Vol. 3 No. 10 Febru a ry 
2002
o f
T h e
H i l l
This Month
4 Neighborhood
History: Overbeck
Tape Five
9 Miss Dyson
Remembers
12 6A and 6B: A Tale
of Two ANCs
14 C o m f o rt Foods for
your Body and Soul
15 Celebrating Love,
Capitol Hill Style
16 Wa rming Up with a
Hot Bowl of Soup
18 Fifty Ways to Beat
the Winter Blahs
19 A rts on the Hill:
Kris Swanson
20 Setting Up Camp
D e p a rt m e n t s
Vo i c e M a i l. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Ask Judith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 4
Home Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 6
D o w n L o a d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 8
Business Serv i c e s. . . . . . . . . .3 1
Eye on the Hill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 4
Winter Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 0
B a rracks Row. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 1
Capital Kids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 6
Kids’ Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 7
O p i n i o n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 8
H o ro s c o p e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 9
Community Calendar . . . . . .4 9
Ask an Off i c i a l. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 4
Staying Wa rmo n
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message, either overtly or covertly,
that their school endorses a par -
ticular religion.
I believe that this type of program
is blatantly unconstitutional. My under -
standing is that the guidelines provided
to DCPS indicating how religious customs
are presented state that religious material
can be included if it is done as part of an
event that teaches children about the
beliefs and customs of a culture. The
Christian songs were sung as a religious celebration,
not in an attempt to present crosscultural
curriculum. .
When I raised my concerns to the principal,
she said the holiday season was a season
of sharing, not a season to complain.
I think it is worth noting that this is not
the first incident of this nature we have
faced in our schools. Similar problems at
this school, as well as in programs at my
son’s elementary school, have occurred
both this year and in previous years.
These types of programs are not appropriate
in our public institutions. They should
not be a part of our city’s schools.
Discussion about them should not be dismissed.
I sincerely hope that you will issue very
clear and direct guidelines to ensure that
our schools promote inclusion — not exclusion
— and that our constitutionally-mandat -
ed separation of church and state be honored
and respected in the intuitions we
entrust to guide our children.
Sincerely,
Dia L. Michels
627 A Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
* * * *
NOTE: The following letters have been culled
from the Voice of the Hill website’s Hill Talk
Discussion feature during the past month.
Those who post on the website should be
aware that their comments may be collected
and printed in the following month’s print
edition. Although at the beginning of the
month, Anonymous postings were permitted,
as of Jan. 16, that feature has been discontinued
on Hill Talk. Hill Talk postings (unless
they are attributed to a staff member) and
letters to the editor do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of the Voice of the Hill
or its staff.
Empty Cuppa’ Jo
I was deeply saddened to read of the recent
decision by the owners to close or sell the
Cuppa’ Jo coffee house in Northeast. I’m
not upset with the owners, who understandably
are frustrated and uneasy about the
future of their inspections, given the track
record they’ve received from the
Department of Health.
But I’m very disappointed in our city government
for continuing to make it nearly
impossible for small business to thrive in
this town. This sort of case will further damage
the already-fragile entrepeneurial cli -
mate in this neighborhood. Evolve’s efforts
to remake a corridor in need of some new
investment had been welcomed and wellreceived.
Unless we want to see a continual stamping
out of locally-owned businesses, I suggest
the community join together to show
support for Cuppa’ Jo and other businesses
of this sort by writing to the Department of
Health to protest its uneven treatment of
small businesses and taking
the time to visit
the establishments.
This may bolster
their ability to stay
in business and
show future entrepeneurs
that this
marketplace is one
worth taking a chance on.
ANONYMOUS, JAN. 8
The Flip Side of Development
There are enough reasons other than parking
to oppose aspects of the SEC building
and the mega-Medlink appartments. The
result of the opposition should be an
improved plan that creates a more liveable
environment. The SEC building is too big,
ugly and walls off H street. Given that it will
be there for a very long time, the design
should be modified to promote a more liveable
city. The SEC maximizes floor area and
provides little in the way of amenities
(recipe for Rosslyn or Crystal City?).
Medlink planned way too many units, and
a much, much higher density than is found
on the Hill. It is valid to debate whether
Constitution and 8th St NE should have
apartment buildings of this size.
Development is coming, but there is no
reason why developers should be able to
profit at an undue expense to me. People
shouldn’t think that they own the curb
immediately in front of their house. It should
not be treated as though it were owned by
the adjacent landowner, but neither should
it be sacrificed for “development” without
an appropriate price being paid. I believe the
community owns the rights to this curb
space, and the community ought to be compensated.
Negotiating the correct price sometimes
requires screaming and shouting to get a
place at the table. (What exactly are the
amenities for the extra density at Station
place? Who is representing the public? Do
people nearby get a louder voice since they
are more affected?)
MC, POSTED JAN. 9
Anonymous No More
I have two issues with anonymous posting.
First, why not just make up a name for yourself?
Enter a name in the Username field,
and nothing in Password or e-mail, and there
you go. It makes it easier to know who posted
what and to reply to specific posts.
Secondly, I really disagree with the pub -
lishing of anonymous posts in the printed
version of the Voice. While the posts chosen
are often valid points, the “anonymous” signature
strips all credibility from the letter.
When reading it, you wonder why the writer
chose to omit their name; would you change
your opinion of the letter if you knew the
identity of the writer? While it is common to
post anonymously or under a pseudonym on
the internet, I don’t believe this tradition
should be carried over into letters to the
editor.
M A RY, POSTED JAN. 16
NOTE: The “Anonymous” feature on the Hill
Talk website was removed on Jan. 17. Those
who post discussions on the web may now
do so by supplying their name or a “nom de
plume.”
www.voiceofthehill.com 3
Vo i cem a i l
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Boy Scouts’ Coat Drive a Success
To the Editor:
On behalf of Boy Scout T roop 500, I would
like to thank all the residents of Capitol Hill
who supported our Second Annual Coat
Drive. Your generous donations made our
service project a huge success. On
Saturday, Dec. 8, our troop collected more
than 200 warm winter coats.
After sorting the coats, the Scouts delivered
them to Friendship House, Hope
Manna, Sasha Bruce Youthworks and Bright
Beginnings Day Care. Thanks again to all
who contributed. We’ll see you next year.
R O B E R T CORDER
Scoutmaster, Boy Scout Troop 500
Parent Expresses Concern Regarding
Nature of Holiday Program
NOTE: The following letter was released to
The Voice of the Hill for publication.
Peggy Cooper Cafritz
President
DC Board of Education
825 North Capitol Street, NE, 9th Street
Washington, DC 20002-4232
January 17, 2002
Dear Ms. Cooper Cafritz:
I am a DC resident and parent of several
children in DC public schools. I am writing
to express my concern over an event that
took place at my daughter’s school just
before the winter break. I was distressed
and offended at the overtly religious nature
of a performance done at an all-school
assembly at Stuart Hobson Middle School in
NE.
On December 20, a holiday program was
presented to the students, performed mainly
by the students. One group, Stuart Hobson
pupils participating in an After-School club
directed by a S/H staff member, performed
a number of songs that were, to my mind,
nothing short of a religious celebration in a
public school during school hours.
I’ve typed below some of the lyrics from
the songs:
When I think about Jesus
And all he’s done for me
When I think about Jesus
And how he set me free
I could dance, dance, dance
All night, all night, all night…
This is serious
Bible Study makes you curious
You should have a healthy ear for us
Because Bible Study is so serious…
At the name of Jesus
Every knee shall bow
Every tongue shall confess
Jesus is Lord…
These songs raise a number of issues for
me. First, it is my assessment that performing
these songs to the entire student
body during school hours crossed the line
between church and state. Second, it is my
concern that they make non-Christian children
feel like outsiders in a public institution
that states inclusion as its goal. Third, I
believe that children should not be given the
4 www.voiceofthehill.com
T H E O V E R B E C 
K T A P E S
A N O R A L H I S T O R Y O F C A 
P I T O L H I L L • P A R T I V
Capitol Hill historian and preservationist Ruth Ann Overbeck spent more than thirty
years researching our neighborhood’s past with intentions of some day writing
its definitive histor y. Then sadly, two years ago, she was diagnosed with a faradvanced
cancer. My tape recorded interviews with her in the final weeks of her
life were an attempt to capture some of her knowledge for posterity.
The first four installments of our interviews, appearing in earlier issues of The
Voice, cover a wide range of subjects surrounding the Hill’s development in the
18th and early 19th centuries. Now, in installment five, we take a more detailed
look at the community’s African American population during that period.
To honor Ruth Ann and to carry on her work, the CHAMPS Community
Foundation decided last spring to establish the Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill
History Project. This all-volunteer effort is tape recording oral history interviews
with longtime neighborhood residents and former residents, building “a permanent,
accessible, ongoing record of the people, places and events that have
shaped our community.”
We’ve also launched a Ruth Ann Overbeck Lecture Series, which starts on
February 5 with a presentation on “Theodore Roosevelt’s Washington” by Capitol
Hill authors Edmund and Sylvia Morris. For reservations and further information,
please email info@CapitolHillHistor y.org or phone 544-1845.
J O H N F R A N Z É N
of a free mother, no matter what the
status of the father was, and earning
their freedom.
And one of the reasons why it
comes up in the Navy Yard context is
because the Navy Yard was one of
those places where they could be
most assured of earning the money
for their freedom. Several of the men
who were working at the Navy Yard
also established their own businesses.
There were two “rope walks”
which literally were businesses
wherein you took twine and, by
walking it back and forth, made it
into rope. That was then sold to the
Navy.
Franzén: The Navy needed rope,
of course.
Overbeck: Most of the women
were domestics. Many of them hired
out.
There is a wonderful anecdote
[showing] how small Washington
was. When a person greeted another
person: “Oh, how did you like your
candied oranges for dessert last
night?” Well, the two people had
not been at the same dinner, but it
turned out that the confectioner,
who had furnished the candied
oranges for one of the dinners, had
been seen by someone else on the
street, who had passed it on to their
domestic, who had passed it on. So it
was a very small town, with lots of
knowledge of who was out and who
was where.
We also talked about the tin cases
in which to carry passes. Passes had
to be issued officially by the city government.
Franzén: We talked about the tin
cases on the day we did not record
[the conversation]. So tell me about
the tin cases.
Overbeck: As far as we know, virtually
every free black person car ried
with them a water-proof, airtight
container that held a pass that said
they were permitted to go freely
about the community because they
were free. They had freedom papers.
Those were some of the most valuable
things – that was probably the
most valuable thing.
The city guaranteed that you were
free under several conditions. There
had to be white witnesses. One of
the favorite white witnesses was a
man down on Virginia Avenue, close
to the Navy Yard, named Dr.
Frederick May. Dr. May officiated
over the bir th of many of the children
– both black and white. And of
the black children, if their mother
was born a free person of color, or
was manumitted in any way, then he
knew this child had been born free.
Franzén: Can you define “manumitted”?
Overbeck: Manumission is the
process by which a person who is in
bonds, or in enslaved condition, is
allowed to move into a free state.
Now, the most popular way of
that, or the most frequent way it
happened, was through death. You
remember, George Washington
manumitted his servants at his
death, which means he gave them
all their freedom.
Another way to get yourself manumitted
was to strike a bargain with
your owner and say: I will work a second
job for hire, and you may have
all of that money until it reaches a
certain amount, and then I have
paid for myself and I am free. But
that was a little dicier, because sometimes
money had a way of disappearing;
money had a way of taking
longer to produce than [the life of]
the person with whom the agreement
had been made; and the second
and third generations weren’t
about to let go of something so valuable
as a slave.
Franzén: How valuable? What was
the price of a slave in 1800?
Overbeck: The most expensive
slave ranged up to around $600 for a
man of a skilled craft. A baby could
be $15.
Franzén: Fifteen dollars.
Overbeck: Yes. You didn’t know if
the baby was going to live. You didn’t
know if the baby would be able to
physically work.
Franzén: And they’d cost you
money before they could produce.
Overbeck: Yes, absolutely.
Franzén: And $600 was a lot of
money.
Overbeck: Well, yes. You could
buy a two-story house for $600. This
is one of the reasons why there was
such trouble financially at the [time
of the] Civil War, because people literally
lost their shirts. Now by that
time, fortunately, there were very
few slaves by comparison, but you
did lose a substantial amount of
money.
And slaves, like tobacco, were used
in trade. You had no say-so if you
were a slave. You had no say-so [as to
whether] you were sent by yourself;
you had no say so [whether] you
were sent with three members of
your family and not two others.
The very most problematic thing
that a slave could imagine was to be
“Carolina-ed,” because the Carolinas
had the most rigorous slave laws, or
the harshest. They felt if they were
“Carolina-ed,” they might as well
Franzén: This is the beginning of
Tape 5. It’s Sunday, March 12, 2000.
We’re back at the home of Ruth Ann
Overbeck, talking about the history
of Capitol Hill.
When we left off last time, we said
we were going to talk about the Civil
War, but we’ve decided instead to
first talk about the early history of
African Americans on Capitol Hill,
leading up to the emancipation,
which occurred here before the
emancipation for the rest of the
country.
Overbeck: Right. It occurred one
year before, and it occurred during
the Civil War.
We discussed very early on the fact
that Congress was willing to have
the city in this location if, in fact, it
adopted the Maryland slave laws,
because they were the least offensive
of all slave laws.
Franzén: This was a compromise
between North and South involved
in getting Washington established as
the capital.
Overbeck: Yes. This is one of the
many compromises.
Now we go from a place and time
in which the plantation owners all
owned slaves. By 1800, the city of
Washington had an increasing volume
of slaves in it, to the point there
were 623 slaves and 123 free [nonwhite
people].
Franzén: This is when?
Overbeck: By 1800, when the
Congress moved to the Capitol.
Franzén: Those are both very low
numbers.
Overbeck: Both very low numbers,
and free [blacks] proportionately
rather high.
Franzén: Now, the number of
white people at that time?
Overbeck: The total population of
the District of Columbia was probably
3,210. Now, we have talked about
who owns in Washington, who
owns in Georgetown, who lives in
Georgetown but owns elsewhere, so
this may be the whole county count.
Even at that, that is still a very small
number of African-Americans, and a
small number of people, period.
