A Walk Through the Past in Washington DC - 17th and 18th Centuries
3Places: 20 POIsDistance: 1.4 miDuration: 2h:08m
Tour #166
*Unpulished
About this Spanish self-guided 2h:08m walking tour in Washington
Hello there and welcome to UCPlaces! While you must be so excited to have me as your tour guide today, I’m excited because I get to teach you things about our history from the 18th century that most people don’t know. I’m not talking about things you learned when you were in elementary school as a child, or the kinds of things most everyone knows, like how Washington DC became our nation’s capital, life stories of our founding fathers, and even Hamilton’s ability to rap about the ten duel commandments. I’m talking about things even native locals don’t know. Maybe there’s just one last piece of trivia you didn’t know before and today is the day you will have finally learned it all, making you the smartest person in the world. Hashtag life goals come true. \r\rToday I’m going to tell you about the rise of an indentured servant, a dumb rock in Scotland, excuse me, I mean a Dum-BARTON rock in Scotland, the first ghosts to colonize the DC area, ok, I made that part up, ghosts don’t actually colonize as much as haunt the living - which is basically a fight over which ghost can get googled the most. Becoming a successful ghost isn’t as easy as one might think. \r\rThere will also be a little Indiana Jones action, minus the flying darts and giant bone crushing rolling rock, a garden like one you’ve never seen, a cemetery of great importance to Abraham Lincoln, and a lot of other little known nuggets of our history. I bet when you woke up this morning, little did you know how Aaa-mazing your day was going to turn out! You’re welcome.\r\rOur field trip into the past can take 45 minutes or a couple of hours, depending on how much time you want to spend in each area. Now while our first stop, the Dumbarton Oaks museum is free, if you want to wander around the gardens, which is our second stop, there is a small admission fee, from $5 to $10 per person, which is totally worth it. The gardens are incredible. Even if you don’t have time to explore all the places I’m going to show you today, don’t worry, you’ll still have plenty of great spots for a quick selfie or two, or 30. Shall we get started?\r
By now you should be standing in front of the Dumbarton Oaks Museum. Let me tell you a little bit about this place, as its origins are pretty fascinating. You know the phrase, “it’s all in a name”? Well in the 1920’s, this was about two names combined into one. First, let me tell you about where the name Dumbarton came from. This is the part where a prisoner of war and a rock in Scotland come into the picture. It was 1650, when Ninian Beall (Bell) ended up on the losing side of a war and was shipped to America as a prisoner of war. Eventually he would rise from being an indentured servant to a Member of the House of Burgesses, and a Commander and Chief for the Maryland and Virginia military. Not too shabby for Ninian. And if that wasn’t enough, in 1702, Lord Baltimore granted him thousands of acres of land as a thank you. I guess that’s what you do when you run out of thank you cards and nice bottles of wine, you give away thousands of acres of land. Totally makes sense. \r \rAnd can you just see Bell as he’s gazing out over his newly acquired land and announces to all who can hear him, “This land is so lush, green, and beautiful, I simply have to name it after a giant rock in Scotland, the “Rock of Dumbarton. So I shall call this land, Dumbarton!” And the crowd cheered and chanted “Dumbarton, Dumbarton, Dumbarton,” while they lifted Bell off the ground, passing him from one person to the next above their heads, which is how crowd surfing first became a thing. Ok, while that’s probably not EXACTLY how it went down, the land did remind Bell of the Rock of Dumbarton. But who knows, maybe it really did go down the way I imagined it. \r \rThe name “Dumbarton” lasted about 160 years, before the residence began referring to it as “The Oaks,” because...you guessed it, the land was filled with huge, beautiful white oaks. Clearly, the residence put a lot of thought into that nickname. It’s like when my daughter got her cat and spent hours coming up with the perfect name...Cat. But whether you happen to be the first owner, or a resident over the years, what REALLY counts is being the last private owner of the estate, that way you get to name it whatever you want. Which brings us to Robert and Mildred Bliss, who decided to combine the two long-standing names, and calling their estate “Dumbarton Oaks.” You might be thinking, “I’m pretty sure a fifth grader could’ve figured that out.” While that may be true, and a little snarky of you, I would counter with...would said fifth grader know that Vice President John C. Calhoun was at one time a resident here during his first term in office? Yeah, I didn’t think so.\r \rIn 1940, after all their hard work in restoring the manor and gardens, the Bliss’s donated the property to Harvard University to become a research institute. It’s dedicated to the study of Byzantine (By-zan-tine) and pre-columbian art. Who knew Dumbarton Oaks would eventually become a research institute for Harvard! Nothing DUMB about that. Get it? Nothing dumb, DUM-barton. See what I did there? If Harvard had a scholarship for funny, I’d be at the top of the list. \r \rNow that you’re caught up on how this place was named, it’s time to discover the incredible collections of artifacts, rare books, and exhibits that will amaze you, on the other side of these doors. If you don’t have time to explore the museum right now, keep the museum on your left and head straight to the next intersection, R st NW, as we make our way to the Gardens . But definitely come back when you can. \r \rFor those who do have time, go on in and explore at your leisure. Make sure you find the Tlazolteotl (tl-oz-all-tatle) sculpture, you’ll recognize it from the golden idle Indiana Jones stole in the beginning of the “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” While you probably won’t have thousands of wooden darts flying at you, or a giant stone intent on rolling over you crushing every bone in your body, I still wouldn’t recommend trying to steal this Aztec Goddess. But that’s just me. It’s your vacation and I say carpe diem, baby. \r \rWhen you’re done, come back to this spot, and with the museum on your left, head to the next street, R st NW, and we’ll go from there. \r
You’re now at R St NW. Take a left, and soon you’ll pass the first gated entrance to the garden, but don’t stop there, what we’re looking for is the second gated entrance. Originally these gates were massive thick paneled wood, until 1956, when Mildred Bliss commissioned Ruth Harvey to replace them with the wrought-iron gates you see now. Good call, Mildred Bliss! These gates are BLISSful to look at. Did you catch that? BLISSful. Killin’ it.
Tour itinerary stops | Additional places you'll see on this self-guided tour
Place 1Dumbarton Oaks Museum
Place 2Directions
Place 3Dumbarton Oaks Garden
Place 4Lover's Lane
Place 5Montrose Park
Place 6Oak Hill Cemetery
Place 7The "Chia House"
Place 8Dumbarton House
Place 9Directions
Place 10Stachowski's
Place 11Historic Gun Barrel Fence
Place 12First Quiz Questions
Place 13First Quiz Answers and Second Quiz Question
Place 14Emma Brown Residence
Place 15Answers to Second Quiz
Place 16Thomas Sweet Intro
Place 17Thomas Sweet
Place 18Directions
Place 19Tudor Place
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