings provided a recreational balance to the academic and social life of the seminary students. Later the gym served as therapy and entertainment for recuperating soldiers.
10. SEM_130310_753.JPG: Stop 1: Guests at The Forest Inn, students at National Park Seminary, and recovering wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center all enjoyed the tranquil beauty of the surrounding forest. The school's name evoked the famous Rock Creek Park that is only a short walk through the woods. Canoeing, horseback riding and hiking were an important part of seminary life.
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 km�) 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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