Quondam Washington:: Coming Soon...

Why Quondam Washington?

quon·dam

(kwän′dəm, -dam)
1. [a] belonging to some prior time ; "erstwhile friend"; "our former glory"; "the once capital of the state"; "her quondam lover".

I was born in Georgetown, as were generations of my paternal ancestors. I was raised not on stories of Washington's Founders and Glorious Politicians, but on stories of regular folks-butchers, hucksters and firemen. When we gathered as a family, we didn't discuss the latest political scandals, but tales of murders, suicides, ghosts, religious miracles...

From a very young age, I was fascinated by Washington's other history and have been collecting these tales for years.

Sometimes when I drive downtown, I go into a sort of fugue state, in which I almost see the shadows of the folks who long ago walked its streets. I can hear the sound of taffeta petticoats whooshing, of footsteps in cobbled alleys and the clopping of horses hooves. I can smell good steaks sizzling at the old Leeches Buffet and the odor of the pigs that once rummaged in the city's gutters. I can walk down certain streets and point to buildings: "This was an oyster bar, this was a glove shop, here's where Madame Carlette read palms for a quarter, here's where Ada Paynce sold cast-iron corsets and Abner Drury brewed Old Glory Beer.

I am old enough to remember Georgetown before its gentrification was complete--stumbling over loose bricks in the sidewalks, turning our noses the other way when the fumes from the bone rendering plant along the waterfront turned north from the riverfront.

This is the Washington I seek to present in this blog--and I welcome both your comments and your own memories.

* Credits, Main Blog Image:

Panoramic View of Washington City: from the new dome of the Capitol, looking east/drawn from nature and print in colors by E. Sachse & Co. Published by Casimir Bohn, c1857. Copyright by E. Sachse & Co. Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA