Fort Selden

Old covered wagon with the ruins of Fort Selden behind it 

In the interest of doing something new - anything new - I played a little GPS roulette and ended up at Fort Selden in Radium Springs, NM last weekend.  It's a quiet place, and I was the only person in the small museum besides the ranger despite the fact that state monuments are free for New Mexico residents on Sundays.

From the museum, I learned that the fort housed infantry and cavalry, including Buffalo Soldiers; that the officers' wives often described the place as dusty and unattractive; that Douglas MacArthur, the WWII general, spent a couple of years at Fort Selden in his childhood and sported a longish blond hair that made me mistake him as a girl in the photo; that in the 25 years that Fort Selden was active (1865-1890), more soldiers were killed by fellow soldiers than with run-ins with Apaches in the area; and that the soldiers had a particularly monotonous diet, among other odds and ends.  The museum painted a fairly grim picture of boredom, dust and disease -- hardly a desert paradise.

Husks of History: Seneca Stone Cutting Mill & One Dead Turtle

The red stone for the Smithsonian Castle was cut at the Seneca Stone Cutting Mill, off Riley's Lock of the C&O Canal. Ruins of the mill are still open to the public.

I'd forgotten about the ruins, but when I turned left at the turtle resting in peace on the path, I stumbled into them, one historical remnant leading to another.

Thanks, Mr. Turtle.

Filtering History: McMillian Sand Filtration Plant

North Capitol and Michigan Ave NW

Inevitably, when driving down North Capitol with out-of-towners (or local DC-ites who seldom venture east of the Capitol) and we pass the odd towers lurching up from the rolling hills near Washington Hospital Center, they turn to ask: what the heck is that?


Sand Bins

While I've long known the structures are connected to the water system, I recently looked up the full scoop on wikipedia, and can now provide a name: McMillan Sand Filtration Plant. From its completion in 1905 until its decommission in 1986, the jokes about the DC water supply came back to roost on those twenty-five acres. During its active use, McMillan eliminated typhoid epidemics in DC, so if I grumbled about brown water from old pipes in my childhood, all I did was grumble, not fall ill. The slow sand filtration system was a milestone in its time.

Barbed-wire topped fences have surrounded McMillan since WWII, as its use as a public green space eliminated when concerns about the safety of the water supply sprang up. Currently, the area is owned by the DC government, who bought it from the federal government in 1987. Plans for redevelopment have, so far, stalled.



Staircase to abandoned

What does this have to do with art, you ask? Aside from an excuse to play with photography, the art in public spaces (as McMillan used to be) contributes to community in urban life - we gather around beauty. The more I look for art in DC, the more impressed I am by its arrival in unexpected places, from graffiti by the Metro to sculptures commissions by fancy institutions. As human beings, our instinct to detail, arrange, express, beautify, to imprint our style as individuals caught in our particular intersection of time, culture, circumstances, that comforts me. Even the decay of that art into a different form, the beauty of ruins and times past, lends meaning to a walk down a city street.

Renovation of Engine Company 12 Firing Up

Old fire house on North
Capitol St. NW

Work has begun in earnest on the renovation Engine Company 12, the old fire house at the corner of North Capitol and Quincy Place NW. Slated to be an restaurant with outdoor seating, roof deck and valet parking, opening is tentatively scheduled for Independence Day, according the information on the Bates Area Civic Association blog, http://batesareacivicassociation.org/2011/03/02/engine-company-12-firehouse-update/. DCist has followed the project saga for some time, as deals were struck and then turned to ash: http://dcist.com/2009/02/bloomingdale_firehouse_restaurant_d.php

Building detail

On my daily commute by the building, I've seen workmen cleaning the brick, painting the facade details gold, moving scaffolding in and out. This weekend, I had time to stop and take a few photos. A gorgeous building, built over a hundred years ago, I'm thrilled to see it restored and repurposed to beauty and usefulness -- and hope the recent activity is a sign that it will really all come to pass. 

No, I didn't break in. There is a camera-sized hole in the door.  Large signs proclaim that the area is under
video surveillance, so my photo nosiness is probably documented somewhere.

Building detail

Engine Company 12