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When the Klan Descended on Washington

When the Klan Descended on Washington

12/11/2019 in DC by Gonzalo Pacanins

“Phantom-like hosts of the Ku Klux Klan spread their white robe over the most historic thoroughfare yesterday in one of the greatest demonstrations the city has ever seen.” So read The Washington Post on the morning of August 9th , 1925. On the previous afternoon, the nation’s capital bore witness to the largest Klan march in the city’s history as tens of thousands of robed Klansmen marched down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Washington monument, most of them feeling no need to wear a mask.

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Virginia
George Mason's Impressive Ride to the Final Four

George Mason's Impressive Ride to the Final Four

11/21/2019 in Virginia by Hannah Schuster

There are some teams you expect to see excel each year in college basketball. Schools like the University of North Carolina or UCLA, which holds the record for most NCAA championship wins at 11. In 2006, George Mason was not one of those teams. The Fairfax school had only advanced to the NCAA tournament three times, and it had never won a single tournament game. Mason, largely a commuter school at the time, had only been playing in Division I since 1978.

But that year, the Patriots, who one columnist remarked "put the 'mid' in 'mid-major'" school,  went a wild, impressive journey to the NCAA Final Four. 

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DC
“This is Serious, These Guys Will Kill You”: Salvatore Cottone and the True Story of the Short-Lived D.C. Mafia

“This is Serious, These Guys Will Kill You”: Salvatore Cottone and the True Story of the Short-Lived D.C. Mafia

11/05/2019 in DC by Frank Carroll

A mafioso walks into a restaurant in D.C. — and sets up an international crime syndicate in the FBI's backyard. Two arsons, a faked murder, and hundreds of thousands of dollars-worth of cocaine later, the FBI got their man.

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DC
The Birchmere Gets Its Start

The Birchmere Gets Its Start

09/05/2019 in DC by Hannah Schuster

Gary Oelze purchased a Shirlington restaurant called the Birchmere in the mid 1960s. At the time, he wasn't planning to get into the music business. But soon, the Birchmere became a hub for bluegrass music in the nation's capital. Today, it is an internationally renowned music hall that draws fans of every musical genre. 

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DC
Maryland was almost "Almost Heaven"

Maryland was almost "Almost Heaven"

07/18/2019 in DC by Lori Wysong

In the summer of 1970, Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert were driving down Clopper Road to a family reunion in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Montgomery County was a much more rural place in those days, and the scenery inspired Danoff to repetitively sing “country roads, country roads, country roads.” 

Under normal circumstances, this burst of creativity might have gone nowhere, but the couple happened to be a duo of professional musicians. So, with the help of John Denver, they soon turned the phrase into the earworm we know today. 

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DC
L'Enfant's Funeral: An Honor 84 Years Overdue

L'Enfant's Funeral: An Honor 84 Years Overdue

06/25/2019 in DC by Lori Wysong

On April 28, 1909, a funeral procession nearly a mile long paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue and M Street, complete with fine carriages and a military escort. Throughout Washington, D.C., flags were displayed at half mast, spectators lined the streets, and school children were allowed a break from their studies to glimpse out the window and see it pass by. The man they were there to honor was Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant… who died in 1825.

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DC
'Simply and literally stunning': Washington Reacts to the D-Day Invasion

'Simply and literally stunning': Washington Reacts to the D-Day Invasion

06/06/2019 in DC by Hannah Schuster

By mid 1944, Washingtonians had known for some time that a major invasion of Europe was in store. But when news of D-Day came on June 6, 1944, it was still a sobering event. The city reacted with a combination of pause and activity.

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Virginia
How Les Misérables Became Lee's Miserables

How Les Misérables Became Lee's Miserables

05/13/2019 in Virginia by Mark Jones

When Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables was published in the spring of 1862, it took the world by storm. Within weeks, American audiences began devouring a five-volume translation by renowned classicist Charles E. Wilbour. As the Civil War raged, soldiers on both sides of the lines gobbled up copies and carried them into battle. But here's the thing: Confederate soldiers weren't actually reading the same book as their Northern adversaries, and that was by design.

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Virginia

The Past and Future of Claude Moore Colonial Farm

04/10/2019 in Virginia by Rawan Elbaba


For over 40 years, Claude Moore Colonial Farm was a well-preserved time capsule of 18th-century farm life in northern Virginia. Since the early 1970s, costumed staff and volunteers lived as if it was the year 1771. They grew and cooked their own food, sewed their own clothes, and raised their own livestock. But after a tumultuous battle with the National Park Service, the colonial farm in McLean, Virginia permanently closed its doors on December 21, 2018. The National Park Service hosted an open comment period, which ran through April 25, to decide the future of the land.

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DC
The Curious Case of the ABA's Washington Caps

The Curious Case of the ABA's Washington Caps

02/21/2019 in DC by Blake Wilson

For one season the American Basketball Association set up shop in the Nation's Capital, as the defending league champion — and star player Rick Barry — moved from Oakland to D.C.  But almost as soon as the Washington Caps arrived in 1969, they were gone. So why didn't D.C.'s team last?

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Boundary Stones explores local history in Washington, D.C., suburban Maryland and northern Virginia. This project is a service of WETA and is supported by contributions from readers like you.

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