Christ Church is the oldest church within the Washington's original city limits. (St. Paul's Church in Northwest is older but was located in the suburbs until the limits expanded.) The church was designed by Benjamine Latrobe and built in 1807.
The church was the site of the wedding between Latrobe's daughter, Lydia, and Nicholas Roosevelt (whose great-nephew, Teddy Roosevelt, would become president). John Philip Sousa was also married at the church. Several presidents, Madison, Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams, also attended services at the church.
Duddington Manor was built by Daniel Carroll, a young land-owner who inherited much of the land in the city. It was the subject of a planning dispute which eventually led to the downfall of city planner, Pierre L'Enfant. L'Enfant wanted to place New Jersey Avenue at the spot Carroll was building his house. L'Enfant ordered the construction of Duddington Manor halted and had its foundations destroyed. George Washington and three local commissioners stopped the fight by having Carroll move his house a bit farther east. L'Enfant, though, had irked Congress to the point that they finally dismissed him as city planner.
In 1796, Benjamine Latrobe, architect of the Capitol, finished up Duddington Manor. The regal estate took up approximately six acres of land and was enclosed by a high brick wall. The house was the site of many parties and was frequently visited by Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson.
Eastern Market is one of the oldest surviving marketplaces in Washington. Established in 1802, the market serves as a major source for food items, and for gossip as well. In 1873, a building (designed by Adolph Cluss, a famous designer who also worked on the Arts and Industries building and the Department of Agriculture complex) was erected to house the Eastern Market. It has become a farmers' market and open-air boutique.
The Maples, as the house was once known by, was built in 1795 for Captain William Mayne Duncanson. Duncanson was forced to sell the property, after some of his land investments faltered. The house went through a variety of owners, including Francis Scott Key. In 1814, when the British attacked Washington, the Maples was used as a hospital to treat their wounded.
In the 1840s, Major A.A. Nicholson and his wife moved into the Maples. Mrs. Nicholson later committed suicide, much to the shock of the Capitol Hill society, because of suspicions that her husband was having an affair with Daniel Carroll's daughter Sallie. Her suspicions were proven right when Nicholson later married Sallie Carroll.
In 1856, Senator John Clayton bought the house. He added on a ballroom decorated by his neighbor, Constantino Brumidi, the painter of the Capitol interiors. In 1937, the estate, renamed Friendship House, was turned into a community social services and cultural center.
Lincoln Park features two monuments to black history. The Emancipation Monument depicts a newly freed slave gazing up at a life sized Abraham Lincoln carrying a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. Former slaves raised $17,000 to commission and install the statue. Frederick Douglass was the keynote speaker for the statue's unveiling in 1876. The Mary McLeod Bethune statue is the other monument in the park. It memorializes the famous civil rights activist and educator as a teacher imparting wisdom to two children.
This is the end of the Capitol and Capitol Hill tour.
If you'd like, you can return to the beginning or return to the Tour Starting Point.
