May 2009 Archives

National Park Service Ranger Ron Howard is a Civil War buff. On May 24, Memorial Day 2009, his job was to tell the story of Battlefield Cemetery to those gathered to honor the soldiers buried there. The 41 graves hold the remains of Union soldiers who died defending Ft. Stevens (and by extension, the Federal Capital) from the invading confederates under the command of General Jubal Early on that hot July 1864.

Ron Howard has spent 10 years researching the men buried there. He knows them all by name. He speaks emotionally of the 19-year-old soldier who was lying wounded in a hospital bed before being recalled to the front lines and sacrificing his life for the Union cause. By amazing coincidence Ranger Howard was able to locate a medallion belonging to the soldier as it was up for sale on the Internet. That medallion, a precusor of the modern dog-tags soldiers wear for identification, is now one of his prized possessions.

On Saturday July 11, the National Park Service will celebrate Ft. Stevens Day, in remembrance of the battle. Ranger Howard will be on hand from 11 AM-4 PM to be a witness to history.

Ft. Stevens is located at 13th Street and Quakenbos NW. Battlefield Cemetery is on Georgia Ave, north of Van Buren St NW.

In many ways, Takoma Park owes its reputation as a liberal bastion of activism to the period in the late 1960s and early 1970s when its citizens protested loudly and vociferously to save the town from destruction in the name of progress. Much like the anti-war movement then occupying the national headlines, they employed the same tactics: marches, petitions, sit-ins, and found the same sense of cameraderie and empowerment gained from shared struggle. 

Takoma Park's origins are linked with the railroad, but by the 1960s automobiles were the primary mode of transportation and  were threatening to engulf the community. 

Both Piney Branch Road and New Hampshire Avenue had been extended in the 1930s, pushing out from the heart of Washington DC. But these were on the outer edges of town and didn't much alter the lay of the land. Takoma Park slumbered on its tree-lined streets of aging family homes until construction of the Capital Beltway forced it to confront the issue of development.