Washington has a rural history of agrarian landscapes and country estates. John Adlum, the Father of American Viticulture, experimented with American grape cultivation at The Vineyard, just north of today's Cleveland Park. Slave laborers rolled hogsheads - wooden casks filled with tobacco - down present-day Wisconsin Avenue from farms to the port at Georgetown. The growing merchant class built suburban villas on the edges of the District and became the city's first commuters. In 1791, the area was selected as the capital of a new nation, and change from rural to urban was both dramatic and progressive. Author Kim Prothro Williams reveals the rural remnants of Washington, D.C.'s past.

"Kim Prothro Williams explains the remarkable architectural and social history of Washington, DC's multifaceted alleyways. This richly illustrated book also provides an appealing visual record of the roles and evolution of alleyways in the city. Washington's alleys were never intended to be seen. They were deliberately hidden from public view to conceal the services and people behind the grand design envisioned by the capital's early planners. But more so than in most American cities, alleyways in DC have always been a fundamental part of the life and economy of the city. Many alleyways have contained a parallel world of neighborhoods, manufacturing, and bohemian spaces. DC alleys were created in the original Plan of the City to provide access to the rear of the large lots for stables, carriage houses, and other utility buildings. As the city grew and property values rose, land owners changed the purpose of some alleys by building and renting out alley dwellings. Other alleys began to serve commercial and industrial purposes. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, inhabited alleys were mainly home to the city's poorest people, especially Black residents and recent immigrants. Unsanitary conditions spurred Progressive Era campaigns to demolish alley dwellings, but this began a new and complex era in the history of DC's alleys as reform efforts threatened to displace communities without offering them a place to go. Today, there are far fewer alleyways, as office and apartment blocks were built over many. This century has seen a transformation of many remaining alleyways into vibrant commercial and residential spaces that display stunning nineteenth century architecture. But this latest wave of gentrification has raised questions about how spaces that were once utilitarian or attainable for the poorest residents now cater to the wealthy. Hidden Alleyways of Washington, DC is a fascinating portrait of these important and varied architectural and social spaces in the life of the capital city"--

DeFerrari and Sefton have created a highly illustrated architectural "biography" of one of DC's most important boulevards. This north-south artery-which runs from the White House, through DC, and to the Maryland border-is as central to the cityscape as it is to DC's history and culture.

The remarkable architectural and social history of DC’s multifaceted alleyways Alleyways in Washington, DC, have always been a fundamental part of the city’s life and economy. Deliberately hidden from public view by the capital’s early planners, DC’s alleys were created to provide access to stables, carriage houses, and other utility buildings. But as the city grew and property values rose, the nature of some alleys and their buildings changed, resulting in a parallel world of residential , manufacturing, and artistic spaces. Kim Prothro Williams reveals this world in a fascinating and richly illustrated history. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the city’s inhabited alleys were often unsanitary spaces that were home to its poorest residents. These conditions spurred Progressive Era campaigns to demolish alley dwellings, which in turn led to the displacement of minority and disadvantaged communities. Today, many remaining alleyways, with their intimately scaled buildings, have been transformed into vibrant commercial and residential spaces. Yet this new wave of development raises questions about how spaces that were once reserved for the city’s poorest residents now cater to the wealthy. This book is a must-have for anyone with an interest in Washington, social history, architecture, or historical preservation.

Why a Book on Parallel Lives: A Tale of Two Centuries But for the accident of birth, any one of us could have been born in another time and place. Given the time that man has inhabited the earth and the vastness of the planet, the possibilities are endless. The Civil War is a topic whose fans worldwide are countless. Consequently, a book that takes an up close look at the years preceding, during, and after this great conflict is a subject of great interest to many. More than a few historians have touched upon how in many instances history repeats itself. However, it does not appear that anyone has done a study of the similarities between events of two different centuries especially, not with a description in first person of the events as they occurred. It is only in this format that one can truly appreciate the degree to which history repeats itself. It not only repeats itself in the form of well-known events like the assassinations of Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy but also lesser-known events that true history buffs would know of and appreciate, such as the existence of a child’s game involving a hoop in the 1850s, not unlike the hula hoop of the 1950s. Certainly, any hundred-year interval throughout history would yield similar correlations. However, to the modern-day Americans who are potential purchasers of this book, what better hundred-year interval would there be to do a comparison study of than mid-nineteenth–century and mid-twentieth–century America? For this reason, publishing a Book on this subject is the source of great zeal.