Washington Monument Restoration Unearths Second Time Capsule

Amy Mulvihill — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 16:40:00 +0000

The ongoing $5.5-million restoration of Mt. Vernon’s Washington Monument is the historical gift that keeps on giving.

Today, workers excavating around the monument’s base discovered its 200-year-old cornerstone—a large granite cube with a marble lid that, according to historical accounts, may contain paper items and coinage. The items are thought to have been buried during a cornerstone-laying ceremony on July 4, 1815, which attracted national attention because the 180-foot marble column topped with a statue of George Washington was the first American monument dedicated to the president. The monument was completed in 1829. The opening of the cornerstone’s time capsule will take place on Wednesday, February 18 at 1 p.m. at the monument.

This is the second time capsule unearthed during the restoration process. The first was discovered in October 2014 and is dated to 1915, when Baltimoreans installed it as part of celebrations to mark the monument’s centennial. That capsule currently can be seen at The Walters Art Museum and will be opened in May, at which point its contents will be exhibited at the nearby Maryland Historical Society.

In a press release from Mount Vernon Place Conservancy, which is overseeing the restoration work, the conservancy’s Restoration Committee chairman Lance Humphries stated: “Few buildings have two time capsules. These items speak to the antiquity and symbolic importance of the monument in the history of our country.”

The obelisk, which has been closed to the public since 2010, is getting spiffed up for its 200th birthday celebration in July, when it will be reopened to the public followed by a family-friendly, old-fashioned country fair in Mt. Vernon Place.

Though it all sounds highfalutin, the cornerstone was found via appropriately humbling circumstances: According to the press release “the stone was discovered while . . . digging a pit for a sewage tank off the northeast corner of the building.”

Never change, Monument City.

Source

Then and Now: Washington Monument

Jess Mayhugh — Fri, 23 May 2014 10:15:00 +0000

The Charles Street landmark was the first planned monument to the first President, predating the other Washington Monument in our nation’s capital by several decades. Located in historic Mt. Vernon Square, the surrounding grassy knolls have hosted FlowerMart, the Baltimore Book Festival, and, of course, the monument’s annual holiday lighting.

The 178-foot monument, designed by Robert Mills, was finished in 1829—14 years after construction began. (Mills also designed the obelisk on the Mall in D.C., which opened in 1885.) Col. John Eager Howard, who served under Washington, donated land to the project and $100,000 was raised for the monument’s construction through a Maryland-authorized lottery—although the costs ultimately forced the original design to be scaled back.

Scaffolding currently envelops the monument, closed since 2010. A $5.5-million restoration effort begun this year will fix structural problems discovered during a Mount Vernon Place Conservancy engineering study. Visitors hoping to climb the 228 steps to the top of the monument for one of the best views of the city will have to wait until Independence Day 2015—the bicentennial of the start of construction of the monument and scheduled completion date of the repairs.

Did you know?

Forest for the Trees

Howard’s Woods

When the monument’s cornerstone was laid on July 5, 1815, Charles Street did not yet reach the monument area, and the surrounding environ was a forest, known as Howard’s Woods.

Before: Washington Monument. Courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Detriot Publishing Company Collection, [LC-DIG-det-4a29716] After: Photography by David Colwell

Source

Mt. Vernon Square – Baltimore Magazine

Washington Monument Restoration Unearths Second Time Capsule

Then and Now: Washington Monument

Forest for the Trees