Now, we talked about the way in
which slaves became free – manumission,
free born—meaning born
www.voiceofthehill.com 5
have been consigned to the Devil.
Franzén: “Carolina-ed” means
you were sent to Carolina.
Overbeck: Yes, meaning you were
sold to Carolina.
Franzén: So in Washington, DC,
there were an unusually high number
of free blacks, compared to, say,
the Carolinas. There were some in
the Carolinas…
Overbeck: Very few. Most states,
by the 1840s, had decreed it illegal to
have a free person of color in the
state, because they were considered
to be rabble-rousers; they were considered
to be people who were going
to cause problems.
There is a wonderful story about
Petersburg, Virginia, where probably
the best ironmonger in the entire
state lived. And at the time they
were going to kick him out, all sorts
of people signed a petition to keep
him there because they didn’t know
what they were going to do with the
iron foundry if they didn’t have him
there. So he did get to stay, but it was
on a case-by-case basis. He cer tainly
was the exception.
Franzén: And I would think that
blacks in other states south of here
who did manage to get their freedom
would be likely to come here.
Overbeck: If they could get away
they would come here. Now, the
interesting part is that the newspapers
are filled with little ads that
have a tiny little figure in the corner
that shows an African-American
with a knapsack on his back, and
that’s a slave running. It means a
slave has escaped. Sometimes they
would be able to say: “We think this
man has gone to, or his son has
delivered his father, down to Peter
Miller’s bakery. If anybody sees him,
this is the reward.”
They would hold him in jail until
the owner came. And there were
times when, I think, a few, a very few
owners got so disgusted with the
whole process they simply let them
go. But that was cer tainly more rare
than not.
There is a Capitol Hill family that I
guess we should talk about, [the family
of] George Beall, pronounced
“bell.” He and his wife lived out
along the District border. They were
not technically married in the way
that Anglos could marry because
they could not marry in the church,
but they “jumped the broom” and
did the appropriate ritual within
their culture.
He was a very, very skilled carpenter.
She was a very good farmer.
Now, what I have found over the
course of time to be absolutely amazing
is the comparative amount of
freedom that some of the slaves had.
Mrs. Beall had the opportunity to
use a truck garden – a little patch of
land she had been assigned out by
her cabin – to grow anything she
wanted. It was down by Oxen Cove.
The easiest way to get from the
District of Columbia to Alexandria at
that point was by ferry from Oxen
Cove over to Alexandria. And she
entrusted the money that was the
surplus money, every market day, to
the Methodist minister over there,
and he held it until there was
enough money to buy George.
She bought her husband.
Franzén: Excuse me?
Overbeck:She bought her husband.
They’d had five boys. All five
of those boys died running. They
were fleeing. We don’t know how
they died, but the statement is that
the five of them died running. They
also had a daughter, who was very
precocious.
After they married and came into
the city when George’s freedom was
obtained, they came to Capitol Hill.
And they ended up owning about
five or six lots, several houses, some
of which they lived in, some of
which they rented out.
They were very strong Methodists.
They started out in the Methodist
church that is the forerunner of the
one that sits at 5th and Pennsylvania
Avenue right now. The daughter fell
in love with a man named Scipio
Bean ... Scipio, [as in] the African
general. Remember that the people
who had the status to own even a
fair hand of slaves generally were the
very well educated people who knew
the classics, and the classics set the
tone of the day. So, Scipio Bean.
Scipio came in as a contract labor -
er to work on the Capitol. He was
also an excellent carpenter. And
Scipio became a staunch member of
the community.
One of the things that I find the
most surprising of all is that in the
National Intelligencer of the late
1810s, two years before Scipio was
manumitted, in a list of African-
American men who are founding a
school for children of color, free
children of color – because they
could not do it for children who
were not free – Scipio’s name is listed.
So you had an opportunity to
accrue status and to be considered a
working part of the community and
a viable part of the community without
ever necessarily getting that last
piece of paper. But I find that
remarkable.
At any rate, that family goes on
and on and on and on. The last person
to move out of a house that
Scipio built on land he bought from
Daniel Carroll, in a tax default,
moved out in the early 1990s. She
was an old maid. She was the last of
the [family] who lived there.
Everybody else said: “What do you
mean, live on Capitol Hill? We’re in
New York, we’re in Chicago, we’re in
the city. We’re not living up on
Capitol Hill.” There is a general disdain
about Capitol Hill
from many of the old families
—not all, but many of
the old families.
And the house is still
standing. It’s in the 200 or
300 block of B Street, or
Independence Avenue,
Southeast. It’s just amazing.
Franzén: Do you recall
her name?
Overbeck: Her last name was
Cornish, because by that time
Harriet Cornish had remarried, married
another Methodist minister.
Scipio went off to Haiti, and I believe
Scipio is the man who mar ried the
king and queen of Haiti. I never confirmed
that, but that is the lore that
goes around.
So you have this family. It is very
seldom you find a family on Capitol
Hill of any sort, form, shape, creed or
whatever, who has been here since at
least 1800 and didn’t leave before
1990. This is very remarkable. But
there are at least three of those families
that have stuck around the Hill.
One of the earliest schools founded
on Capitol Hill was quickly shut
down or stopped because there
wasn’t enough money to pay for the
teacher. That was about 1804, down
by the Navy Yard. There was another
school ...
Franzén: A school for free blacks?
Overbeck: Yes, formed by blacks.
Public education didn’t come in for
years. In fact, it comes in at the Civil
War, and that’s for whites, primarily.
There is another school that was
taught by a Miss Cook, up close to
the Capitol. As things from the
Capitol area moved over toward
Georgetown toward Northwest, she
and her family moved with it. So
they got the status bug and moved
accordingly.
Franzén: Let me ask a question
about living patterns. At that time,
in the early 19th Century, did free
blacks on Capitol Hill tend to live in
a particular sub-neighborhood, or
were they pretty well scattered
among everyone else?
Overbeck: Initially they were scattered
among everyone else. By the
time of the Civil War, there was still
a great deal of scattering. There was a
pocket along 5th Street Southeast,
between Independence and C. There
were more of them down along 4th
Street Southeast between D and
Marion Park. And there were more of
them down D Street between Marion
Park and G. All three of those neighborhoods
were still pretty well
mixed.
Once you take off down Virginia
Avenue, you still have a lot of mix,
but it is a different kind of mix,
because there you have some of the
wealthier people who were living on
Capitol Hill: Mr. Smallwood, who
later became a mayor, Dr. Frederick
May, et cetera.
So you would have a shanty next
to brick next to shanty, next to
frame, next to two-story, three-story,
what have you.
The real clustering began probably
about 1900, and it went downhill
from there. It was nearly all south of
Virginia Avenue, between Virginia
Avenue and the river.
The next clustering that hap -
pened—and there was a pocket up
here, I always forget, a wonderful little
pocket up here on South Carolina
between 11th and 12th—once you
have the Freedmen’s Bureau come in
with the Civil War, and that will be a
whole other story.
Franzén: Freedmen’s Bureau?
Overbeck: Yes, and they settled
people in congestion, as it were.
They put them in groups and left
them there. Then you had a pocket
of African-Americans out here, far
out on East Capitol, pretty much
where the front porch houses are.
Then you had a pocket over on
about G and 13th, G and 15th,
where the CME church is. A lovely
little boxy red church is over there.
You didn’t have that much clustering
in Northeast. I tend to think that
had to do with work opportunities.
Capitol Hill did have alley
dwellings, but it had spatially the
least number of alley dwellings by
category of all parts of the city. Now,
alley dwellings are often confused,
because most people believe the
houses were for blacks and blacks
only. Most alley dwellings actually
started out being built for whites.
Now, there are two things. One of
those things is that an alley
dwelling’s door does not face the
door of the main house that is
behind it, on the primary street.
Where a house has its doorway facing
the back door of the main house,
you are likely to have a servant-master
relationship, whether it be white
or black. Because you had—just like
you had the response box [?], the
widow’s walk up on top of [the
house of] the commandant of the
Marine Corps so he could see what
was going on down at the Navy Yard,
and signals could be sent back and
forth.
Franzén: But many of those servants
were white.
Overbeck: Yes.
Franzén: But most of the alley
dwellings we have on the Hill now
6 www.voiceofthehill.com
So by 1820 to 184— as [white] people
began to like the idea of living in
the District and coming to the
District to [stay] longer, rather than
go home after the fall harvest and
come back by spring planting, then
there was getting to be more of a balance.
But that was still an enormous
imbalance because you had this population
out there, and not everybody
knew how to get along.
Now, there was a society to send
African-Americans back to Africa.
Some of the most prestigious men in
Congress belonged to it. Some of the
most prestigious men and women in
Washington, DC belonged to it. And
the Colonization Society didn’t get
its building built until right at the
Civil War. It never was truly effective.
They tried but they never did
really get everybody there and get
them back. What they wanted to do
was to establish a nation of free
blacks that knew how to live in a
democracy and knew how to democratize,
I guess, the whole of Africa.
Franzén: This was called the
Colonization Society?
Overbeck: Yes, aimed primarily at
Liberia. People would raise money
and send petitions. A few ships went
back. If you go there today, what is
really interesting is you can still see
the vestiges of manor houses – the
Tara’s, as it were – that look like the
[homes of] upper-class [American]
whites.
Franzén: In Liberia?
Overbeck: In Liberia. For anybody
who wants to read about it, there is a
wonderful article in the
Smithsonian about it, with pictures.
Just fascinating.
They came here as transplants,
accepted that part of our culture that
they wanted, and took that back as
transplants.
Franzén: Now, the Colonization
Society was a white society?
Overbeck: It was. Free blacks could
belong for a minimal amount of
money. And some did.
Franzén: And by what means were
free blacks persuaded to go back?
Overbeck: Well, some of them
weren’t just real thrilled with the
way things were going here. No matter
what we say about the growth,
and no matter what we say about
are conversions of former stables and
carriage houses, correct?
Overbeck: Oh, no. Next block
down, in the 200 block between 11th
and 12th, is Tiger Alley. It’s now
called Gessford Court because Tiger
Alley was not quite tony enough. It
was built for living.
Library Court, in the 300 block
between A and East Capitol
Northeast, started out as alley
dwellings, and they were built
because of the deep lots. They could
afford the density.
Franzén: But were they part of the
lot that fronted the street, or were
they separate little lots behind the
main lot?
Overbeck: As a general rule, they
were subdivided as lots. People
bought the lot or there was a ver y
definite land lending area, as in you
would rent your house based on the
amount of space that sur rounded it.
You had a defined lot that was yours
to control if you rented the house.
So if you look at the plats, you will
see they are all nicely platted out,
and sometimes they have letter figures
instead of the numerics; some -
times they have a combination.
Now, there was a lot of brouhaha
about what we were going to do with
all these free blacks and slaves.
People were concerned about the
amount of people of color who were
coming into Washington, and they
were particularly concerned about
the number of people who were
becoming free.
We do not have a population for
1810—you will hear me say that over
and over again—because it was
burned by the Brits. The census figures
went up in a puff of smoke.
However, in 1820, slaves numbered
1,945, but the free non-white
population numbered 1,826. Look
what’s happening. We’re getting a
balance of power between slaves and
free blacks. That was enough to scare
the wits out of a slave owner. In 1840
there were 1,713 slaves and – hold on
to your hat – a 4,808 free non-white
population, out of a [total] population
of 23,000. That is a lot of peo -
ple, far more than troubled the town
in 1800. The percentage of nonwhite
in 1800 was 23; in 1820, 28;
and again in 1840 it was 28.
didn’t want any part of this. In the
first place, the law had been written
such that they could have no Federal
building on that side of the
Potomac.
Franzén: Are you saying that was a
local decision within that piece of
the District to go back to Virginia?
Overbeck: Yes. Virginia pled with
the Congress, pled with the District
of Columbia, pled with the
Commonwealth of Virginia, to take
it back. And they did.
At that point is when the real
explosion came that led us to having
the same percentage of the population
in 1820 and 1840 in terms of
[free versus enslaved] African-
Americans. They weren’t about to
stay over there.
One of the things that was creating
a problem in Virginia was the
radical difference in slave laws: who
could do what and who couldn’t;
who was married to whom, and who
was part of whose family; who could
sneak across the bridge, who could
go across the bridge easily with pass
in hand. So that and the fact that, as
far as Virginia was concerned, they
were getting nothing out of this.
They were getting no Federal money
put into it. They had a Federal judge,
and that sort of thing, but most
states had those anyhow.
So that went right on up and
down the pike, and they decided
that it was time to go back, and they
did.
Franzén: This is what is now
Arlington.
Overbeck: Arlington and
Alexandria, remember, because
George Washington very quietly gerrymandered
the property so that his
Alexandria rental houses would be
included. He is fascinating, but he is
not one of my most favorite people
at the moment.
Now, we re a l ly only had one seri o u s
s l ave problem in the Dist rict of Columbia
that was any thing like a ri ot .
Ru n aways we re hiding out with people,
and th ey would be caught, and
eve rybody would be fined, and th e
ru n away would be sent back to whereve
r. But that happened; that happened
almost any place that you we re.
The Abolition Society obviously
took its time trying to go through
the wheels and trying to grind itself
away and make some difference, and
that was more or less okay. But there
came to be something called—well,
first of all, Georgetown was a separate
corporation, as you know.
Henry Lloyd Garrison was one of the
most active of the Brahmin abolitionists,
and he produced a newspaper
about abolition and kept sending
it to Washington.
Franzén: He was in Boston?
Overbeck: Yes, printed in Boston,
and he sent it all over, and he sent it
here because we had congressmen
and people of influence.
passes and so on, they were in a subset,
a sub-society. Therefore, they
had to adapt, accommodate. Over
time, as you get closer and closer to
the Civil War, the jobs they could
hold began to be frozen.
Franzén: Was that by District law
or just by custom?
Overbeck: No, by District law.
They began to say, well, we really
don’t want them to do this, and we
don’t want them to do that. And certainly
the Navy Yard, just simply by
attrition and the fact that they could
not read those drawings, lost a lot of
them and moved them down from
what had been very, very—for
them—high-paying jobs, down to
rather mundane pay.
Franzén: This was as the Navy
Yard got into the manufacturing of
munitions.
Overbeck: Yes, as it got more and
more sophisticated and got out of
the shipbuilding business. That wave
came in the 1840s, 1850s. With that,
then you had no real way of saying,
well, I can work caulking the ships,
because they weren’t doing caulking
on ships. They were phasing ships
out, first of all, in terms of the number
of ships they were building. And
the ships they were building were of
a much more sophisticated material,
with metal, bolts, riveting, all of
those things.
So they got left behind, and it had
to do with education. And it ’s not
that they were the only ones getting
left behind. Quite frankly, white
children were getting left behind,
too. Their doors of opportunity for
apprenticeships and so on were
being closed somewhat, because
they didn’t have school either. There
was no public school in this city
until the Civil War.
We will get into education, the
transition from education into Civil
War, in another session, what happened
during the Civil War. Because
it’s quite fascinating, with the kids
running around having very little to
do, and even during the Civil War
having very little to do.
Now, Virginia had gone back to
Virginia—the Virginia portion of the
District of Columbia ...
Franzén: That was in the 1840s?
Overbeck: Yes. They decided they
…in the 200 block between 11th and 12th is Tiger 
Alley. It’s now called
Gessford Court because Tiger Alley was not quite 
tony enough. It was
built for living.
www.voiceofthehill.com 7
Well, Georgetown, in its own
inimitable way, banned the paper
and said it could not be for sale, it
could not be on the street, it could
not be seen, it could not be read—
which is in direct violation of the
First Amendment, but nobody
seemed to get really upset. They ultimately
started having it in there
again, so somebody must have said,
hey you’re going to get sued, or
whatever, if you don’t put this out
here.
We talked about Van Hook, and
I’m not sure we talked about Van
Hook on tape, but we talked about
Union Town.
Franzén: We did.
Overbeck: And I told you at that
point that Van Hook was appealing
to the people at the Navy Yard that
he felt would be very much in favor
of living in an all-white community.
Now, in 1835, which was about a
decade and a half before Union
Town, something happened in
Washington that was very nasty.
And just how nasty we don’t know
because the records aren’t complete.
No one has been able to find the
entire set of records. We don’t know
if they were even kept. The community
had never had anything like
this happen in it before. Now,
whether this was because we had so
many people coming down from
immigrant countries, whether we
had so many Yankees coming in,
whatever, because things like this
happened in the South, so I’m not
blaming any one group. But it is very
strange that it happened in
Washington. There was a trial eight
months later.
Now, there was a police force in
Georgetown that consisted entirely
of three men. That’s all they needed.
And in Georgetown a rumor began
that Rubin Crandall had come to
Washington for the explicit reason
to distribute incendiary material
among the blacks. Crandall was
from New York.
Franzén: He was black?
Overbeck: He was white. He had a
degree in medicine. He taught
botany. He ultimately would be the
person who bought the land on
which the new Eastern Market
stands. He got a real sweetheart deal
from the District of Columbia.
At any rate, he had lots of book s
and papers as a man of learning
would have had. But among them
were anti-slavery papers. Someone
who happened to be visiting his
lodging decided that this was to be
spread around, and the news was to
be out not to trust Rubin Crandall.
He had appeared before the Justice
of the Peace before the crowd gathered.
The situation seemed so threat -
ening that the policeman from
Georgetown who didn’t have a very
big jail whisked him off to
Washington to be safe.
Franzén: There was a crowd, a
threatening crowd, that gathered
around Rubin Crandall?
Overbeck: Around Rubin Crandall
himself. He had already seen the justice
of the peace who had visited
him. There was this threatening
crowd. As they assembled, the police
saw what was happening and knew
they couldn’t control the crowd, so
they “posse-ed” him off to
Washington, DC, and put him there
for safekeeping.
The story continued to spread,
and a mob appeared at the jail. It is
likely that the botanist, even with
his botany samples wrapped up in
anti-slavery papers, would not really
have been able to raise much dust,
because not much dust was going on
about slavery issues at that time.
This is 1835. Everybody seemed to be
getting along pretty well.
However, the previous week one of
the social elites in town had an
attempt made on her life by her
“non-white man,” and that was Mrs.
William Thorton. And Mrs. William
Thorton carried a lot of weight; and
Mr. William Thorton carried even
more weight.
So here were two incidents within
seven days, and the town was just
deciding to go ballistic. What other
citizens were going to come, what
other visitor was going to come,
what other nightmare was going to
occur in the day or the night?
Well, the crowd stood out in front
of the city jail. It was an August
night. And recall that Beverly
Snow—and note the name Beverly,
because that is a good Southern
male name, of the landed gentr y. So
here is a slave named Beverly—former
slave. And Beverly Snow was a
free mulatto who had a reputation
that was virtually spotless. He owned
the best oyster house in town. And
oyster houses were something that
was just absolutely the thing to do,
particularly for the gentlemen.
Retire after the end of the whatever
—the day—and instead of going to
the bar you go to the oyster house,
get your beer, or whatever goes with
it, get your oysters, and then off you
go. He had been proprietor, sole
owner, of a restaurant at the northwest
corner of Pennsylvania Avenue
and 6th Street Northwest. It was
prime property. This man really had
it together.
His business was much frequented
by the elite, like the Thorntons, and
all sorts of other fine folk. The heads
of the Masons, the preacher, whate ver.
He had spoken in disrespectful
terms of some of the wives and
daughters of some of the mechanics.
Franzén: Mechanics?
Overbeck: Guess who employed
the most mechanics in town?
The Navy Yard.
Well, if they couldn’t get Crandall,
8 www.voiceofthehill.com
Franzén: They gathered around
the jail. Where was the jail?
Overbeck: I believe the jail was at
something like 4th and E. It wasn’t
on the main street, it was up toward
the ridge a little bit.
Franzén: In Northwest.
Overbeck: Yes, oh yes, in Northwest.
Precious little was on the Hill.
Anyway, there was a major general
commanding the militia district,
and his name was Walter Jones. He
didn’t get very much play by anybody
except that, bless his heart, he
stood there until there was no longer
a group of people standing out in
front of the jail. He issued a call to
citizens who had arms to assemble at
the City Hall, and on the third night
he had a small force at his disposal.
The Marines had gone back home. It
wasn’t their duty to do this. This was
a city duty.
In some places, the District of
Columbia had never paid a bit of
attention to city property and
District programs, and others they
paid a lot of attention to. At this
point they are paying a lot of atten -
tion. So the Marines go home, and
this poor general is trying to find his
troops. So he puts out this thing and
there is a small group of people.
Well, two military companies from
Alexandria arrive—because remember,
this is before the 1840s. They
took it upon themselves to be helpful
to their county, their city. They
tendered their services, and people
from Georgetown who wanted to be
in the militia decided they would
come over and help. So we had all of
this group gathered about.
For a while they were drawn up
near the City Hall, which is two
blocks to the south on Pennsylvania
Avenue, but it actually is up on
Indiana. This was blank space in
there. Everybody was trying to do
what they could do. The public
exposure kept on going. It went relatively
without a hitch, except that it
never left the city the same again.
Franzén: These citizens who came
out to help were there to defend
Crandall? Defend the jail?
Overbeck: Basically they were like
the western posses that would defend
the law. They were to keep the
law moving and make the law work.
they were going to go get Snow. So
off the mob went down the street.
Franzén: This is a story that spread
at that time ...
Overbeck: Yes. Evidently people
knew that he had, and they were
probably telling pretty much the
truth, that they were not minding
their manners, so to speak. They
weren’t behaving politely—meaning
the women and daughters of the
mechanics. If you think about the
mechanics, the lower-end you get in
the class of mechanics, the less likely
good manners are to prevail; and by
“good manners” we can also sort of
substitute the word good morals.
So off they went in an effort to
find Snow. They couldn’t find him.
They all went home.
The next day they assembled
again trying to find Snow.
Franzén: At his oyster house?
Overbeck: Yes. So somebody must
have been tipping Snow off who
knew Snow was relatively harmless.
They wrecked the restaurant. They
burned the houses of free people of
color, and broke the windows in one
of the non-white churches. Now,
nowhere have we been able to find
where these are. I happen to know
from tax books that there are several
frame houses that disappeared that
year from the tax records, and
they’re up on Capitol Hill.
So did they come to Capitol Hill
and burn the houses of the blacks in
retaliation for Snow?
Now, the militia—we had had a
militia, more or less. The militia did
such a poor job during the War of
1814, the militia sort of dissipated
after that and came back a little bit
and then it dissipated.
So the only thing the District of
Columbia and Georgetown or the
Federal City and Georgetown had to
defend itself at all were the little tiny
police forces, three [men] in
Georgetown and not many more
than that in the District of
Columbia.
So, at any rate, an attachment of
Marines came to guard Dr. Crandall.
That was the closest thing they had
for someone who was qualified to
make sure that nothing happened to
this prisoner. It sounds like something
straight out of the old West.
ones who just came over to volunteer
to help. They are not militia.
They are not sworn in. They were
just there trying to keep Crandall
safe and keep the law safe. Now,
they’ve decided to do away with
that.
Now, the use of the weapon of
ridicule was also decided upon. It
sounds to me like a whole bunch of
preachers got in here but none of
them are listed. The ridicule took the
form of the parade. It was ridiculous,
a travesty of a military procession, as
you can imagine.
Franzén: Deliberately so.
Overbeck: Yes, that was their deal:
Let’s ridicule them, let them know
what we think of them.
Franzén: Ridicule ...
Overbeck: The militia. The militia
failed us.
Franzén: The Washington, DC,
militia?
Overbeck: Yes, the three little cops
in Georgetown, whatever militia in
Georgetown, had failed us. Whatever
militia in Alexandria had failed us.
Let’s just let them know what we
think of them: “Ha-ha, clowns, go
home.”
At any rate, even the pretense of
maintaining the militia system was
abandoned in a burst of laughter.
Everybody evidently took it in good
spirit and laughed. Now, that was
probably very fortunate, because we
had a town that was ready just about
to blow up. You have a Yankee coming
down to distribute seditious literature.
You have a black man they
can’t find. They have ruined his
establishment, wrecked his store,
wrecked his house, burned other
people’s houses, broken the windows
in some of the chur ches.
When you have a pretty well
matched group of blacks and
whites—that is not a cool situation.
So they turned it into a laugh, which
I think is absolutely hilarious.
At any rate, a year later, they did
form some militia troops that were
working and did work and did practice
and did do their thing, but with
the exception of something that
happened over in Northwest, the
Pearl affair ...
Franzén: Before we go on to that,
what happened to Crandall and
Snow?
Overbeck: Snow came back to the
District. Snow put his life back
together pretty much. As I said,
Crandall is a Republican. Crandall
gets all sorts of favoritism and cronyism
from Boss Sheppard, but that ’s
after the Civil War. Neither one of
them get physically harmed, but
they certainly were in danger of
being so.
Franzén: Okay. On that note, we
will stop the tape.
[END OF TAPE #5]
Can you imagine what it would
have been like in the newspapers all
over the United States? Here we had
one man in jail, and nobody could
keep him there and keep him safe
and keep him from getting burned
or torched? This is well before the
lynch mob era, so it was just not
going to work.
So, on the last Saturday of June of
that year, Pennsylvania Avenue was
the scene of a ridiculous and motley
parade and travesty of a military procession,
because they decided they
would use the article of ridicule to
take care of this situation. If they
ridiculed it enough, it would turn
into something that wasn’t worth
thinking about.
Franzén: Who is “they”?
Overbeck: The people who came
for all of these little mob militias—
Alexandria, Georgetown, and
Washington, DC, militias. They had
a parade. They adopted at a public
meeting a resolution that the members
of the various companies in
Washington County that sold literature
would neither buy nor sell nor
in any other way countenance or
hold communication with any person
holding a commission of warrant
or in any other manner command
in the militia of the District of
Columbia.
Now why in God’s green earth
they just didn’t say they wouldn’t do
that with somebody who was distributing
hostile literature or black
literature is beyond my comprehension.
But it is really a strange inter -
lude.
The public company, the meeting
of all these little militia people who
were really just barely now militia
people, came over to help. They pled
that the members of the various
companies in the Washington
County – of militia, loosely organized
they were, and would fall apart
the minute they got home – would
neither sell, buy, or in any other way
whatever countenance or hold communication
with any person holding
a commission or a war rant, or, in
any other manner, command, in the
militia of the District.
The militia of the District didn’t
do any good. It dispersed. The peo -
ple we have here on this day are the
Most states, by the 1840s, had decreed it illegal to 
have a free person of
color in the state, because they were considered to be 
rabble-rousers;
they were considered to be people who were going to 
cause problems.
www.voiceofthehill.com 9
“My father, Robert Dyson, worked
for a company that made flavorings
for soft drinks. My mother, Irene,
was a housewife. They were both
from Maryland, but his family
moved to Washington when he was
young. My mother had family down
around Camp Springs. There were
six of us children: three boys and
three girls. Only my sister, Florence
Pullum, and I are left.
“The neighborhood we lived in
along B Street was a mixed neighborhood
of African-American and
white. It was a friendly neighbor -
hood where everybody knew each
other. Nobody ever locked the doors
on their houses. On hot summer
evenings, everybody used to sit out
on their rockers on the front porch
after dinner, and talk. If somebody
was sick, everybody came over. We
all helped each other out.”
“We shopped for groceries at the
Sanitary Market that was across from
the Eastern Market. Sanitary is called
Safeway now. Of course, we shopped
at Eastern Market, too. You used to
be able to get good fresh vegetables
and live poultry there: chickens and
turkeys. We often had chicken from
there for Sunday dinner. My mother
would fix it in various ways: frying
or stewing, it didn’t matter to me. I
liked them all.
“I went to elementary school at
Lincoln School at 2nd and C., SE.
Lincoln was the first school for
African-American children in
Washington, DC. It was started in
1864 by the Ebenezer church. My
brothers and sisters and I would walk
to school together. During recess, we
used to play volleyball and do double-
dutch rope jumping.”
“For junior high, we walked down
to Randall Junior High at 3rd and I,
SW. Even though we lived right
around the corner from Hine—
although I don’t think it was called
Hine then—we had to walk to
Southwest because Hine was a white
school and we couldn’t go there.”
