Day Two

Uncharacteristically, I got up at 7 AM on a Sunday. The weather forecast was for temperatures in the mid- to high 90s, and I didn't want to bike around in that. Also, we planned on visiting some of DC's famous memorials and wanted to beat the heat as well as the crowds.

First stop: The Jefferson Memorial. We were among only three other tourists when we got there a little after 8 AM. The parking lots were still closed, so the tour buses hadn't dropped off their lemmings yet. I rarely actually go into the Jefferson Memorial, but always enjoy it when I do. Pithy quotes etched in the marble show Jefferson make Jefferson sound more pious than I think he actually was, but they are powerful.

Then we visited the old patriot George Mason, one of the newer statues in DC. Can't say I know much about Mason, but I did learn that he wrote the Virginia declaration of the rights of man. I think Jefferson's Declaration of Independence borrowed heavily from Mason. I especially liked the circular garden surrounding Mason. The statue depicts him as a gentle, plump man in stockings. Much more approachable than the stiff Jefferson down the street.

Next stop: Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. I forgot that there was a statue of Eleanor at the FDR Memorial, so this was a nice surprise. The only information about her provided at the Memorial is that she was the first U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. When i think of Eleanor Roosevelt, I think of her promotion of racial integration and tolerance. Granted, the Memorial's strengths are in visual and symbolic representations rather than historical explanation.

In retrospect, I can't believe it was controversial that the Memorial included a statute of FDR sitting in a wheelchair. FDR took great pains to hide the extent of his disability, but I find it hard to believe that he enjoyed having to go through this charade. Future generations of Americans will visit his memorial and see him as he was. I hope we will not prejudge the competence of candidates based on their physical condition. After all, the current president may be in great physical shape, but he could be the worst president we've ever had.

We then visited the Lincoln Memorial. As my photographic assistant did her thing, I read Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. I always read it when visiting. It transports the reader to March 1865. You can feel the pain of the Civil War and Lincoln's reassurance that it is was worth the sacrifices. Contrast Lincoln to another president's repetitious platitudes about the importance of a war that most of the public believes has not been worth fighting. Ugh! (I sense a theme.)

After a quick stop at the Korean War Memorial--where the South Korean ambassador recently left a wreath--we visited the Albert Einstein Memorial. Wow! The statue makes Einstein somewhat Pooh-like. So cuddly and innocent. I highly recommend this documentary of the making of this statue narrated by the sculptor on his website.

We then rode to Theodore Roosevelt Island, which happened to be once owned by George Mason. The island has a pretty interesting history and is worth reading. In case you don't know of the island, once inhabited, it is now an uninhabited island on the Potomac separating DC from Arlington. It is a sort of urban oasis, a fitting memorial of the founder of American conservationism. Unfortunately, the TR depicted in the statute is very stiff. After taking the requisite photographs, we hiked around the island. We saw a deer and watched the procession of a family of ducks.

On the way home, we biked through Southwest DC to check up on the extreme makeover of the Frederick Douglass Bridge. The bridge, which spans the Anacostia River, is being lowered so that it does not take up so much valuable real estate next to the baseball stadium that is being built for the Washington Nationals. Right now, a major portion of the bridge is on a set of jacks while new construction goes on. They say it will take 2 months, which would be a pretty amazing feat.

All told, I think it was a pretty good day of statue-finding. The map will be updated soon.

Planning the next outing

Thanks to "NR" for providing useful knowledge about Statuary Hall in the Capitol. Statuary Hall will have to wait for a rainy day, i think. Next stops will be either Meridian Hill Park (I neither rode my bike there nor took decent photos) or the Mall, including the Albert Einstein sculpture and several monuments that could be considered statues.

Day One

Before I get started, let me recall the Stupid Tourist Comment of the Day. Hopefully this won't become a series. Overheard at a statue of George Washington: "Hey, it's the guy on the nickel!" It sounded stupid even before I thought about it.

Here's the map after today's hard work. My wife and I started off early, fortified by coffee and a soy protein powder smoothie (tastes much better than it sounds). We headed first to Stanton Park where we took pictures of General Nathanael Greene.



We then headed to Columbus Circle outside of Union Station where we took pictures of Christoper Columbus. (Thanks to my wife for remembering Columbus.)

By the time we went a few blocks down Mass Ave to the new statue/memorial to the Victims of Communism, I was sick of the flimsy fenders that I had installed just yesterday. No matter how I adjusted them, they were rubbing against my bike tires. So I took them off and vowed to return them. At that moment, I considered myself a Victim of Capitalism.

We then hit the fertile ground of Lafayette Park, just in front of the White House. We skipped a few at Lafayette Park and McPherson Square because the sun was in a bad position, but we got good light at McPherson Square, and the grand circles on Massachusetts Avenue west of the convention center--Thomas, Scott, and Sheridan Circles.

We thought there was a statue at Dupont, but it seems there is just a memorial. Sometimes there's a fine line between a statue and a memorial, but this memorial was definitely not a statue.

On our way to Sheridan Circle, we stopped at the Dupont Circle Famer's Market. I felt guilty for abandoning Eastern Market, but I felt better after buying little mozzarella balls and some vegetables from the people whom we usually buy at Eastern Market.

After the Farmer's Market, we were pleasantly surprised by statues of Gandhi and Masaryk (first President of Czechoslavakia) on the way to Sheridan Circle.

We headed to the George Washington statue near the GW University Hospital. There we heard the Stupid Tourist Comment of the Day of "Hey, there's the guy on the nickel!"

I've always thought that this statue of George Washington was very underwhelming. In contrast, the man's monument is, by law, the highest point in the city that was named after him. So what's this lame statue doing here, in this lame part of the city? Speaking of lame, I had back surgery across the street from this statue just over a year ago. I could barely walk back then, and I couldn't be happier biking around the city now.

We then hit Farragut, Burke, and Gompers on the way back to Capitol Hill. We then thought we'd seen the olde English jurist Blackstone near Judiciary Square. Before getting to Blackstone, we discovered a statue of Albert Pike near the DC Government buildings. Never heard of the guy. Check the map for details on the obscure Albert Pike.

We completed the morning's work with a stop in front of the Capitol to take photos of Presidents Garfield and Grant and found a statue of Senator Robert A. Taft by his bell tower memorial.

Starting Off

Since I moved to DC 11 years ago, I have wanted to catalogue and map statues in the District of Columbia and provide biographical information of the people represented by the statues.

Thanks to Google Maps and Wikipedia, the technology exists to make this a fairly easy task.

A friend called this the Dead White Guy on Horseback Tour. There are certainly many of them, but we'll see what surprises are out there.

The map will be work a progress and can be viewed here. Wikipedia links to the person depicted in the statue will be accessible on the map.

This blog will chronicle the effort to complete the map.

If you think I missed a statue or want to let me know of an interesting or out of the way statue that I may not know of, please drop me a line. Thanks!