Saturday, May 25th, 2013

Tag Archives: The White House

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In Search of a Real White House Ghost

White House daguerreotype by John Plumbe, Jr. in 1846 (Library of Congress)

A great article in the Washington Post from November 2nd, 1902 is very apropos for this blog, or at least the name of the blog. We don’t really write about ghosts stories, except for the allegedly haunted suite at the Omni Shoreham and the Octagon House. Well, every now and then we make an exception, and this article is one ... Read More »

Sweeping the White House Lawn

gardeners sweeping the White House lawn

Why are these men sweeping the South Lawn? I have no idea. This photo was taken some time in the 1920s. Actually, just kidding. Those aren’t push brooms, they are bull rakes … at least according to the post on Shorpy. Read More »

Four New Sites for the White House

Topographical sketch of the environs of Washington, D.C. : (survey of locality for public park & site for a presidential mansion) / to accompany report of N. Michler, Major of Eng'rs, Bvt. Brig. Gen'l U.S.A.

Last week we posted a detailed topographical map of Rock Creek Park from 1866. There were some great comments on it, including GoDCer Elizabeth’s observation that the map was entitled “Location for a Public Park & Site for Presidential Mansion” … intriguing. Another GoDCer, Carlton from Glover Park History, did some digging and came up with the Annual Reports of the ... Read More »

Harry Atwood Takes Off From White House South Lawn

Harry Atwood takes off from the South Lawn - July 14th, 1911

This is a great picture, shared by GoDCer Mike, showing Harry Atwood, taking off from the South Lawn of the White House. This photo was taken on July 14th, 1911. Atwood had traveled all the way from Boston, at the time, the longest distance ever traveled by airplane. He had only learned to fly three months prior. Below is an ... Read More »

Don’t Take Our Ellipse Parking

aerial view of the Ellipse

We came across this article in the Washington Post from November 17th, 1955. Seems like people were getting pretty frustrated at the closing of roads and parking near the White House. No one, we are sure, begrudges the White House staff a reasonable amount of reasonable amount of reserved parking space on the streets. The continuing encroachment on the Ellipse, ... Read More »

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