“In the summertime, my brothers
and sisters would do things like
going down to the Anacostia by the
11th St. bridge to go swimming, but I
never went. I liked to read, so I used
to spend my summertime reading
and at the library on 7th and D.
Back in those days, there wasn’t any
limit on the number of books you
could check out, so I used to take out
a lot. I’d sit out on the porch and
read, or sometimes just take my book
down to the street and sit on the
curb and read.”
“We also used to go down to
Southeast House, which was like
Friendship House except that
Friendship House was white-only in
those days. Southeast House started
out at 3rd and G, SE, and then when
Friendship House moved to 7th and
D, Southeast House was on Virginia
Avenue, SE. We took classes there in
things like learning how to cook and
sew.”
“The highlight of our summers
was usually the Fourth of July
Firemen’s Parade. I don’t remember
where it was held, but I remember it
was an all-day affair. There were fire
engines and marching bands. We
used to pack a lunch and stay all day.
Sometimes on other days, we’d go
over to the Capitol building to hear
the Marine Band play.”
“For high school, I went to
Armstrong at 1st and O, NW. We
used to ride the streetcar to school.
We’d take the E. Capitol Street line
in to 1st St., and then transfer to the
New Jersey Avenue line. If the
weather was nice, we’d sometimes
walk all the way to school. I liked
school a lot. My favorite subjects
were English and math and I got
good grades. I might have wanted to
go to college, but the people who
M i s s D yson Re m e m b 
e rs
C a p i tol Hill
Na t i ve Shares Her Sto ry
BY GENE MI LLER
“It’s the only place I’ve ever known,“ is how Miss Helen Dyson describes
living on Capitol Hill. Unlike most of the rest of us, Miss Helen Dyson is not from
somewhere else. She was born and reared at her parents’ house at 632 B Street, SE.
That house is still standing, although the street in front of it of course now bears
the name of Independence Avenue. In the early ’50s, Miss Dyson moved from the
house on Independence Avenue to her current residence near Lincoln Park. Now
retired from a lifetime career at the U.S. Treasury Department, she continues to
enjoy serving as Church Historian for Ebenezer United Methodist Church, which
is the oldest African-American church on Capitol Hill, and as treasurer for a local
chapter of the AARP.
Miss Dyson remembers:
10 www.voiceofthehill.com
were going to college went to
Dunbar, which was across the street
from Armstrong. There just wasn’t
any money for me to go to college,
so I started working at the Treasury
Department after I graduated from
high school. I worked there until I
retired in 1979.”
“I mentioned that we did our g rocery
shopping at the Sanitary
Market, but I don’t remember that
we did much of our o ther shopping
on Capitol Hill. For department
stores, my mother and I would get
on the streetcar and ride over to 7th
Street, NW, and we’d shop at Kann’s
or Lansburgh’s. Even though segregation
was still on, we could buy
things there. We couldn’t sit down
to eat, though, not even at the fiveand-
dime. If we bought something
to eat, we had to stand to eat.”
“Entertainment? Well, if we wanted
to go to the movies, we either had
to go over to U St., NW or to 4th St.,
SW, because the theaters on Capitol
Hill were white theaters. U Street
had the Republic, the Lincoln, and I
don’t remember the name of the
other one. What I remember best,
though, is that when I was in high
school, every Wednesday after
school, a group of us would go over
For junior high, we walked down to
Randall Junior High at 3rd and I, SW. Even
though we lived right around the corner
from Hine—although I don’t think it was
called Hine then—we had to walk to
Southwest because Hine was a white
school and we couldn’t go there.
www.voiceofthehill.com 11
to the Howard Theater at 7th and T
Sts., NW, and see a show there. We
saw performers like Stepin Fetchit,
Lena Horne, and Nat King Cole. And
now that Florence has reminded me,
we went down to the Lincoln
Memorial to see Marian Anderson
sing after she wasn‘t allowed to sing
at Constitution Hall. And I also was
down at the Mall when Dr. King gave
his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. ”
“You will mention Ebenezer,
won’t you? I was christened there—I
say “christened” because if you’re
baptized, you’re put under the water
and that makes you a Baptist. We
Methodists pour a little water, so we
are not baptized like the Baptists.
Ebenezer was my mother’s church,
and I’ve been going there ever since I
was old enough for somebody to
take me.
“I remember that there was a little
grocery store right across the street
from Ebenezer that was open on
Sunday mornings. We used to go
there on our way to Sunday School
and take half our offering money
and spend it on candy. Our Sunday
School teacher was Mrs. Ora Smith,
and she used to reprimand us and
report back to our parents on what
we had done. Of course, the next
week, we would just go back and do
it all over again.
“Our Sunday School sometimes
went on trips. Once, we went to a
farm out in Colesville. We were all
city kids who didn’t know anything
about farms. They gave us a chance
to milk a cow. I tried it, but nothing
came out.
“I became a member at Ebenezer
when I was a teenager. Rev. Fairfax
King was serving as pastor then. I
sang in the Crusader s’ Choir. My
brothers, Robert and Elton, used to
play on the Ebenezer football team.
They played teams from St.
Cyprian’s Catholic and other
African-American churches. That
was before St. Cyprian’s merged with
Holy Comforter. We used to go the
games to cheer for my brothers. The
games were played on empty city
lots. What is that called? Sandlot?
Yes, sandlot football. My brother
Elton was quite a football player.
“In the early eighties, they made
me church historian at Ebenezer.
I’ve always liked history. As far as living
on Capitol Hill goes, I’ve never
known any place else.”
Gene C. Miller is a regular contributor
to The Voice of the Hill.
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12 www.voiceofthehill.com
debate over whether the ANC system
was a good idea. The decision was
made to separate the ANC from the
Home Rule Charter and place it on
the ballot as a separate referendum.
Both Home Rule and the ANC
Charters passed overwhelmingly,
and by April of 1976, the city’s first
ANCs were having meetings.
ANCs are made up of Single
Member Districts (SMD) each of
which is made up of 2,0 00 people.
Each SMD is represented on the ANC
by an elected Commissioner. ANCs
range in size from 2 SMDs to 14
SMDs; there are 37 ANCs in the city
and 299 SMDs.
Commissioners are elected to a
two-year term and are elected from
the SMD in which they live. The
Commissioners are not paid for their
service to the city. One popular
myth is that it only takes a handful
of votes to get elected. This is not
true. While there is a drop-off in voting
the farther down the ballot you
go, the drop-off is not that great.
Many of the Commissioners in 6A
and 6B ran in contested elections
and garnered hundreds of votes.
Remember that each SMD is only
2,000 people—not 2,000 registered
voters, so when Ann Black in ANC
6B gets 945 votes, and Keith Jarrell in
ANC 6A gets 752 votes, we’re talking
big numbers. It is true, however, that
some Commissioners are elected
with only a small number of votes,
or are able to fill a seat that is vacated
mid-term by collecting signatures
on a petition. Most Commissioners,
however, win by amassing several
hundred votes.
Each ANC has a budget that is
funded by the city and is based on
the size of the ANC. ANC 6A, the
largest ANC in the city with 14
SMDs, gets the most. ANC 1D is the
smallest, with only two SMDs. The
ANCs are allowed to use their budget
to pay for meeting and storage space,
to hire clerical help, to pay for com -
munications and utilities, and to
make community grants. Most ANCs
have their own phone number, and
While the citizens of
Washington, D.C. struggle
with being under-represented
at the federal
level of government, at
the local level the citizens
are very much represented. We
elect our Mayor, our City Council,
part of the School Board, and we also
elect our Advisory Neighborhood
Commissioners.
The Advisory Neighborhood
Commissions (ANCs) do just what
the name would imply—they advise
various city agencies on matters that
concern their neighborhoods. They
are possibly the most accessible
branch of the city government for
most people, in that all of their
meetings are held right in the neighborhoods
they represent. They are
also a breeding ground for our fulltime
elected officials; City Council
members Catania, Fenty,
Mendelson, and Evans all served as
ANC Commissioners prior to being
elected to City Council, as did
Tommy Wells, school board member.
They are also quite possibly one
of the last remaining examples of a
truly democratic process. At least in
theory.
Each Ward is divided into ANCs,
the number of which is based on
population. Ward 6 has three
ANCs— ANC 6A, 6B, and 6C.
Capitol Hill is contained within
ANC 6A and ANC 6B. ANC 6A runs
roughly from East Capitol to Florida
Avenue, and 6B runs from East
Capitol to the river.
Over the years, there has been
much talk about the ANCs in the
city, and on Capitol Hill, neighbors
do a lot of talking about their two
ANCs and the dramatic difference
between them. And there is a big difference
between ANC 6A and ANC
6B. But before we go there, a little
history lesson about the ANC system
might be helpful.
The ANCs came with Home Rule,
but not as a package deal. When the
Home Rule Charter was being drafted
in the early 1970s, there was
will get all that money. The allotment
is disbursed quarterly, and the
disbursements are based on the filing
of quarterly reports by the
ANC—something that some of the
ANCs have trouble with. After those
first oversight hearings, 13 ANCs
were determined to be in distress, or
non-functional, mostly due to fiscal
woes. Within three years of oversight,
that number has fallen to
three and is expected to drop to zero
this year.
The ANCs are not endowed with
any legislative or judicial powers—
their powers lie elsewhere. A main
source of power is that they are man -
dated by law to be notified of any
policy or planning by any city
agency that will have an impact on
their neighborhoods. Another
source of their power is in their
funding. The funding allows them to
communicate with the neighborhood,
whether it be by e-mail, websites
or flyers. The last source of
power is what is called “great
weight.” The ANC Act provides that
all city agencies give “great weight”
to ANC recommendations. If a city
agency rules against an ANC’s recommendation,
that agency must
provide written explanation as to
why they did so. The City Council
has just begun to hold hearings on
the compliance of city agencies with
the ANCs.
Most of this power plays out in the
renewal of liquor licenses and appli -
cations for zoning variances. The
ANCs are quite powerful when it
comes to such matters. Anyone looking
for a liquor licenses covets the
approval of his or her ANC. Attend
any ANC meeting, and there is sure
to be at least one builder there with
drawings and pictures, ready to pitch
his or her case for a variance.
It’s at these meetings that grassroots
democracy blooms—and sometimes
wilts. This is where the contrast
in our neighborhood’s two
ANCs can be seen. One seems to be a
13 ANCs have their own websites.
The first budget for ANCs, in the
late 1970s, was more than $1 mil -
lion. Since then, however, the budget
has been cut by more than half.
Several years ago, Congress zeroed
out the ANC budget, which almost
led to their demise. Councilmember
David Catania, who has oversight of
the ANCs, held the first series of
oversight hearings. He then convinced
Congress to allow the District
to redirect funds in the budget to the
ANCs. In fiscal year 2000, the budget
for ANC funding had bottomed out
at $464,000. But that number has
started to climb back up. In fiscal
year 2001, the budget grew to
$673,000, and for fiscal year 2002,
ANCs are budgeted for $723,000.
An easy formula to figure out how
much each ANC receives from that is
to calculate $2,000 per SMD. In fiscal
year 2001, ANC 6A was allotted
$31,135.75; that number should
grow to just over $33,000 for fiscal
year 2002. In fiscal year 2001, ANC
6B was allotted $28,394.45; that
number should increase to just over
$30,000 for fiscal year 2002.
Just because an ANC is allotted a
certain amount is no guarantee it
Troubles Aside,
ANC Commissions
Really Do R e p resent
the People
BY MARK SEGRAV E S
In ANC6B every officer was unopposed and re-elected.
www.voiceofthehill.com 13
well-oiled machine that hardly causes
trouble, and the other—well, the
other seems to have trouble.
ANC 6B has 13 Commissioners.
For the most part, they seem to live
in harmony and go about their business
in an orderly manner. ANC 6A
has 14 Commissioners and seems to
be plagued with problems. It’s inappropriate
to judge one against the
other simply because they share a
common border, but taking an indepth
look at each provides and
interesting study.
ANC 6A has a history of problems,
the most crucial being its finances.
The commission has been unable to
produce a fiscal report in months,
and the City auditor is conducting a
review of its finances dating back
several years. Several of the past
quarterly reports have been disallowed
by the auditor due to unau -
thorized expenditures. While this
threatens to seriously damage the
effectiveness of the ANC, it is some -
thing that is now in the hands of
higher city officials. The most the
current Commissioners can do is tr y
to move forward while they await
the outcome of the audit.
Other problems face this
Commission: meetings rarely start
on time, and often several
Commissioners are absent from the
meetings. A real problem that faces
ANC 6A and its new Chairman,
Keith Jarrell, is the existing dishar -
mony. Commissioners appear to
have open contempt for one another,
and without fail, every ANC6A
meeting erupts into a shouting
match before the evening is out.
There is finger-pointing and tablepounding,
and at times commissioners
storm out of meetings in disgust.
To some who attend the 6A meetings,
it appears that each
Commissioner has a separate agenda.
At the most recent ANC meeting,
two Commissioners had to be
restrained after a shouting match
turned into a fight.
There are, however, some bright
spots. With all of this angst comes
energy. ANC 6A possesses an energy
that, if harnessed, could produce
great results. A good number of
neighbors attend the meetings. It
has been able to make headway with
signing voluntary agreements with
liquor stores. It also has some very
dedicated Commissioners who are
very much concerned with the
direction their neighborhoods are
taking. And it has Commissioners
who take their duties very seriously
and work steadfastly to improve
their ANC. One needs to look no
further than the Secretary of the
ANC, Commissioner Janet Quigley,
to see this. In fact, at this year’s election
of officers, Quigley was the only
one nominated for re-election. She
won unopposed.
Jarrell realizes he has a big chal -
lenge ahead of him as chairman. He
pledged to “maintain order during
the meetings,” in his speech before
his fellow Commissioners. Jarrell is
also sensitive to the demands of
being an ANC Commissioner. “It’s
not easy to balance your personal life
and this job,” he said after being
elected as chairman. “I applaud all of
the Commissioners.”
