Town of Washington Grove https://washingtongrovemd.org A Town within a Forest Wed, 20 Mar 2024 19:17:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://washingtongrovemd.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/cropped-acornfavicon-32x32.png Town of Washington Grove https://washingtongrovemd.org 32 32 Minimizing Exposure to Micro- and Nano-plastics https://washingtongrovemd.org/sustainability/climate-actions-for-grovers/minimizing-exposure-micro-nano-plastics/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=minimizing-exposure-micro-nano-plastics Sat, 09 Mar 2024 20:30:23 +0000 https://washingtongrovemd.org/?p=40952 What’s found in the air you breathe, the water you drink, the food you eat, inside your brain, and even in a newborn baby’s first poop? If you answered plastic, you would be correct. Recent studies have found micro- and even smaller nano-plastic particles virtually everywhere in the environment.

Some results have surprised scientists. Bottled water was found to contain not only PET (the plastic used to make the bottle), but greater amounts of polyamides (from the nylon filters used to purify the water by reverse osmosis), plus polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polymethyl methacrylate (AKA plexiglass), and a host of other plastics of unknown origin and chemistry. Many were small enough to cross the blood-brain barrier and carry other molecules along with them. The health effects in humans are unknown, but animal studies have raised multiple concerns. Therefore, it could be prudent to avoid unnecessary exposure, especially in children.

It’s impossible to avoid exposure, but here are some ways to minimize it:

  • Whenever possible, use glass or stainless-steel containers for beverages and food storage.
  • Never microwave food in plastic.
  • Do not wash plastic containers in the dishwasher.
  • Limit your consumption of canned foods – the can lining is likely made of plastic.
  • Reduce your consumption of processed foods. Consumer Reports recently detected phthalates in 84 of 85 processed foods tested, and most also contained bisphenols. But you may want your table salt to be more processed; sea salt can be high in plastic contamination.
  • Choose clothing made from natural materials.

You can also take steps to minimize the single-use plastic that you add to the environment by adjusting your daily purchase decisions.

For further reading on this subject, follow these links:

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Heat Pump Performance in Cold Climates https://washingtongrovemd.org/sustainability/climate-actions-for-grovers/heat-pump-performance-cold-climates/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heat-pump-performance-cold-climates Wed, 06 Mar 2024 21:45:26 +0000 https://washingtongrovemd.org/?p=40885 In the past, heat pumps were not expected to perform well in colder climates, but as the technology has developed that is no longer the case.  In fact, it is common now to find heat pumps functioning well in very cold climates, such as in Finland and Norway.

Shifting to heat pumps is keeping homes warm in very cold conditions, saving consumers money, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel consumption.  Recently in the USA, no state is adopting heat pumps faster than Maine, where homes have traditionally depended on oil or propane for heating.

For further reading on heat pumps in cold climates, see:

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Invasive Vines Not Wanted in the Grove https://washingtongrovemd.org/flora-fauna/invasive-vines/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=invasive-vines Wed, 06 Dec 2023 19:23:00 +0000 https://washingtongrovemd.org/?p=40006 Before describing two invasive vines, let us consider what makes a non-native plant (also known as an alien plant) invasive and why we should care. An invasive plant must meet two basic criteria:

  1. humans have deliberately or accidentally introduced it into an area where it did not evolve, and
  2. it must be ecologically or economically harmful to the areas where introduced.

These are common traits of invasive plant species:

  • They grow, mature, and spread quickly.
  • They produce and disperse copious seeds.
  • They out-compete native species for critical resources including light, water, and nutrients.
  • They require significant amounts of time, energy, and/or money to control.

Importantly, invasive species are not functioning members of the local ecosystem. They are neither susceptible to most local plant diseases nor palatable to insects. Both vines described here were imported from eastern Asia in the latter half of the 19th century for their

Porcelain berries found near the intersection of Central and Oakmont Avenues.

attractive ornamental berries and their ability to grow quickly on structures. Unfortunately, both are still available in commerce. Fortunately, few of these plants are in Washington Grove, providing us the opportunity to prevent their establishment. If you notice one of these vines on Town land, it would be very helpful if you contact either the F&B Committee (in the residential area email Georgette at GeorgetteWG@gmail.com) or the Woods Committee (in the East or West Woods email Joan at joanmmahaffey@hotmail.com).

