Here’s a page from the Alexandria Gazette and Virginia Advertiser from Monday, March 25th, 1907, exactly 96 years ago yesterday (I should have posted this on Monday). The most interesting ad is the one for Portner’s Beer. Evidently, descendants of Robert Portner are gearing up to relaunch the brand as a brewhouse in Alexandria. GoDC is a big supporter of ... Read More »
I love this. You’ll love this too, I’m sure. It’s a bird’s eye view of Alexandria from the water in 1863. Thank you Library of Congress! Read More »
We dug up this great old Sanborn fire insurance map of Alexandria from 1912. Take a look at the same area today on Google Maps. Read More »
More maps! Below is a great assessment map of Alexandria and Arlington County. Read More »
Amazing find on the Library of Congress website. This is a map of Alexandria done by George Washington somewhere around 1749. Read More »
If you live in Alexandria or have been there, you have undoubtedly been by this house. This is the Wise-Hooe-Lloyd House on North Washington St, sometime in the 1930s. Check out the house today. Looks exactly the same. Read More »
The next time you’re cruising around Alexandria, you need to swing by Christ Church. I hate to admit it, but prior to this photograph, I was not familiar with the church. Now, I will be heading down there to check it out. It’s probably safe to say that they were unaware of Ghosts of DC … until now. Maybe the ... Read More »
A great new site launched today and the GoDC community is going to love this one. It’s called Bigwig Digs, put together by the folks at Urban Turf. This is a cool site, not only for the obvious stars in their lineup — Richard Nixon, Duke Ellington and Bob Dole — but more so for the lesser known, untold stories ... Read More »
This is not a joke. A long time ago, there was a perceived oncoming epidemic of invading sharks, hell-bent on destroying humans and their boats. I found this article in the Washington Post from July 26th, 1911 — by the way, two days earlier, Hiram Bingham had announced the discovery of Machu Pichu. This shark story is fantastic. Alexandria, Va., ... Read More »
Anacostia High School was a brand new school, having opened in 1937. Their second full season of baseball would be the 1939 season and the photo above is the 12-man roster and their coach, Roland Lund. The Washington Post had a preseason analysis on March 30th, 1939 of the Anacostia High School Indians, listing them as a dark horse candidate ... Read More »
Washington’s estate at Mt. Vernon is one of the best sites to see whether you’re a tourist visiting the area for the first time, or a long-time resident. If you haven’t seen this place during their nighttime candlelit tours (Thanksgiving and Christmas), you must … you’re missing out. Here’s a nice short video from 5min Travel. [gigya src="http://embed.5min.com/517229505/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" ... Read More »
By 1800, the City of Washington was ready – as ready as a hastily constructed city could be – to be occupied by the federal government. In Philadelphia on May 15th, President Adams issued the order to begin removal of the federal government to Washington. Adams stayed in the city for two more weeks while things were packed up and ... Read More »
I rarely need to augment these colorized photos with words. It’s almost spooky to look at a color photo from almost 90 years ago. All the previous ones have been amazing and this one is right up there. Read More »
Arlington is the epicenter of recent college graduates working as paralegals, consultants or in information technology. They fill the high-rise apartments or group homes lining Wilson Blvd., Fairfax Dr. and the Orange Line from Rosslyn out to Ballston. Every Thursday night, the 20-somethings descend upon Clarendon, living the dream of being out of college and having enough money to blow ... Read More »
Reading this makes me a little hungry. I was scanning the old Alexandria Gazette (2 cents!) from December 4th, 1890 and noticed that they have an entire column dedicated to oyster advertisements. Mrs. Rammel has quite a variety of them served in her N. Royal St. restaurant. Check out the ad below … Read More »
Ghosts of DC The lost and untold history of Washington