Evening star., 1935-01-27

Cole, a carpenter, with whose son, Irving Cole.
the writer went to school.
No doubt the first house erected in this
vicinity was an old farm house which stood
on Florida avenue between Thirteenth and
Fourteenth streets. before the Government
moved here in 1900, and remained there until
about 1889. In the writer's childhood days he
visited at this old frame building then occu-
pied by his aunt, Mrs. Logan. 1t was
right good sized house, which sat back from
what was then Boundary street. still had
large plot Of ground around it and
rounded by grove of silver maple trees. 1t
is probable the Logans resided there prior to
1875 when they were renting house on the
Little farm. which then included the area
bounded on the south by Florida avenue, on
the east by Champlain avenue, on the west
by Columbia road and on the north by the
old Adams Mill road.
lust what Mr.. Burroughs could have seen in
- this particular site to please his fancy,
except, perhaps, quietude, is hard to understand
for the outlook must have been anything but
fascinating, since, in addition to the graveyard
upon which his house stood and the one
block away to the east there was in the block
in front Of him what remained of the West
Methodist or Foundry Cemetery. and as this
stretch Of land was generally low and marshy
and about that time covered in places with
slashes 1t certainly must have been boresome
briar birds grass snakes and frogs.
However several blocks away to the north
the scenery changed and here several
homes Of wealthy people, including the one
belonging to DR. Hall, who later sold 1t to
L. H. and Chris Schneider. This old mansion
now forms part of the main building of Gar
field Hospital.
To the west of this was the home of the
widow of William j. Stone, which was a Civil
War hospital from 1862 to 1865. This mansion
was later the residence OF Gen. John A. Logan,
who gave it the name Calumet Place and here
he died. When William Jennings Bryan was
Secretary of State he leased this old home,
which then stood at the northeast corner OF
Thirteenth and Clifton streets.
Mr.. Burroughs was some distance from old
Columbian College which stood on the top OF
the hill to the west of Fourteenth street. Not
far to the west of the college, near where the
old standpipe used to stand the Porter
home, and if there not too much timber
intervening maybe he could have feaSted his
eyes on the heights of Washington. And, then,
who knows but that he was a great believer
in the thought that distance lends enchant-
ment to the view, and that, after all, the place
he bought for home so many years ago was
Just what he wanted.
But the noted writer of nature essays loved
to roam in the woods and doubt he took
advantage of the forests and farm lands not
far distant as we'll as the nearby water courses,
including Rock Creek, Slash Run and Reedy
Branch, the first mentioned of which is the
only one remaining today. Indeed, he is known
to have even extended his trips to more dis
tant places, and upon one occasion was nearly
drowned in the Potomac, near Little Falls.
when he was rescued by friend who was with
him at the time
CTRANGELY enough, the naturalist tells us
- he preferred to walk in Winter rather than
in uhpn ba 10
and that he had to go only two miles to get to
real pine woods. After he left Washington in
1873 he made occasional visits to this city.
generally stopping with his old friends, DR..
and Mrs. Frank Baker parents of Miss Sybil
Baker the former we'll known as the first dl-
ector of the National Geological Park
A friend also, of the Bakers at this time
was none other than our esteemed FRIEND
Henry Litchfield West who many years later
served as a Commissioner of the District OF