Porcelain Berry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata)

Porcelain berry is a member of the grape family (Vitaceae). This deciduous, woody vine develops thick, vast root networks and can grow more than 20 feet tall if trees and shrubs are available for climbing. Its tiny white flowers bloom in mid-summer followed by the colorful transformation of its berries from white to yellow, lilac, green and metallic turquoise. Although the leaves may look like other members of the grape family, there is no mistaking the berries for grapes. Birds and small mammals spread this plant over long distances by eating its fruits. Porcelain berry also reproduces asexually by re-sprouting from roots.

Porcelain berry grows in almost all habitats and particularly well in damp, partially shady areas such as near water bodies, forest edges, and within thickets. The vine can completely engulf and shade out native trees and shrubs. It has the tendency to become a monoculture, thus reducing biodiversity in the habitats that it invades.

Oriental bittersweet growing on the highway fence in lower Piedmont Crossing Park

Roundleaf or Oriental Bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus)

Celastrus orbiculatus is a member of the bittersweet family (Celastraceae). This deciduous, perennial, woody vine can grow up to 60 feet tall and 10 inches in diameter. Its round or elliptical-shaped leaves are usually three to four inches in length.  Fruits have yellow skins that peel back in the fall and reveal bright red berries. These berries remain in the winter after foliage has dropped. Oriental bittersweet is dioecious, meaning that pollen and fruits must come from separate male and female plants. This requirement for cross-fertilization forms the basis for the greatest danger of oriental bittersweet invasion: its ability to hybridize with American bittersweet (C. scandens). Hybridization is the interbreeding of two plants that are genetically different, which may increase the invasiveness of a plant by improving its ability to adapt in areas where it is introduced. Invasive bittersweet is so successful that the genetic identity of our native American bittersweet could become lost, leading to the extinction of the native species. Like other invasive vines, C. orbiculatus outcompetes native vegetation. If left unchecked, it can strangle and kill large trees.

Oriental bittersweet climbing a Norway spruce in Blacksburg Virginia

A range of environments is suitable for oriental bittersweet to thrive, from forested areas near streams to thickets and roadsides with a preference for full sun. In shaded areas the vine will climb trees and shrubs to gain better access to light.

Management

Because both porcelain berry and oriental bittersweet are perennial, woody, deciduous vines, removal methods are nearly identical. Seedlings can be removed by hand, larger vines by shovel or, preferably, by spade to rip roots. Be sure to remove and dispose of the entire root network, or else the vines can grow back from root fragments. Never compost these plants. There are times when the use of herbicides may be necessary. A combination of cutting followed immediately by application of glyphosate to the stump is reported to be the most effective in ensuring control. Chemical and mechanical methods should be applied before the plants fruit because seeds can be spread by birds or remain in the soil seed bank for years. As such, seedlings need to be removed yearly until the seed bank is depleted.

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Washington Grove Celebrates its 150th Anniversary https://washingtongrovemd.org/events/150th-celebration/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=150th-celebration Sat, 07 Oct 2023 19:02:52 +0000 https://washingtongrovemd.org/?p=39680 August 10th – 13th, 2023
     
Mayor John Compton, Delegate Gabe Acevero, Delegate Greg Wims, and State Senator Nancy King at the Town’s 150th Anniversary Celebration
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Washington Grove Bidding Prayer https://washingtongrovemd.org/events/bidding-prayer/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bidding-prayer Sat, 12 Aug 2023 16:14:40 +0000 https://washingtongrovemd.org/?p=39352 On the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Town of Washington Grove

by the Reverend Joseph M. Clark

One hundred fifty years is a big deal. After the Civil War, there was a lot of pent up energy that across the nation manifested in the Camp Meetings and Chautauqua communities. By some accounts, there were hundreds of these places in the South and along the Atlantic seaboard, in the Midwest and western states.

Today, there are a few places left that resemble those first gatherings.

It is worth asking – why us, why this place? We have endured an incredible history of hardships and challenges.

The Civil War:

  • 620,000 died
  • 475,000 injured
  • 400,000 missing

How could you possibly create a new community of hope after something like that?

Then,

Women’s suffrage

World War I

The depression

World War II

The Korean War

Emmett Till

The Kennedy Assassination

The 1960’s with Viet Nam war protests and civil rights struggles

Martin Luther King Assassination

Afghanistan

Iraq

George Floyd

The January 6 assault on the Capitol

A lot of those events tore apart other communities and destroyed individuals and families — and ripped apart the fabric of our civil order.