On the other side of the Hill, ANC
6B appears to be a completely different
story. The well-mannered and
punctual Commissioners go about
their duties in an almost antiseptic
manner. There is, however, the occasional
“school room” misbehaving—
some commissioners have been spotted
playing tic-tac-toe with each
other during meetings, or passing
notes around.
This is an ANC in which every
officer was unopposed and re-elected
in this year’s election of officers.
There are times when Chairman Ken
Jarboe must tap his gavel to restore
order, but no one really gets too
angry. There are one or two
Commissioners who like to play the
role of obstructionist, and it appear s
that a few would prefer to see the
landscape of the Hill frozen in time.
There are also Commissioners who
might seem to some as though they
like to hear themselves talk.
They have Commissioner attendance
problems at ANC 6B, as well.
Question any commissioner about
attendance, and without fail the first
line of defense you’ll hear is that
they are not getting paid for their
duties. And that seems to be a very
popular feeling that many ANC
Commissioners share.
If there’s a real weakness in ANC
6B, it is probably the lack of interest
shown by the neighborhood. Rarely
does one see anyone at an ANC 6B
meeting who isn’t there on business.
“Sure, I’d like to see more interest
on the part of the citizens,” says
Jarboe. But he explains that the ver y
nature of the ANC process is about
representation. “ANCs are not as participatory
as, say, a PSA [Police
Service Area] meeting,” he said. “The
ANC is a representative form of government.
One of my goals as chairman
is to see that all sides of an issue
are represented.”
So, what does the future hold for
the ANCs on Capitol Hill? Based on
the past, things seem to be looking
up. Funding for the ANCs is increasing.
The City Council is providing
more oversight and guidance. The
Office of Advisory Neighborhood
Commissions has been established
to provide more assistance and training.
City agencies are giving the
ANCs more respect. All of this is
encouraging, as is the fact that our
community is able to produce candidates
for more than two dozen
Commission seats, and that most of
these candidates are able to generate
large numbers of votes.
However, there is one shoe that
has yet to fall concerning the ANCs.
City redistricting will change the
makeup of all the ANCs—in 2003,
Ward 6 will grow by one ANC—ANC
6D will be added. Many Commissioners
will see their SMDs change,
and some will find themselves in a
different ANC altogether. Both 6A
and 6B will lose about four Commissioners.
But all of this is a year away.
For now, it’s ANC 6A and 6B—very
different, yet very much alike.
ANC 6A meets the first Thursday
of the month at 7 p.m. in the Miner
Elementary School. You can reach
the ANC at 547-8741, and you can
sign up for their list serve at
www.yahoogroups.com. ANC 6B
meets the second Tuesday of each
month at 7 p.m. in the Old Navy
Hospital. You can reach that ANC at
543-3507.
Mark Segraves can be reached at
ANC6A meetings never seem to be simple.
14 www.voiceofthehill.com
One warming dish at 2 Quail (320
Massachusetts Ave, NE; 543-8030)
has reached near cult status among
Hill diners—its baked potato soup.
“It’s really popular during this time
of year. There is always a revolt when
we try to take it off of the menu,”
says manager Michelle Sullivan. “A
lot of people stop in to have a bowl
and a cup of coffee to warm up
before heading home.”
Other winter favorites include
cognac oysters au gratin, butternut
squash dumplings, and rack of lamb.
“I think people see rack of lamb as a
winter celebratory food,” says
Sullivan of the dish. A unique Spicy
Macadamia Pasta, with a sauce of
ground macadamia nuts and chipotle
and jalapeno peppers, is a surefire
way to take the chill off!
The ultimate comfort food for
many people is …ice cream! Sadly,
this frozen treat is often neglected
during the winter. Although some
die-hard ice cream aficionados
indulge year-round, most Hill residents
do not. “This is not a neigh -
borhood that is big on ice cream during
the winter,” says Henry Lewis,
manager of Ben and Jerry’s Capitol
Hill Scoop Shop (327 7th St., SE; 546-
2253). For the few Hill stalwarts, Ben
and Jerry’s is offering a special edi -
tion winter flavor – Festivus (A
Holiday for the Rest of Us).
Remember that old Seinfeld
episode in which George Costanza’s
father, Frank, creates a non-denominational
holiday celebrating the
darker side of the holiday season?
Instead of engaging in worship and
opening gifts, those observing
Festivus airing of grievances perform
feats of strength and gather around a
bare metal pole, instead of a tree.
Unlike the mid-winter
weather, they are warm,
inviting and sometimes
decadent. They calm our
souls, soothe our
palates, make us feel better. They’re
often the foods we’ve grown up
with—and in troubled times, and on
cold, winter days, they provide a
warmth that bundling up from head
to toe, lighting a fire, or simply staying
in bed with the covers pulled up
to our necks just can’t replicate.
After all, isn’t stuffing ourselves with
warm, decadent foods far more fun
than simply putting on an extra
sweater?
Several of our favorite neighborhood
kitchens offer delicious comfort
foods that make it a little bit easier
to weather the oppressive sleet,
wind and snow that rear their heads
during the coldest season. With
dishes both traditional and exotic,
each of these restaurants takes
advantage of seasonal meats and
produce in order to provide delicious
winter dishes.
Soup is the order of the season at
Caffe Italiano (1129 Pennsylvania
Ave., SE; 202-546-9340). “During the
winter months, we get a lot of
requests for soups,” says Chef Walter
Robinson. During the warmer
months of the year, the restaurant
offers just one soup of the day, but
Robinson says they have increased
that number to three. “Usually our
minestrone, tortellini en broto, and
one other – probably a squash or a
potato – we use whatever fresh vegetables
are in season.”
The other dish that Caffe
Italiano’s patrons crave at this time
of year is, of course, pasta. “We see
people asking less for the lighter
sauces, like primavera, and requesting
a lot of red sauce.” In these
health conscious times, red meat has
fallen out of favor with many diners,
but Robinson has noticed an
increase in sales on New York Strip
this winter.
From Thanksgiving until the end
of January, Café Berlin ( 322-B
Massachusetts Ave., NE; 543-7656)
offers an interesting array of winter
dishes based around game meats.
Although boar isn’t a fixture on
most restaurant menus, it is present
here – along with pheasant, venison
tips and rabbit.
Game meats aside, Café Berlin
offers a variety of German specialties
that are filling and nourishing,
including goulash — a rich soup
that is popular year-round, but flies
out of ladles when the weather outside
is frightful.
stock, and cook until almost evaporated.
Repeat this process with the
chicken stock 3 more times. At this
point, the risotto should be al dente.
Add 4 oz. of cold butter, 3 oz. parmesan
cheese and 2 oz. chopped parsley.
Stir vigorously until creamy.
Remove from heat, place in a serving
bowl. Place de-boned duck on top.
Serves 4.
Baked Potato Soup
(from Chef Anna Ruiz of 2 Quail)
2 Idaho Potatoes ˆ Baked
14 cup chopped onions
14 chopped celery
1 clove chopped garlic
1 chopped shallot
1 qt. chicken or vegetable stock
3 bay leaves
1 cup heavy cream
pinch ground cumin
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste
Toppings:
chopped bacon
chopped scallions
shredded cheddar cheese
Peel baked potatoes and cut into 1/4
inch cubes. Saute onions and celery
until translucent in 1/2 the butter.
Add garlic and shallot; cook until
light brown. Stir in stock, potatoes
and bay leaves. Simmer 5 minutes.
Add salt and pepper. In another pan,
melt remaining butter. Add flour, and
cook until light brown. Add to stock
stirring continuously. Add cream and
cumin. Bring to a boil. Serve with or
without toppings
Makes 6 to 8 servings
The new Starfish Restaurant (539
8th St. SE; 546-5006) not only features
light, innovative seafood dishes,
but traditional, homey ones as
well. “Gumbo is definitely a comfort
food—especially in the South,” says
co-owner Dawn McGowan. The
restaurant also serves seafood Po'
Boys—sandwiches stuffed with fried
seafood that originated in Louisiana.
"Po' Boys are 'southern comfort'
food," says McGowan.
Luckily for us, the restaurant also
specializes in the king of all comfort
foods—mashed pota toes. Not only
do they offer the standard mash, but
interesting variations on the theme.
"We're doing a crawfish mashed potato
right now, as well as a roasted garlic
version."
Sarah Godfrey is a regular writer on the
pages of The Voice of the Hill.
Festivus ice cream is a mixture of
brown sugar ice cream, miniature
gingerbread men and cinnamon
spice. Stop by Ben and Jerry’s, and
have a scoop. After all, as Lewis
reminds us, “ice cream can be eaten
at any time of year.”
In case you get snowed in and
can’t make it to your favorite restaurant,
you can attempt to re-create
these special dishes from Caffe
Italiano and 2 Quail in your own
kitchen.
Wild Mushroom Risotto
with Duck Confit
(from Chef Walter Robinson of Caffe
Italiano)
5 lbs. duck fat
6 duck legs
1 lb. assorted mushrooms
12 cup diced onion
4 cups Arborio rice
5 oz. white wine
2 qt. chicken stock
4 oz. butter
2 oz. vegetable oil
2 oz. chopped parsley
3 oz. parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
The confit:
Place duck legs in 5 lbs. melted duck
fat, and simmer until meat falls off
of the bone. Remove duck from the
fat, and de-bone
The risotto
Sauté assorted mushrooms in vegetable
oil in a saucepan with small
diced onions until soft. Add 4 cups
of Arborio rice and salt and pepper,
and sauté lightly. Deglaze with 5 oz.
of white wine. Cook until wine is
evaporated. Add 6 oz. of chic ken
TAKING COMFORT
HOT FOODS FOR COLD
WINTER NIGHTS
BY SARAH GODFREY
www.voiceofthehill.com 15
It’s that time again—the mid-winter
respite known as Valentine’s Day,
coming up February 14. As always,
many Hill establishments are offering
special dinners, and most are
keeping their regular menus, as well.
Be sure to reserve a table at your
favorite restaurant as soon as possible,
as favorites sell out far in
advance. This year, since Valentine’s
falls mid-week (Thursday), some
restaurants are stretching the holiday
throughout the weekend.
Dining Out on Lovers’ Day
Bistro Bis, 15 E St., NW (Hotel
George). As always, chef/co-owner
Jeff Buben (who also owns Vidalia
downtown) is pulling out all the
stops for Valentine’s diners. Bis will
offer regular ala carte items plus a
special prix fixe, “traditional French”
menu, with dishes available for one
or two: oysters poached in champagne
sabayon with caviar; terrine of
foie gras; Chateaubriand; rack of
lamb; rockfish en croute. Price: $65
per person. For another $30, diners
may sample a flight of champagnes
plus the “ultimate chocolate wine,”
Banylus, a Cabernet from southwest
France. Dinner will be served from
5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Call 661-2700.
Montmartre, 327 Seventh St. SE. This
popular Eastern Market newcomer is
showcasing chef Stephane Lezla’s
prix fixe menu February 14.
Consisting of four appetizers and
five entrees, the French repast is
tagged at $37.95 per person. Here’s
just a sampling: smoked salmon and
trout salad; lemon-lime risotto with
shrimp; blue crab bisque; grilled
salmon with beets, capers, olives and
a saffron sauce; catch of the day with
lobster sauce; venison medallions
sauced with black peppercorns; loin
of lamb with cauliflower/garlic
sauce. Dessert? “Chef’s surprise.”
Hours: 5:30-11 p.m; call 544-1244.
B. Smith’s, the stylish restaurant
in Union Station’s East Hall, is combining
Black History Month with
Valentine’s activities. On Friday and
Saturday evening, February 15
and16, B. Smith’s will feature live
jazz and poetry readings. On
Thursday, February 14, from 5-11
p.m., the Valentine’s prix fixe dinner
will include “seafood lovers” chowder;
chicken “lasagnettes,” sweet
potato-cream cheese ravioli, blackened
prime rib, andouille-stuffed
pork loin; barbecued red snapper
and various finger-food desserts—for
two, of course. Dinner is $85 per
couple; wine is extra. Call (202) 289-
6188.
Caffé Italiano, 1129 Pennsylvania
Ave. SE. Under relatively new management,
this neighborhood favorite
is going all out for Valentine’s
Day–and Valentine’s weekend–starting
with a complimentary rose for
each lady. Chef Walter Robinson’s 4-
course prix fixe menu includes “beggar’s
purse (filo pastry stuffed with
mushrooms); Gorgonzola-stuffed
figs drizzled with truffled honey;
oysters on the half shell; butternut
squash soup with crab meat; yellow
tomato soup with duck confit :
Caesar or house salad; pork loin
stuffed with ham, spinach and
Fontina cheese; rack of lamb with
demi-glace; pistachio-crusted
grouper; pan-roasted duck breast
with sun-dried cherries; chocolate
dipped strawberries, bananas Foster;
warm apple tart with cinnamon
gelato. Whew! Price (sans wine) is
$39.95 per person. Seatings are at 6,
8 and 9:30 p.m. Since Valentine’s
falls mid-week (sort of), the
Valentine’s dinner will also run
Friday and Saturday. Call 544-5500.
2 Quail, 320 Massachusetts Ave.
NE. Besides the regular winter menu
(including specials), 2 Quail is also
offering a three-course “lovers” prix
fixe menu as they do every
Valentine’s Day. This year, the special
repast will run Thursday, Friday
and Saturday nights (Feb. 14-16).
Appetizers: brie en brioche; tasso
ham with polenta “hearts,” twin
lobster tails (from Brazil), filet
mignon “hugged” by shrimp, white
and dark chocolate hearts with
chocolate truffles. This dinner—
which includes a bottle of wine–is
$125 per couple. Call 543-8030.
Other Capitol Hill restaurants
including Banana Café, 500 Eighth
St. SE (543-5906), its brand-new
spinoff Starfish Café, 539 Eighth St.,
SE (546-5006) and La Brasserie, 239
Massachusetts Ave. NE (546-9154) all
offer Valentine’s special dinners, but
details were not yet available as of
press time.
Days of Wine…
Here’s another idea: You and that
special someone might prefer to welcome
Cupid at home by your fireplace.
First of all, you’ll want some
champagne and/or a special wine. At
Hayden’s, 700 North Carolina Ave.
SE (544-1000), you will find a variety
of bubbly and still wine at all prices.
