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Dumbarton Oaks

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM is checking out a rare view of lower Georgetown. This photo, from the DDOT collection, is rare because so many of the vintage shots of lower Georgetown focus on the waterfront factories and warehouses. The jumble of industrial and residential buildings between K St. and M St. don’t typically feature in old photos like this.

There is so much to see in this photo, GM doesn’t even really know where to start. Unfortunately he can’t quite start with the date, since that isn’t clear from DDOT’s records. From looking at the cars, GM would guess the 1950s, but that’s just a guess.

The street at the bottom of the photo is 30th St. The large building just below and right of center is still there, part of the foundry building:

People used to park along the canal: Continue reading →

Photo by Olli Thomson.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• This is what the Wawa is going to look like.
• A closer look at the new, and huge Sweet Green.

1500 block of 33rd St.

This week for Know Your Trees, GM is going to highlight a tree people start to notice this time of year. They notice and wonder about this tree so much that GM publishes the same article every year explaining them and it’s always one of his most read articles of the year. So this year he’ll fold it into his new tree series.

Have you ever seen the weird green brain-like fruit and wondered what it is? They are Osage oranges, grown by Osage trees.

You don’t find Osage trees randomly around Georgetown. They are only in Volta Park and Montrose Park. Even without the dozens of large fruits on the ground, you can recognize an Osage by the bark. It has a yellowish and chunky texture like this:

These trees are prevalent in the Great Plains states, where they are often planted along hedgerows. Traditionally, the pliable but strong nature of this tree’s wood made it valuable for fence posts and archery bows. Continue reading →

Photo by Mark Andre.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GM attended a party over the weekend where he learned that the guest house was rumored to have been used by JFK for his affairs. This is at least the second building that GM has heard such a tale about, which would call it into question if it weren’t so likely that JFK probably had lots of places around town like that.
• Man arrested in West Virginia for Georgetown murder.

1300 block of 29th St.