And through it all, this Town of Washington Grove remains, intact, more than a neighborhood and more like an oasis in a huge urban area.

So let us be slow to criticize and quick to appreciate,

When we disagree or misunderstand, let us listen to each other and make out truth together.

In our sadness and fears, let us put our arms around each other.

In joy, let us laugh and sing and dance together.

In life, let us celebrate our health

In death, let us celebrate our hope.

This year, I ask that we give thanks for two of our mayors who have died… Marc Hansen and Darrell Anderson… for their leadership, wisdom and guidance. We remember them and their families.

It is with humor, friendship, and working together that we sustain a place of peace, serenity, and enormous gratitude for what this place means to so many. It is a precious and fragile gift we hold in trust for our children and the families who will follow us.

Congratulations, good people. Happy 150th Birthday!

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The Prisoners’ Relief Society https://washingtongrovemd.org/history-features/prisoners-relief-society/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=prisoners-relief-society Tue, 08 Aug 2023 17:33:34 +0000 https://washingtongrovemd.org/?p=39327 Why are documents relating to the Prisoners’ Relief Society in Washington Grove’s WWII archives?

At first, one might think that this Society relates to the foreign prisoners of war held here in the Gaithersburg area during WWII.  However, the prisoners being referred to are released convicts, or in modern parlance “ex-cons.”  The goal of the Society was to establish a National Rehabilitation Bureau for men returning to the outside world after their prison terms were up.  To more fully appreciate the Society’s brief connection to the Grove in WWII, a mini-history of the organization follows.

The Prisoners’ Relief Society was founded by Earl Eliott Dudding after his own release from prison in 1914.  Dudding had been a respected and successful small-town shopkeeper whose life changed drastically after he was sentenced in 1909 to five years in prison for manslaughter of his uncle.  Due to extenuating circumstances, Dudding was not given the death penalty or life imprisonment.  In writing about those five years, Dudding referred to them as “the trail of the dead years.”  (This became the title of his book which was published in 1932 and is still available.)

For years, Dudding resided in Washington D.C., and there any prisoner could come for aid.  Around 1936, he worked on establishing a string of farms over the country whereby the ex-prisoners could come to live and work after their release.  They would be given a small salary, free lodging, and clothing, and in addition to farming, there would be the manufacturing of the home handicraft type, lumbering, sawmills and brick making where suitable.  There would be blacksmith shops, machine shops, tailor shops, and basket and furniture making shops.  Since many of the men would be older, a variety of work was planned.  The plan was approved at both federal and state levels.  The theory is “to give the ex-convict a haven to which he can go upon emergence and accustom himself to freedom before facing the world.”  (Summarized from the article “After Prison–What?” by Thomas J. Haskin, Fraternal Order of Police Journal, June 1936, Washington Grove town archives)

Then came World War II, with United States involvement 1941-1945.  While Dudding did make an amazing contribution to the war effort on a national level, he also got involved with Washington Grove on a more personal level.  That is why these documents relating to the Prisoners’ Relief Society are in the Grove’s WWII archives.

Here begins the connection.  On September 5, 1942, Earl E. Dudding, president of the Society wrote to the Washington Grove Town Council explaining that the “Society would like to buy Lot 1-2 and 3 in block 16… and we have this matter up with the State Auditor and the County Commissioners… We would expect to build in time a modest cottage facing on 6th avenue and a frame building on the rear facing the Road suitable for a garage and storage room…This writer and his family would live in the cottage…  This would be attached with our Washington Office as a part of its housing program… we would like to have a writing of an official nature from your body, before, in agreement with the above program.”

The Town’s response on September 8, 1942 was a concise and prompt rejection, based on the Town’s charter not permitting any commercial business or “society or organization of this character.” The Town minutes of September 14, 1942 include a bit of information not gleaned from either of the two letters; these lots were then owned by the Town by reason of purchase at tax sales.

Dudding’s reply of two days later acknowledges that he will abide by the Town’s decision and “that the [Society] has no information of any kind regarding your rules and regulations.” But then he adds (with a bit of irony??): “We own the controlling interest in a large farm near Washington Grove where we intend to establish a project to advance our work of rehabilitation of men.” Dudding concludes in a gentlemanly fashion and in a good spirit. He writes: “The matter is ended and we have no axes to grind or grudges to carry out.” Dudding was quite accustomed to rejection and criticism.