From Argentina (whose economy
can use all the help it can get) is a
delightful sparkling wine called
Chandon Brut Fresco, tagged at only
$12.99. A mid-price option is Pacific
Echo Brut Rose, from Mendocino
County, priced at $22.49. I think
chocolate and cabernet is a mar riage
made in heaven. So, to accompany
those Godiva chocolates, pour your
sweetheart a Dry Creek cabernet
1998, from Sonoma County. The
sales rep promises a “cedar” finish.
Price: $22.49.
Near Union Station, Schneider’s of
Capitol Hill, 300 Massachusetts Ave.
NE (543-9300) has a large selection
of wines, champagnes and other
potent potables. “Real”
Champagnes: Montaudon Classe
“M” Luxury Cuvee ($49.99) and
Charles Lafitte brut ($19.99). A popular
domestic sparkling wine from
Washington State is Mountain
Dome ($15.99.) “It flies off our
shelves,” says a Schneider’s
spokesperson. To accompany your
lobster dinner (see below), sip a
white Burgundy: Verget Ladoix,
($29.99). A nice light red is a pinot
noir from Mendocino County called
Braren Pauli ($15.99).
…And Food…
Lovers cannot subsist on wine alone,
so why not order a couple of lobsters
from Southern Maryland Seafood
(546-9135) at Eastern Market?
Weighing around 112 to 2 pounds
each, the critters are $9.95 per
pound. You’ll want a crisp green
salad to go with that. Instead of buying
and rinsing all the salad fixings,
simply create one–on the spot—at
Sizzling Express, 600 Pennsylvania
Ave. SE (548-0900). Pile on mesclun
mix, spinach leaves, olives, bell pepper
slices, baby corn, garbanzos, tiny
green peas, radishes, jicama, feta
cheese, you name it, including dressing
(although I prefer to add my own
at the last minute). The salad bar is
$4.99 per pound for lunch, a dollar
more at dinner time. That’s a bargain,
considering there’s no waste
and you won’t find yucky, slimy lettuce
at the bottom of your ‘fridge
next week. Sizzling also provides
ready-to-heat garlic bread, ideal for
mopping up all that melted butter.
(Diets can start next month.)
At Bread & Chocolate, 666
Pennsylvania Ave. SE (547-2875)
choose a luscious pastry, perhaps a
strawberry or raspberry tart ($3.95
each), a chocolate eclair ($3.25) or a
gorgeous 8-inch-square strawberry
shortcake for $27.95. Fine Sweete
Shoppe, right in Eastern Market
(543-9729), has a decedent Black
Forest cake ($12) and equally sinful
carrot cake ($10.50). To please the
true chocoholic, a “significant
other” should show up with a box of
delicacies purchased at Godiva
Chocolatier, in the main hall of
Union Station.
…And Roses!
You’ll want flowers of course. The
Floral Studio, 666 Pennsylvania Ave.
SE (entrance on Seventh) (547-2020)
sells lovely roses (any color!) at $85
per dozen. A single short-stemmed
rose is $3, a long one is $5. You may
combine all sorts of blossoms–roses,
tulips, daisies–for $45 and up. You
will find similar arrangements
around the corner at Pauli’s
Flowerland, 650 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
(546-3835). For tapered candles to
cast that romantic glow, visit The
Village, 705 North Carolina Ave. SE
(546-3040) and/or The Trover Shop,
227 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. Both
stores carry all sorts of candles (and
holders), party napkins, gifts, and, of
course, Valentine’s greeting cards.
Celeste McCall is a frequent contributor
to the pages of The Voice of the Hill.
Ce l e b rate Your 
Love . . .
Ca pi tol Hi ll Styl e
Hill Restaurants, Shops Cater to the
Hopeless Romantic
BY CELESTE MCCAL L
If February is not national soup
month, it should be. That ’s when
winter-weary folks turn to the warming
comfort of a bowl of hearty soup.
And that’s nothing new. Soups have
been around ever since the first cave
dweller tossed a sizzling hot rock
into an animal skin filled with water
and mastodon bones. By 8000 B.C.,
cultivated grains were being boiled
in crude pottery vessels. Around the
first century A.D., the Romans came
up with a soup recipe in history’s
first recorded cookbook, possibly a
concoction to feed Caesar’s legions.
In medieval times, serfs stretched
their meager food supplies by tossing
leftovers, including stale bread,
into their ever-simmering soup pots.
Around the same time, “soup
kitchens,” forerunners of today’s
charitable institutions, sprang up to
feed impoverished citizens.
In contrast to that humble image,
soups have also nourished royalty.
Queen Elizabeth I and Queen
Victoria reportedly began the day
with mutton broth. And legend has
it that King Louis XIV prompted the
invention of consomme by demanding
a broth clear enough to reflect
his royal image. Russian Czars also
enjoyed a good soup; Peter the Great
relished hearty cabbage soup, and
Catherine the Great supposedly
served soup made from a rare form
of sturgeon called a sterlet–from a silver
bathtub!
Soup might have entered its
“modern era” in 1750, when Pierre
Boulanger opened the first restaurants
in Paris. At fir st these establishments,
called “restoratives,” served
only soup, thought to restore health
and vigor. Later the name evolved
into “restaurant,” and other dishes
were eventually offered.
The Italians–Tuscans in particular
–retain their knack for making
soup. Popular around Florence is a
variation of zuppa di pane (bread
soup) called ribollita, translated literally
as “reboiled.” To make this,
cooks reheat the previous
day’s minestrone,
which might
contain Swiss
chard,
Savoy cabbage,
spinach,
white
beans,
potatoes,
leeks,
tomatoes
and
onions. Then
they layer the
soup with leftover
bread and drizzle it with
olive oil. Ribollita always tastes better
the next day. Some cooks simply
pour the mixture into an oven-proof
casserole, topped with thinly-sliced
onions, drizzled with more olive oil,
and baked at 375 degrees F until the
onions form a light crust.
Delicious, budget-stretching
zuppa di pane has also been around
since the Middle Ages. According to
renowned cookbook author
Guiliano Bugialli, author of the gorgeous
Foods of Tuscany, bread soups
are probably descended from grain
porridge consumed in ancient Rome
(going even farther back, grain was
the dietary mainstay of the
Etruscans).
Fast forward to Capitol Hill, 2002.
We know it’s winter when my husband
Peter suggests, “Let’s have
soup.” In response, I usually keep
things simple by throwing together
leftover turkey, onions, garlic, carrots,
lots of spices, a splash of wine
and a handful of noodles. A tablespoon
of tomato paste makes a nice
thickener. If I’m feeling energetic, I
might tackle something more elaborate
like ribollita, using a recipe I
brought back from Italy (see below).
When we don’t feel like cooking, a
favored, nearby winter destination is
Two Quail, located at 320
Massachusetts Ave. NE, near Union
Station. There, we join other patrons
with comfort food served in a cozy
atmosphere. If we’re having dinner
there, we’ll start with soup. At
lunch, a hearty potage usually suffices
for an entree.
“Soup is the ultimate soul food,”
says Two Quail owner Michele
Sullivan. “It warms our hearts, ultimately
feeding our souls.” Sullivan
risks a customer rebellion should she
try to remove either of two mainstays
from the menu. The best-seller
is baked potato soup, made with
baked spuds, vegetable stock, heavy
cream, salt and pepper. It’s garnished
with sour cream, chives and bacon
bits. Real low-cal and low-cholesterol!
The other favorite is roasted
butternut squash. “The squash takes
on a new character–like pumpkin—
when roasted,” says Sullivan. “It’s
sort of a classic, with winter root
vegetables such as car rots, celery,
onion, shallots, white wine,
heavy cream and sometimes
finished with a touch of
sherry. My sister (Mary
Cochran) likes it topped
with cinnamon creme
fraiche.”
Not far away is Bistro
Bis, Jeff and Sallie
Buben’s stylish restaurant
ensconced in the swank
Hotel George, 15 E St. NW.
Our favorite soup there is
the tummy-warming “Billi-Bi,”
mussel soup—Jeff’s version of the
mussel soup served in Benoit, a
famous Paris bistro. “Billi-Bi is a
weekly favorite in the wintertime,”
says Buben. “It can be ser ved cold in
the summer, too. When we run this
as a special, we sell out fast. The
crusty bread is as important as the
soup,” he adds. Other Buben soups
are traditional French onion (made
with rich beef broth, Gruyere
cheese, homemade croutons and
“lots of onions”). Potage St. Germain
is a savory split pea with ham.
They say Italy’s Catherine
d’Medici taught France to cook. If
that’s so, the French are apt pupils,
especially when it comes to making
soup. At Montmartre,
the three-month
old French
charmer at 327
Seventh Street
SE (once a
post office),
chef
Stephane
Lezla offers
several soups,
perhaps cream
of asparagus
with saffron mussels,
or pistou
Provencale–a rich vegetable montage
with a stirring of pesto. Again we
note the Italian influence. Lezla also
makes salsify soup with grilled
shrimp (or scallops) sprinkled with
chives, and baby artichoke hearts
with grilled shiitake mushrooms.
Late last month, during the holidays,
a new creation–blue crab with
tarragon—made its menu debut.
However, we don’t lunch at these
upscale restaurants regularly. On a
bone-chilling weekday,
we are far more likely
to duck into
Sizzling Express,
650 Pennsylvania
Ave., SE, to scoop
up some of chef
Hieu Pham’s
Asian-inspired concoctions:
hot and sour
vegetable, shrimp noodle,
or maybe clam chowder. One day we
mixed the hot and sour with the
shrimp noodle, and the combination
was delicious. Sushi maestro
Wong Chai Lee (you’ll see him at the
bar weekdays) usually contributes
his miso. Prices are right at Sizzling
Express; a 16-ounce Styrofoam container
(including crackers) is $2.69;
a 12-ounce goes for $1.99.
Up the street at 325 Pennsylvania
Ave. SE is Good Health Natural
Foods. There we make a beeline for
the back of the store, where a different,
all-natural, organic soup is
offered each day: vegetable, split pea,
black-eyed pea, and a top-seller, red
lentil. We can doctor up our selection
with a variety of condiments:
cooked rice, carrots, tamari (less salty
than soy sauce), Spike all-purpose
seasoning, or cayenne pepper. An 8-
ounce soup serving is just $1.69.
Mussel Billi-Bi
Jeff Buben, Bistro Bis
8 dozen mussels
2 cups dry white wine
Dash of salt
2 slices bacon
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium carrot, scraped and diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1/4 cup leeks, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/4 teaspoon saffron powder
1 bouquet garni (1 bay leaf, 1 sprig of
thyme, 1 sprig tarragon wrapped
and tied in cheesecloth)
6 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cups chives, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Cheesecloth and string
Scrub and clean beards
from mussels. Discard any
open ones. Place mussels in
a medium sauce pan, and
add white wine and salt.
Cover and steam over medium-
high heat until mussels
open. Remove from heat, cool
slightly and remove mussels with a
slotted spoon (discarding any that
16 www.voiceofthehill.com
Wa rming Up
to a Good Bowl of
S o u p
When Winter Winds Blow,
What Better Way to Nourish the Soul?
BY CELESTE MCCALL
www.voiceofthehill.com 17
private parties • celebrations • special events
2 Quail 2 Quail
It is lunchtime in the castle, as a savory soup simmers in the kettle. Seventeen kilometers outside the medieval
Tuscan city of Montalcino is Castello Banfi, the winery best known for Brunello di Montalcino but no slouch at
making zuppa. Ensconced in the castle’s spacious banquet hall—which housed Sienese troops in the 13th century
–Banfi’s restaurant dispenses a traditional, five-course, Tuscan pranza (lunch). (Banfi recently added two more
restaurants to the castle). Besides traditional crostini, bistecca alla fiorentina, and pecorino delle Crete Senesi, a
highlight of the lavish repast is zuppa di pane. In this part of Italy, soup often replaces the pas ta course, and we
were able to obtain the recipe. Buon appetito!
ZUPPA DI PANE
Castello Banfi
Montalcino, Italy (Tuscany)
2 pounds dried cannellini beans
2 or 3 leaves fresh sage
1 or 2 cloves fresh garlic
2 or 3 medium onions
8 medium carrots
12 bunch celery
2 medium zucchini, chopped
2 pints vegetable broth
Soak cannellini beans overnight. The next day, cook the beans in water to cover, along with _ tablespoon of the
salt, sage and garlic for about one hour. Coarsely chop onions, celery, and carrots; fry in abundant olive oil for 10
to 15 min. Add zucchini and vegetable broth, cover, and bring to a simmer. Add greens and tomatoes, and simmer
on low for about an hour. Once beans are soft, add them to the soup together with their cooking water.
Adjust seasoning. At this point, the soup should be left to simmer over a slow flame for at least another hour,
stirring constantly to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Serve over thin slices of toasted day-old
Italian-style bread, and garnish with chopped onions and extra virgin olive oil. Serves 8 to10.
fail to open). Remove mussels from
shells, and reserve. Strain mussel
liquor through cheesecloth, being
careful not to disturb sediment in
the bottom. Do not pass sediment
through cheesecloth.
Cook bacon in a soup pot about 5
minutes, or until almost crisp. Add
onion, carrot, celery, leeks and garlic.
Stir to coat evenly with the
bacon fat. Cover pot, and cook over
low heat until vegetables are translucent
—about 4 to 6 minutes. Add saffron,
bouquet garni and mussel
liquor. Reduce liquid by 2/3 volume.
Add heavy cream, and simmer
over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes,
or until vegetables are tender. Add
shelled mussels, and simmer 3 more
minutes. Do not overcook, or the
mussels will get tough. Remove and
discard bouquet garni. Adjust seasonings
and serve in heated soup
tureen; garnish with minced chives.
Serve with crusty French bread.
Serves 6 to 8.
Hill resident Celeste McCall is a
frequent contributor to The Voice of
the Hill.
12 pound each cleaned fresh spinach and
Swiss chard
12 pound cleaned head cabbage
112 pound fresh or canned peeled tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
THE BEST
“EXTRA
BEDROOMS”
ON CAPITOL
HILL
Corner of
5th & A Streets, NE
202-547-1050
reserve@
BullMoose-B-and-B.com
www.BullMoose-B-and-B.com
18 www.voiceofthehill.com
39. Take a train ride (Metro/
Amtrak/MARC) to anywhere
with the family.
