Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-01

State his headquarters until Sep
| TENDER.
Hatfield, too, he said, that the con-
Meeting road to the Mount Vernon
/ boulevard could be brought.
Would Provide Circuit.
Such a link, Maj. Brown added,
would not only connect two highways
which are sure to win exceptional
popularity in the future. but 1t would
provide a complete circuit for Wash
| ington and Virginia motorists starting
out for a short drive. The Washing
ton motorist could speed out to Co
lumbia Island, turn up the north road
way to the Lee boulevard, continue out
to Hatfield, turn east to the Mount
Vernon boulevard and cross to Co
lumbia Island at its southern tip and
on back home over the Memorial
Bridge.
But to return to the Lee boulevard.
En- route to Hatfield, several of the
old forts that were built during the
Civil War to protect Washington from
invasion from the South are passed.
At Hatfield the route turns toward the
town of Penrose. through a cornfield
and beautiful stretch of woods. Up
to the time this forest is reached, the
tip of the Washington Monument is
constantly in view over the brow OF
the hills of Arlington, a striking and
infaIlible road-sight To the National
Capital.
Near Penrose the engineers found
an exceptional opportunity to cross
the tracks of the Washington and Nir
ginia Electric Railway by means of
bridge at a minimum of expense. The
banks afford just the proper elevation
Thence the site down a narrow val
ley through some old and beautiful
estates. One of these is the colonial
Shirley estate, now owned and oc-
cupied by Robert E. Wright. Mr..
Wright is parking his entire estate.
Enters Henderson Estate.
The Columbia Gardens Cemetery is
missed by good hundred yards and
the boulevard next enters the old
Henderson estate; now owned by
Percy w Pickford of Washington.
Mr. Pickford has not only dedicated
the land for the right-of-way through
his property, but presented the Lee
Highway Association with valley or
81 acres of woodland besides, where
a park is to be established. The Lee
DOtl6VaTu cuts ltlIOuSll IlilS POI ~
other landowners nearby have given
nearly so more acres of their property
for park purposes, so that an extern
sive park can be created through
which the boulevard would run, offer
ing places for picnickners, tourists ana
campers. Negotiations for donations
of this kind, it was learned, are in the
process of elimination at other points
along the line, and the sponsors of the
boulevard hope to have 1t skirted at
frequent intervals by numerous parks.
One such reservation is established
now at Glen Carlyn.
Near the park donated from the
Henderson estate the engineers faced
their most difficult problem, Maj.
Brown declared. They had to cross
not only Four-nile Run, which be-
comes a rushing torrent in flood
weather. but another line of the Wash
ington and Virginia Railway. The
bridge across the run, it was feared,
would prove a tremendously expensive
proposition. Scouting along the run,
however, Mai. Brown found spot
that gave him an opportunity TO
bridge both the creek and the railway
at the same time.
Misses Dangerous Curves.
This place is at a point near the
Wilson boulevard. The Wilson boule
ward crosses the tracks at grade, so
Maj. Brown went 200 yards up the
tracks and found two strong banks,
squarely opposite each other. From
these, he said, a bridge can be built
across the tracks and the run at COM
paratively small expense, and in such
a direction that the Lee boulevard
would run Squarely into the Wilson
boulevard beyond a dangerous curve
in the latter.
Since both the grade crossing and
the curve in the Wilson boulevard
would have to be eliminated eventu-
ally, running the Lee boulevard along
at that point would save the taxpay-
ers and the State considerable money.
From the point where the Lee boule-
ward enters the Wilson boulevard, it
follows that thoroUghfare out to old
Fort Buffalo, point exactly miles
from Washington as present roads
run. The Lee boulevard would be q
single mile further to the same point.
Fort Buffalo, it is hoped, will be
made into another park. 1t is prob
ably the farthest out Of the Civil War
Notifications that defended Washinge
ton. The old breastworks and the
moat that surrounded them are intact
and the forest that was cut down to
give the 0e1enderS OF the Tort a clear
view southwark is just getting started
toward reforestation.N The present
trees are growing up on the roots of
the much larger ones that were de-
stroyed by the soldiers, and the sap
lings are growing, as a result, in
perfect groups of threes. The effect
is an unusual one.
Ends at Fort Buffalo.
At Fort Buffalo the new section of
the Lee boulevard, as now surveyed,
ends 1t follows the Alexandria road
a quarter of a mile to Falls Church
and there connects with the present
Lee highway, which is to be widened
all the way to the Shenandoah Ma
tional Park to conform to the plans
for the first seven miles, which con-
stitute the new road.
Summing up, Maj. Brown pointed
out that the route designated has been
so selected because it crosses no town,
where traffic would be congested and
speed limits cut down, yet it goes
close enough to all to be accessible
by the construction of a short road,
or in instances a mere street, TO in
tersect. At no point, it was said, is
the distance between thea "southerly