Existing comment:
There are two of these stones in Chevy Chase Circle which I thought were the historic boundary stones. Nope! A Washington Post article In 1932, the Garden Club of America thought D.C. needed fancier entryways by John Kelly from May 5, 2018 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/in-1932-the-garden-club-of-america-thought-dc-needed-fancier-entryways/2018/05/03/c7bec22c-4f15-11e8-af46-b1d6dc0d9bfe_story.html ) says...
... Do not confuse these with the 40 boundary stones set in place in the 1790s. These stones were among those erected by the Garden Club of America beginning in 1932, the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.
Memorial Bridge was dedicated that year and the large, eagle-topped pylons that stand at its Virginia end were seen as models for similar markers at other entrances to Washington. Such markers, wrote the garden club's president, Mrs. William Lockwood, "will not only add to our pride in our Capital, but may also be an inspiration to other cities to increase the beauty of their entering highways."
The bridge's pylons were just too large to emulate. Eventually, inspiration was taken from a different source: columns along the Mason-Dixon Line that separated Maryland from Pennsylvania. An example in the collection of the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore was used as a model.
Architect Edward W. Donn Jr. supervised the stonecutting, which was done by Walter Phelps. The fluted shafts were made from Aquia Creek sandstone, the same material as the White House and Capitol are made of. Each was 18 inches square and seven feet tall, the top five feet of which was designed to be visible, and cost $300.
Carved on one side was a cartouche with a bas-relief carving of George Washington standing on a pedestal, Lady Justice next to him and the dome of the Capitol in the background. On the other side was the seal of Maryland or Virginia, depending on where the marker was destined.
The plan was to install pairs of markers at Chevy Chase Circle, 16th Street Circle, the Key Bridge and the Highway Bridge (what we think of as the 14th Street Bridge). The intersection of Georgia and Alaska avenues would get a single marker.
Observant readers will have noticed that Westmoreland Circle is not on that list. And observant drivers and pedestrians will have noticed that there are no longer any Virginia markers. Of the Virginia stones, the 2007 application to place the remaining stones on the National Register of Historic Places put it this way: "The missing markers were likely removed and discarded during road widenings and/or construction; however, nothing is known for sure of their fate."
There are no longer any markers at 16th Street's circle either. It's likely that the ones in Westmoreland Circle were originally at 16th Street.
The seven remaining markers are a little bashed up, struck countless times by errant vehicles. A few have been pieced back together, the mortar clearly visible.
Embarrassingly, some are turned around the wrong way. The eastern stone in Westmoreland Circle is backward, as is the western stone in Chevy Chase Circle. Both the stones in Friendship Heights are backward. Originally, the George Washington image faced away from the city, visible to motorists entering the District.
After all, the message was "Welcome to Washington." |