40. Cold Weather Journey #4 - Take
a trip Chincoteague and stay at
Miss Molly’s Inn, where
Marguerite Henry wrote Misty of
Chincoteague.
41. Take the kids to see choreographer
Elizabeth Streb perform
with local children at the
Kennedy Center, George Mason
University—Feb. 2 (703/993-
8888).
42. Go on a romantic cruise on the
Odyssey (888/809-7139).
43. Take a winter lunch break from
the office at the Wednesday Jazz
Series, Corcoran Gallery.
44. Warm Place #6—Listen to readings
of theatrical works at the
National Conservatory of
Dramatic Arts (202/333-7009).
45. Take the family to see The
Mischief Makers, Theater
Alliance/Theater for Young
People (202/547-6839).
46. Cold Weather Journey #5—Visit
Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum
for “The Age of Impressionism:
European Masterpieces from
Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen,”
exhibit (410/547-9000).
47. Try out your rhyming skills at
Teaism’s poetry slam (202/667-
3827).
48. Sunday Family Workshops at the
Corcoran for kids ages 5-12 and
their adults (202/639-1727).
49. Take a “refreshing” dip in the
Potomac like the Polar Bear
members!
50. Learn to fly a kite. Look for the
first cherry blossom. All signs
that spring is around the corner.
Stephanie Briggs is a Capitol Hill resi -
dent who lives in Baltimore. She is an
editor for Current Newspaper, a trade
publication about public broadcasting.
On Wednesday mornings, she can also
be found teaching an exercise class at
Christ Church .
27. Check out the Eastern Market
with a cup of Stompin’ Grounds
coffee in your hand.
28. Get reacquainted with the city
on International Tourist Guide
Day—Feb. 23. Starts at 8:30am at
the National Building Museum
(202/298-9425).
29. Send your guests to the
Smithsonian while you do your
laundry!
30. Cold Weather Journey #3—Put
on your walking shoes and visit
the American Craft Council
Craft Show. Get the weekend
pass, if you dare! Baltimore
Convention Center —Feb. 22-24
(410/649-7000).
31. Rent some cross country skis, go
to the monuments and get some
exercise in the snow.
32. Heat up the dance floor! Tango
at Canvas Tapas Café (202/727-
4930); salsa at Habana Village
(202/462-6310); merengue at
Latin Jazz Alley (202/328-6190);
and cha-cha at Zanzibar
(202/554-9100).
33. Warm Place #4—Amazonia at
the National Zoo (202/673-
4950).
34. Monthly wine tasting at
Schneiders Liquors (202/543-
9300).
35. Bring in April flowers in March
at the Florentine botanical art
show of the Medici Family,
National Gallery of Art’s East
Wing (202/737-4215).
36. Tap shoes collecting dust? Get
inspired with the Urban Tap
jazz/hip hop troupe, Lisner
Auditorium—Feb. 9 (202/432-
7328).
37. Love a parade? Take your pick—
Washington’s Birthday parade,
Alexandria, VA—Feb. 18 (703/
838-9270); Chinese New Year
Parade, Washington, D.C.—Feb.
17 (202/638-1041); St. Patrick’s
Day parade, Washington, D.C.—
March 17 (202/619-7222).
38. Warm place #5—Chai tea at
Teaism (202/667-3827).
Ways to Leave Wi n t e r’s Chill Behind
BY STEPHANIE BRIGGS
Come in From the Cold—Or Enjoy it Outside 
with these Helpful Winter Blues-Beating Ti p s
5 0 Old man winter is here. Once again
we are plagued with those nagging
concerns: Will Punxsutawney Phil
ever see his shadow? Should we
believe what we read in the Farmer ’s
Almanac? Will spring ever come?
The answers are always the same—
“perhaps, who knows, yes.” So, as we
wait for the first indicators of spring,
here are just a few suggestions for
enjoying winter’s chill—at locations
not just on the Hill, but all over the
area.
Fifty warm (or cool) things
to do in cold weather
1. Begin a tradition—have a spontaneous
dinner the night of the
first snow.
2. Be a tourist for the day—ride the
trolley, wander along the Mall
from museum to museum, climb
to the top of the Washington
Monument.
3. Warm Place #1—Kensington
Orchids, Kensington, MD
(301/933-0036).
4. Gospel Brunch at the Corcoran
Museum (202/638-3211).
5. Haven’t heard enough gospel
music? Check out the WPAS
Men and Women of the Gospel
Mass Choir, Kennedy Center—
Feb. 24 (202/467-4600).
6. Cold Weather Journey #1—
Groove to the sounds of jazz at
the East Coast Jazz Festival,
Doubletree Hotel, Rockville—
Feb.14-17 (301/933-1822).
7. Savor Irish coffee in front of the
fire at the Tabard Inn (202/785-
1277).
8. Walk out to Hains Point to see
the awakening in the snow.
9. Volunteer to cook and deliver
food for your local shelter.
10. Visit your local firehouse for a
tour.
11. Visit the Library of Congress—
all of it (202/707-5000).
12. Warm Place #2—Films on the
Hill, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
(202/547-6839).
13. Ice skate at Congressional
Gardens on Constitution
Avenue.
14. Check out the rooms at the
Historical Society of Washington,
D.C. (202/785-2068).
15. Get a Ouiji board or tarot cards,
some wine, a fireplace, favorite
munchies and ask this question
—“When will spring come?”
16. “Swing Into Spring” with the
Capitol Hill Chorale, March 8
and 10 (202/547-6839).
17. Cold Weather Journey #2 -
Decide what to do with your garden.
Visit the Capital Home &
Garden Show, Capital Expo
Center, Chantilly, VA—Feb. 22-
24 (703/802-0066).
18. In shoes, ice ski down 18th
Street from Columbia Avenue to
Florida Avenue.
19. Dupont Circle Open Gallery
Nights on the First Friday of the
month.
20. Visit the Hill galleries during
Second Saturdays.
21. Want to understand why someone
thinks something is good
art? Visit CHAW’s Art League for
their monthly gallery talks
(202/547-6839).
22. Warm Place #3—Visit the newly
renovated US Botanical Gardens
(202/226-4083).
23. Rollerblade downtown, and
party your way back.
24. Make snow angels by the fountain
at Dupont Circle in a lot of
snow.
25. Warm up with music, books,
and food at Kramer Books - and
it’s not one of those super book -
stores. AMEN! (202/387-1400).
26. Take a winter walk in the
National Arboretum (202/243-
2726).
www.voiceofthehill.com 19
BY COURTNEY BEL L
Kris Swanson’s quiet enthusiasm
for art becomes almost
instantly obvious after
meeting her. Minutes after I
walked into her studio, she was
showing me the work in progress
from her most recent adult maskmaking
workshop. Her excitement
for the potential of these unfinished
white plaster forms was contagious.
Unlike many of us, who are caught
up in our plans for the future or how
we might like to change things in
our lives, Swanson seems to be able
to appreciate whatever is right in
front of her. She is a successful
bronze sculptor who has been happily
living off of her earnings as an
artist for years. She teaches local kids
and adults, not because she needs
the additional income, but because
she loves it. And she lives in a city
she describes as “one of the warmest
communities we’ve ever found.”
Swanson is originally from
California, where her family has
lived for five generations. Her childhood
was anything but typical. She
was raised by an artist dad and
homemaker mom on a working
quarter horse ranch in Monter rey.
Riding came before walking for
Swanson, and she had her first colt
to train by age nine. When she was a
kid, her father, an oil painter, would
give her two-hour critiques and
anatomy lessons on her Play-Doh
sculptures. She describes the ranch
as a sort of “funky celebrity home,”
where she was constantly surrounded
by talented people.
There is something enviable about
the freedom and directness of
Swanson’s approach to her education.
In addition to absorbing from
all of the sur rounding talent, she has
simply “learned by doing.” When
she wanted to learn more about
anatomy, she found a school where
she could have access to cadavers. To
learn bronze sculpting, she spent
time working with experts in various
foundries. As a child, Swanson grew
up building things with her dad, so
when she purchased property of her
own in California, she built a house
and a studio on it.
For the first ten years of her professional
life, Swanson worked as a
horse trainer, in addition to making
art, in order to make ends meet. By
around the age of 30, she began surviving
solely on her art. Being raised
on the ranch, she knew she loved
the wilderness, but was very sur -
prised to discover an equal, if not
greater, love of the city.
A self-described “people person,”
Swanson says the happiest she’s
been has been in the city. She lived
in New York City for eight years and
describes the experience as nothing
short of amazing. During this time
period, she showed her work at the
Grand Central Art Gallery and the
Lincoln Center Art Gallery.
Swanson moved to D.C. a little
over six years ago after her husband,
Roy Mustelier, a member of the
Navy, was transferred here. They
ended up in Capitol Hill by default,
but now couldn’t imagine living
anywhere else. Among Swanson’s
favorite things about the Hill are the
people, the neighborliness, the sense
of community and the kids. Though
Swanson still has her property in
California, she and her husband
have decided to stay, even after his
upcoming retirement. Swanson
sites their recent house purchase and
her commitment to the neighborhood
kids as the deciding factors.
Shortly after moving to the Hill,
Swanson recalls meeting the neighborhood
kids while walking her two
husky-mix dogs. She began inviting
them into her home, which was
filled with art supplies and doubled
as her studio. Many of these youngsters
were underprivileged kids from
the nearby housing project, Potomac
Gardens. One thing led to another,
and pretty soon she was holding free
classes for the kids.
In contrast to most artists who
teach to support their art, Swanson’s
art supported her teaching. She finds
the social aspect of teaching very
appealing and often lets the kids
help her in the studio with her own
art. She continues to teach all kinds
of classes for children, as well as new
workshops for adults. She will basically
teach anything her students
want to learn about, including
mosaics, candles, sculpture, mobiles
and masks. Her students are cur rently
designing a mosaic for the wall of
her garage. Though she has no children
of her own, it’s apparent that
Swanson considers all of these kids a
part of her family. She says that leaving
D.C. would be “like abandoning
your own children.”
After renting houses for years,
Swanson and Mustelier finally found
an adequate studio/living space in
the old corner store, located on the
corner of 9th and South Carolina. As
with many other decisions in her
life, Swanson trusted her instinct.
She says, “Something just felt right
about it.” Acquiring and transforming
the space was not an easy
process. The store had been boarded
up for 32 years, all the while becoming
more and more deteriorated. The
sale almost fell through at the las t
minute. And most unsettling was
the breast cancer scare that Swanson
experienced right in the middle of
the whole process. Swanson
describes the experience as only
hardening her resolve about the corner
store property. Thankfully, she
didn’t have cancer, and in only two
and a half months she transformed
the corner store into a beautiful and
functional studio and home.
Swanson’s most recent commissioned
job was to design the donkey
for D.C.’s citywide arts project titled
“Party Animals.” The project
involves the production of 100 donkeys
and 100 elephants, which will
be placed all over the city this spring
at various tourist sites and attrac -
tions. She also has public sculptures
on display in California. Though she
still works in bronze, Swanson is
beginning to make a transition into
multi-media pieces involving fused
glass and metal. Interestingly, she
sees this transition as a possible analogy
to life – moving from the heavy
and classical feeling of bronze
sculpting to the light and ethereal
feeling of glass. “Life is a piece in
progress,” she says.
For more information about
Kris Swanson’s art or her classes and
workshops, interested readers
may call 202-544-5807, e-mail
swantelier@aol.com, or visit her website
at www.swantelier.com.
Courtney Bell is a regular contributor to
The Voice of the Hill.
H e r A rt S u p p o rts
H e r Teac h i n g
For Artist Kris Swanson, Working With Kids is Most Rewarding
20 www.voiceofthehill.com
February 3rd at the Tyson’s Corner
Westpark Hotel from noon to 4 p.m.
Whether you’re looking for a
camp for just a week of diversion, or
a full summer’s worth of fun, this list
should be a good starting point to
help you search for the perfect summer
camp for your child. While I
could never hope to cover all the
summer camps available, what follows
are some well-known, and not
so well-known, general camps for
your child.
Appalachian Adventure
Sure there are lots of overnight
camps out there, and many day
camps even offer an overnighter at a
facility in the wilds of Virginia or
West Virginia in conjunction with
their regular program. But this camp
really stood out. Their camp sessions
are done “expedition style,” with
rafting or canoeing down the
Shenandoah River with stops for
camping, hiking, rock-climbing and
even spelunking! They have a base
camp for all the usual stuff, but then
the campers set off into the woods
for their own adventures. This
sounded like a great time, and their
website is first-rate!
CONTACT: Appalachian Adventure, 1-
800-877-0954,
www.adventurelinks.net
Burgundy Farm Summer
Camp
Always a popular Capitol Hill choice,
Burgundy Farm in Alexandria offers
campers a bucolic, authentic farm
experience. With 25 acres, an out -
door swimming pool, and a barn
complete with animals, Burgundy
Farm has what could be the camp
with the most “get out of town” feel
without the drive. For older kids,
Burgundy has an overnight camping
Even though it’s cold outside,
and your activities
might include ice-skating
and movie-watching, it
really is the best time to
start thinking about summer camp.
Just as the best beach houses go the
first weeks of winter so too go the
best summer camps to entertain
your kids.
Celeste Robinson, mom of Adia,
age 6, told me that after her experience
last year, her best advice to parents
looking for a camp is, “Don’t
wait until the last minute—and the
last minute for summer camp is
February!” The Robinsons got lucky
when a spot became available at
Gallaudet’s summer camp, but don’t
expect such a last-minute opening.
Instead, start looking right now,
especially if you must have a camp
for your child. It’s also a good idea
to become a member at several kidfriendly
museums in order to get on
the mailing list for their summer
camps next year. The Children’s
Museum, the Friends of the National
Zoo, the Smithsonian Resident
Associates and the Discovery Creek
Museum are just a few that are good
to join ahead of time to get the early
registration benefits.
As with everything these days, you
can find out a lot on the internet.
