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Jefferson's Missing Daughter

Jefferson's Missing Daughter

04/02/2021 in DC by William Choi

Harriet Hemings was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. After twenty years of living as as her father's slave, she moved to Washington to begin her life anew... and promptly disappeared from the historical narrative.

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L'Enfant's Guide to Getting Fired

L'Enfant's Guide to Getting Fired

08/02/2019 in DC by Lori Wysong

It takes a lot of talent to design a city, especially one with such sweeping vistas and wide, radial streets as our Nation’s Capital.  It’s hard not to admire the vision of Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the engineer behind Washington, D.C. But everybody makes mistakes—even visionaries— and L’Enfant was certainly no exception.

His biggest blunder was probably tearing down the house of his boss’s nephew. 

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The Biggest Cheese in Washington

The Biggest Cheese in Washington

11/30/2017 in DC by Emily Robinson

While Presidents of the United States have received all different kinds of honors and gifts throughout the years, there is one particular 19th century trend of presidential gift-giving that stands out…or maybe stands alone. Giant wheels of cheese have appeared at the White House multiple times in presidential history, starting in 1801 when Thomas Jefferson was gifted the 4 foot-wide, 17 inch-high, 1,235 pound Cheshire “Mammoth” Cheese from the citizens of Cheshire, Massachusetts. Funny enough, Jefferson’s Mammoth Cheese was not the last one to enter the White House. Andrew Jackson received his 1,400 pound New York-made Mammoth Cheese in 1835, and invited all of Washington to a party at the White House two years later to eat it. 

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Cleveland Park’s Very Own Vineyard

Cleveland Park’s Very Own Vineyard

11/21/2017 in DC by Callum Cleary

Local wine sales have reached record heights in recent years. But even though Virginia and Maryland’s 350+ wineries are beginning to enjoy the fermented fruits of their labor, the west coast remains the hub of wine production in the United States. Over 92% of the country’s wine is produced on the west coast and Napa Valley remains the recognized capital of American wine. However, the area's amateur sommeliers can take pride in the fact that John Adlum, “father of American viticulture,” called D.C. home.

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The Merry Affair

The Merry Affair

01/10/2017 in DC by Claudia Swain

When Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801, he decided he was going to do away with all the courtly nonsense of his predecessors, George Washington and John Adams. No longer would there be rules and regulations dictating behavior in social situations; not a single whiff of pomp or circumstance would be found in his administration. It was a rude awakening for visiting dignitaries including British minister Anthony Merry.

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Just Stick It in the Basement: Before the Archives

Just Stick It in the Basement: Before the Archives

08/18/2015 in DC by Benjamin Shaw

Today, the founding documents of America - the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights - are on display at the Charters of Freedom exhibit in the Rotunda of the National Archives. Tourists from across America and the world make pilgrimages to see the most revered documents in American history. Extensive preservation measures have been put in place. But this wasn’t always the case. For most of our nation’s history, these charters, now considered priceless, were kept with the United States’ other government documents - that is, shoved wherever officials could find space. Before the National Archives was founded in 1934, these documents were stored essentially at random, in basements, on walls, or even piled in hallways.

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