The Georgetown Metropolitan

Georgetowners no longer must suffer the pain of not having a lobster roll shack in their neighborhood: Masons Famous Lobster Rolls have opened.

The shop takes over 1078 Wisconsin Ave., which was previously occupied by Paul Bakery. That store closed early in the pandemic as part of a worldwide contraction.

From 2013 until last year, Luke’s Lobsters offered a buttery taste of Maine on Potomac St. The store was part of a nationwide chain, but it actually had a tie to the neighborhood. The eponymous Luke is a 2007 GU grad (and was a classmate with the founders of Sweetgreen.) GM was pretty bummed when it closed, as it was a nice little shop that catered to locals as much as tourists.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• More on the new canal boat.
• Descendants of the enslaved-people owned by GU are participating in an archeological dig of the Jesuit’s former plantation.

After years of effort and fundraising, the canal boat has returned to the canal. It arrived Sunday morning after a trip down the canal from Fletcher’s, where it was lowered into position over the weekend.

The boat cost $1.5 million, which was paid for from government money and private donations. It is the culmination of the major repair work that the canal has undergone since the creation of Georgetown Heritage in 2015. The creation of Georgetown Heritage–a charitable organization to preserve and protect the canal through Georgetown–was itself the product of the Georgetown 2028 project way back in 2013.

The hope at the beginning was that we would get to this point much faster. But it became immediately clear that immediate and extensive repair work was necessary before a boat like this could be returned. Most pressing was the state of lock 4, which was on the verge of total collapse. A huge amount of the funds raised had to be directed towards the complete reconstruction of that lock, which took years to complete. And more recently major work was necessary to temporarily bolster the wall at Grace St.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The new canal boat has arrived (more on this later).
• Avocado Mattress store coming to Cady’s Alley.
• Weird “Fashion Funhouse” comes to M St.

After a long wait, the C & O Canal was finally refilled with water this month. It was a lovely sight to see after years of nothing but puddles and marshlands. But this week the canal dried up again. What gives?

GM reached out to Georgetown Heritage, the organization that is directing efforts to restore and rebuild the canal through Georgetown. And have no fear, the dry canal is not a sign of some mechanical or structural failure. This is part of NPS’s ordinary watering and dewatering process. In this particular case, the canal levels will vary intermittently over the next several weeks in preparation for the return of the canal boat.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Aliens in Georgetown! (Well, not quite…)
• GM is heading out of town next week, so Happy 4th and see you the week after!

Volta Park Pool will return to ordinary weekday hours as the full summer schedule kicks in this week.

DPR Director Delano Hunter announced this change at the ANC meeting this week. Previously the city had planned for all pools to shift their weekday hours from 12-8 to 10-6. This was done in part to accommodate summer camps that wanted earlier access to the pools (it also reflected a shortage of lifeguards). But this would in turn limit the ability of people working office hours to use the pools during the week.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Some more old timers that GM forgot. (Also another reader pointed out Booeymongers and New York Cleaners)
• At the ANC meeting, it was mentioned that the Friends of Volta Park are looking to add a farmers market. No details yet.