Type in summer camps and you’ll
get everything from camps in
Canada, the Black Hills of South
Dakota, and yes, even Washington,
DC. Some sites that I found most
useful were: www.campfinders.com,
www.kidscamps.com and www.sum -
mercamps.com. Additionally, watch
for notices about summer camp fairs
coming up this February and March.
One mentioned several times over
the course of my research was
“Summer Solutions Camp Fair”
(www.campfair.net), to be held
Capitol Hill Co-op Nursery
School Summer Camp
(a.k.a. Ms. Frances’s Camp)
Our own Ms. Frances provides a
summer camp experience for the
youngest campers on the Hill. Kids
ages 3-5 are invited to participate at
this camp, that goes throughout the
summer. The intrepid Ms. Frances,
along with several helpers, takes the
kids on field trips, picnics, and concerts.
There are lots of arts and crafts
(like tie-dyeing), as well as swimming
and water-play. It is only a
half-day camp for these youngsters,
and they do ask that you sign up for
the full six-week session in advance
to prepare for staffing needs. This
was my son’s first camp and he loved
it so much we did it two summers in
a row. Just as Ms. Frances is the perfect
first teacher for your child, she’s
also got the perfect first camp!
CONTACT: Sue Bloom, 202-547-9623
Capitol Hill Day School
Capitol Hill Day organizes a general
camp for kids pre-K through 8th
facility in West Virginia with activities
such as hiking, swimming and
canoeing. Their web site even mentions
that they schedule an adults
only weekend, for all those parents
who want to relive their own happy
camp memories. The adult activities
include nature hikes, bird-watching
and fossiling.
CONTACT: Kathleen Srisura, 703-960-
3431 www.burgundyfarm.com.
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
CHAW will hold several different
camp sessions this summer focusing
on various arts themes. The twoweek
sessions include a Visual Arts
session, a Dance/Movement session,
a Theater session and a Music ses -
sion. A typical day might include a
class in ballet or Tae Kwon Do, working
on an individual art project and
swimming. Campers will also take
special field trips to art exhibits and
galleries.
CONTACT: Julia Robey or Abby
Umansky 202-547-6839,
www.chaw.org
Setting Up Camp:
A Comprehensive Guide to
Summer Camps for Capital Kids
BY GINA ARLOTTO
Arts in the Park, a staple of the Capitol Hill
Arts Workshop summer camp program
www.voiceofthehill.com 21
grade. This year they will host a oneweek
basketball camp with a former
professional basketball player for
incoming 7th and 8th graders.
Additionally, there will be a general
camp, and an art camp in three- and
five-week sessions. They also have a
sailing camp and a history camp—
each is one week only. The general
camp will last from June 17th
through August 2nd. There will be
all the usual day camp activities,
such as swimming, field trips, and
computer training. As is typical for
many camps, current Day School
students receive priority registration
beginning around April 1st.
CONTACT: Joseph Umstead,
202-547-2244 x455
Discovery Creek Museum
One of the most interesting camp
offerings around comes from this
facility located at Glen Echo
National Park. Each age group,
beginning with ages 4-6, has their
own campus. The Stable at Glen
Echo, the Schoolhouse and the River
School are all utilized, with different
offerings at each location. Sessions
include such activities as astronomy,
virtual rafting and camping, rock
climbing, canoeing on the C&O
Canal, nature treasure hunts, creek
exploring, and investigating animal
habitats. This camp sounded like so
much fun I wanted to sign up. The
downside is that, as you might
expect, it fills up by the second week
in February. If you are already a
member of the Discovery Creek
Museum, you luck out, with priority
registration beginning January 25th;
if you’re not already a member, get
those applications in fast, and you
might just snag a spot.
CONTACT: Annikki Dighe, 202-337-
4954 www.discoverycreek.org
Fillmore Arts Center
Summer Program
D.C. Public Schools sponsors a highly-
regarded arts program for all ages
at the Fillmore Arts Center at Hardy
Elementary School in Georgetown.
There are many, many, arts classes of
course, a summer pass to the Jellett
Pool, and the older kids even form
their own jazz band and perform for
the younger kids. There are several
sessions divided into three and one
week programs. Mary Thomas, a Hill
parent, sent her younger son Justin
to Fillmore last summer while older
brother Miles attended the Hopkins
program (see below). Mary said that
the program is so impressive, and
that Justin had such a g reat time last
summer, that she is definitely signing
up again this year. The Fillmore
Summer Program is another popular
program, open to all first-come firstserved,
that should be contacted
early for applications.
CONTACT: Sara Friendly,
202-282-1107
Gallaudet Child
Development Center
E a ch ye a r, Gallaudet hosts a summer
c a mp for va rious age groups, sta rt i n g
w i th ch i l d ren as young as 18 month s .
E a ch group has one hearing and one
signing teacher which re a l ly make s
for a unique experience for the ch i l d .
G a l l a u d et’s camp offe rs swimming
eve ry day, Tae Kwon Do and numerous
field trips th roughout the city.
Re g i st ration is on a first-come, first -
s e rved basis and the spots do fill up
e a rly in the spring. Current Gallaud
et ch i l d - c a re center students re c e i ve
f i rst pri o rity for camp re g i st ration.
CONTACT: Katrina Flournoy,
202-651-5130
Johns Hopkins Summer
Enrichment Program
Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore sponsors enrichment programs
at several places in the D.C.
area. The children are invited to take
a Johns Hopkins University test,
(which apparently isn’t as scary as it
sounds), and if their scores are
acceptable, they are invited to partake
of several age-appropriate classes,
with themes of geometry, math,
science or biology. The titles of the
courses belie their studious intent
and only sound like a lot of fun to
the average kid. Some examples
include: Flight Science, Inventions,
The Edible World, and Explorations
and Excursions. Rita and Gary
Carleton’s daughter Lena, age 9, par -
ticipated last summer along with
several other Hill kids and loved it.
Rita said there is homework every
night, but that Lena enjoyed working
on the projects so much that it
was hard to get her to stop at bedtime.
One project that was especially
engrossing was an urban planning
adventure in Geometry class. Each
team of kids was given a fictitious
city with street grid, maps and a specific
traffic problem. The teams had
to alleviate the traffic issues with certain
parameters and present their
findings to the entire class. It actually
sounds a lot like one of my projects
in graduate school! Children
from all over the country come to
D.C. for this JHU program, and Rita
noted that some children even come
with their families from other countries
—the program is that popular.
CONTACT: www.jhu.edu/gifted/
ctysummer
St. Alban’s Summer Camp
and School
That ve n e rable institution for boys in
No rth we st offe rs seve ral pro grams fo r
the summer. There are Lacro s s e ,
B a s ketball, Baseball, Tennis and
Fo otball Camps, a general Day Camp ,
and a Skills Development Camp. The
D ay Camp offe rs courses in model
building, clowning and magic, crea
t i ve writing, jazz dance and mart i a l
a rts. The Skills Development Camp
focuses on Math, SAT Prep, Wri t i n g ,
even Greek and Latin. The St. Alban’s
c a mp is open to boys and girls ages 7
and older, but th e re is often a th re e -
week minimum commitment.
CONTACT: Sharon Brown,
202-537-6450
Summer Times at St.
Stephen’s and St. Agnes
School
A small but comprehensive summer
program is offered at St.
Stephen’s/St. Agnes School in
Alexandria. There is the traditional
Day Camp division for ages 5-11, a
Sports Camp with Baseball,
Basketball, Soccer and Lacrosse to
name a few sports covered, a
Specialty Camps division for
Cooking, Science, Musical Theater,
Outdoor Adventure and even
Comedy! Not to lose focus on the
educational aspect of many camps,
St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes also has a
Summer Studies division with middle
and upper school classes in
Composition, Math, Study Skills and
writing that dreaded College Essay.
CONTACT: John Carpenter,
703-212-2777
YMCA Summer Day Camp
The Urban Program Center at
L’Enfant Square has a great summer
lined up with themes of Alien
Invasion, Sport Zone, Just Build It!,
You Ought To Be In Pictures and
ending with Under the Big Top.
There will be field trips, journal writing,
swimming, dance and even golf
for those lucky kids who sign up in
time. I was really impressed with the
energy and effort that goes into this
program, and with its proximity to
Capitol Hill it could be a per fect
solution for parents as well as kids.
CONTACT: Andre Boyd,
202- 575-2670
Gina Arlotto is a mom to Andrew and
Mary Grace, and although she always
thinks that she wants the kids home all
summer, by the time she realizes that’s
not such a good idea, it’s too late to sign
up. This is her first contribution to The
Voice of the Hill.
A re you a volunteer intere sted in
c o a ching yo u th baseball this spring or
s u m m e r ?
If you are...Call John Pa rker at
202 - 54 6 - 7000 ext 251
Capitol Hill Baseball and Softball 
League
22 www.voiceofthehill.com
Barnum’s Bird Flies At the Library of Congress
World premiere performances February 1 and 2
“Concerts from the Library of Congress,” based in the Music
Division, premieres Barnum’s Bird, a cabaret opera by Libby Larsen, at
8 p.m. on Feb. 1 and 2. Co-commissioned by the Library of Congress
and the Odyssey Commissioning Program of the Plymouth Music
Series of Minnesota, Larsen’s opera dramatizes the artistic and commercial
partnership between famed Swedish soprano Jenny Lind and
American promoter and showman P.T. Barnum.
The production, presented free of charge to the public, is made possible
through a g rant from the William and Flora Hewlett
Foundation. Show business meets great art in this compelling and
charming opera, the story of the “Swedish Nightingale’s” tour of the
American heartland in 1850-51. Conceived for four soloists, 16 singers
and instrumental ensemble, Barnum’s Bird features Esther Heideman
as Jenny Lind and Gary Briggle as P.T. Barnum. The conductor is
Philip Brunelle, founder and artistic director of the distinguished
Plymouth Music Series, acclaimed internationally for superb choral
music presentations. Composer Libby Larsen and playwright Bridget
Carpenter crafted a libretto offering a starring role for a choral ensemble,
filled by members of the Plymouth Music Series’ professional
chorus.
Scheduled for broadcast across the nation on National Public
Radio’s World of Opera, Barnum’s Bird is presented as part of “I Hear
America Singing,” a major programming initiative at the Library of
Congress. Celebrating America’s musical heritage in a new website
project that will provide free Internet access to the Library’s unsurpassed
musical treasures, “I Hear America Singing” programs will
offer recordings, reproductions of manuscripts and printed music,
moving and still images, performances, lectures, master classes and
other educational programs embracing the broad range of American
musical expression.
Tickets for the Barnum’s Bird performances on February 1 and 2 may
be obtained through TicketMaster, at (202) 432-7328, or (800) 551-
7328. Each ticket carries a nominal service charge of $2, with additional
charges for phone orders and handling.Tickets are also available
at TicketMaster outlets; for a complete list, visit the TicketMaster
site at www.ticketmaster.com. Although the supply of tickets for popular
events may be exhausted, interested concertgoers are encouraged
to try for standby seats by appearing at the will-call desk in the
Jefferson Building by 6:30 p.m. The Coolidge Auditorium is located
on the ground floor of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, First
Street and Independence Avenue S.E. Patrons should be aware that
they will have to pass through Library security to enter the building,
and they should arrive early so that they will have plenty of time.
Capitol Hill Bike Hounds Meeting on Second
Saturday
Cycling Club Forming at Special Social Hour Event
Looking for good people to ride with? Join them on Saturday, Feb. 9,
at 4 p.m., for the launching of the Capitol Hill Bike Hounds, a cycling
club dedicated to cycling in and around the DC metropolitan area.
The Bike Hounds will be led by Hill resident Abby Smith, a/k/a The
Bike Hound, veteran of the D.C. AIDS Ride and the MS 150. She will
lead a variety of rides on Saturday mornings starting in March.
There promises to be something for everybody – from short fun
rides to long distance training rides. The Hounds’ Second Saturday
social hour (from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) will be an opportunity to meet
Abby and the other Hounds, join the club mailing list, and save a
great 25% on winter cycling apparel. Beer, wine and light refreshments
will be served. The event will take place at Capitol Hill Bikes,
709 8th Street, S.E., Washington, DC 20003 (Eastern Market or Navy
Yard Metro).
For more information, interested persons may contact Denise or
Laurie at 202-544-4234, or e-mail Abby at bikehound@capitolhill
bikes.com.
Ellen Wilson To w n h o m e s
• 13 newly constructed fee simple homes, 1221- 2200 sq.ft, to
be delivered 2002
• $310,000 - $498,000
• Elegant Victorian architecture
• 2 Br, 2.5 BA to 3BR 3.5 BA, incl. 1Br rental unit & garage/pkng,
rear gardens
• Gourmet kitch. Corian counters, wood cabinetry, GE appliances,
• gas fireplaces, oak floors, traditional Victorian trims, ceramic
tile baths, security system, fire sprinklers
• separately metered units
• Financing thru Citibank, FSB
• Developer: Ellen Wilson Townhomes Corporation
For further information
call Kitty or Tati Kaupp
202-546-7000 x257 x247
kkaupp@pardoe.com Pardoe ERA
605 Pennsylvania Ave. S.E. WDC 20003 EQUAL HOUSING
OPPORTUNITY
This just in…
www.voiceofthehill.com 23
Boys Town vs. the neighborhood
$900,000,000 vs. $16,000
Care to help us even the odds?
THE LAWSUIT
On August 14, Father Val Peter, executive director of Father Flanagan’s Boys Town of Omaha, 
Nebraska stood on
the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and announced that his $900 million corporation was suing the city, 
the mayor,
our city council member, the director of planning, Southeast Citizens for Smart Development, Inc. and 
two hill
residents, ANC Commissioner Will Hill and neighborhood activist Ellen Opper-Weiner.
THE ISSUE
For over a year and a half, the neighborhood volunteers of Southeast Citizens for Smart Development, 
Inc. have
led the effort to persuade Boys Town that placing a facility for what Boys Town’s own literature 
refers to as ‘very
troubled’ teenagers at the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, SE is a bad idea.
THE STATUS
Here’s what’s happening. The District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs 
has issued
building permits to Boys Town. The permits were issued in error and Boys Town needs a zoning 
special exception
to build within 500 feet of an existing group residential facility. Competent zoning attorneys agree.
Therefore, we have appealed the issuanc