What an amazing photo this is from sometime between the 1880s and 1910s. I can’t quite tell the direction of this shot. I think it’s looking east toward Mt. Pleasant?
Source: Library of Congress
Exploring the Past: A Look at a Photo from the 1880s-1910s
If they’re positioned on a bridge over Rock Creek and the mill is to their backs, wouldn’t it hold that the camera is looking west, towards Connecticut Ave, possibly in the Van Ness area?
Yes, I agree. The mill is in the right rear and this is looking west.
I have been looking at the 1927-1928 vol. 5, (1927) Sanborn maps to see what the roads and such looked like about that time (was their another bridge) and while Tilden was configured a little bit differently than it is today I didn’t see what looked to be another bridge. Of course this photo predates the late 1920’s so there may have been another then.
The shadow cast from the bridge rail is the clue. The photo appears to be taken at midday, sun coming from the left of frame. I had to Google some history I recalled reading about CIA or FBI spying on embassies from the Art Barn.
Despite the starting and stopping of operations, Peirce Mill was a
popular destination in Rock Creek Park, especially for groups of
schoolchildren. In 1971, the Peirce carriage house, located next to
the mill, was rehabilitated by the Park Service and rechristened the
Art Barn, a showcase for local artists. Popular with local art
aficionados as well as schoolchildren, who were offered free art
classes, the Art Barn continued for some 21 years, until budget cuts
shut it down. In 1992, The Washington Post reported that the Art Barn
had also been serving a secret mission. Unbeknownst to almost
everybody, government agents had installed electronic surveillance
gear in the attic of the Art Barn to spy on the nearby Eastern Bloc
embassies of Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The Art Barn’s director, Ann
Rushforth, was quoted as saying, “We always knew which guys were the
CIA guys because they always wore sunglasses indoors, had real sharp
creases in their pants, short haircuts and shiny shoes.” The agents,
who were more likely from the FBI, ended their spy games as the Cold
War drew to a close.
I believe that this photo was taken sometime between the 1885s and 1900s plus or minus a few years either way. It’s looking west up Tilden St towards Connecticut Ave? Those buildings in the background are a part of the original Pierce Mill Farm.
Also interesting (to a bikie anyway) are the bicycles themselves. First, the frames are huge, much larger than a present day frame would be for the pictured rider. Second, the gearing was very very low, if possibly allowing them to climb Tilden Hill, but not to go particularly fast by present day standards. This was probably as it should be because, third, the brake appears to be largely a spoon-like affair that would rub on the top of the front tire — hardly a prescription for sudden stops.