There is one more known event between Dudding and the Town. Despite the Town’s rejection of Dudding’s request to build a cottage and outbuildings within the Town on Lots 1, 2, and 3 of Block 16, Dudding liked the Grove so much that in early 1943 he managed to rent Lot One of Block 16 for a Victory garden and “set about to make it ready for planting to do [his] bit toward the War Effort.” In the process of preparing the garden, he cut down a pear tree and was informed he had violated a Town ordinance.

Dudding’s letter of March 22, 1943 to the Town Council is full of apologies and detailed explanations of why he cut down a “seedling pear tree” on Lot 2, which was casting shade upon a portion of his Victory garden. He explains that he had checked with neighbors who thought it was alright to cut the tree. He saw others all around cutting trees for firewood and believed the pear fruit was of no value and rotted on the tree.

In his letter, Dudding seemed almost desperate to prove to the Town Council that he is an honorable man and would never have willingly violated any ordinance. To prove his point, he enclosed six sheets of carbon copies, each having two recommendations as to Dudding’s excellent character. These references were written by prominent personages in Washington D.C.

Dudding offers to pay any damages but continues to write that he is very poor and has no savings or property because he devoted 28 years to charitable work without a salary. He sums up his case to the Town Council: “I came to Washington Grove because of the illness of my invalid wife, and I want to go back to Washington without any blot on my stay here. Now I shall leave the subject with you.”

Even though Dudding signed the letter at this point, he still had one more point to make in his favor. The postscript reads: “I shall be 82 years old Oct. 16th coming.”

If you have any more information about Dudding and the Grove, please send it to us.

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Architecture and Planning of Independent Assembly Chautauquas https://washingtongrovemd.org/history-features/arch-plan-indep-assembly-chautauquas/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=arch-plan-indep-assembly-chautauquas Sat, 01 Jul 2023 21:04:51 +0000 https://washingtongrovemd.org/?p=38869 (based on Robinson & Associates’ 2019 Historic Context Report, Town of Washington Grove (PDF))

The Chautauqua Movement developed in the last quarter of the nineteenth century to provide programming and courses for cultural uplift and recreation. Those who established Chautauquas across the country largely based their program on their namesake, the original Chautauqua Institution in western New York. The Chautauqua Institution was founded by Methodist bishop John Heyl Vincent and business leader and philanthropist Lewis Miller as a summer school for Sunday school teachers. It was located at a Methodist camp meeting facility on New York’s Chautauqua Lake. Vincent and Miller’s institution added an education component to the Methodist camp meeting program, and, because of these origins, Chautauquas had a long-running connection to American Methodism and camp meetings.

Because Vincent and Miller were not interested in franchising Chautauqua, the movement it inspired was non-hierarchical. What became the Chautauqua Movement manifested itself in two distinct forms – the independent assembly and the circuit Chautauqua.

The circuit Chautauqua was a traveling production that featured a roster of entertainers and educators that visited towns across the United States for just a week or two at a time.

The independent assembly was intended to be in a permanent location and was modeled on the original Chautauqua Institution, with lectures and entertainments, academic programs, and recreation in a resort setting. Local organizing committees were typically established to manage the day-to-day responsibilities for staging the Chautauquas.

Within just two years of the founding of the Chautauqua Institution, three “daughter” Chautauquas had emerged, in Ontario, Michigan, and Iowa. By the turn of the twentieth century, more than 100 towns hosted independent assemblies. At least twenty-two assemblies were formed on preexisting Methodist campgrounds. In many cases, Chautauquas operated alongside regular camp meeting activities. The Mountain Chautauqua, for example, was founded in 1882 by a group of Methodists as part of the summer resort community of Mountain Lake Park in Garrett County, Maryland. It was the first Chautauqua held in Maryland, and, during its heyday between the 1880s and World War I, the Chautauqua’s educational and cultural activities attracted thousands to Mountain Lake Park. The annual summer program spurred the development of numerous cottages, hotels, and public buildings, many of which remain in excellent condition today.

Because of Chautauqua assemblies’ independent status, no guidebook prescribed how the grounds should be organized or how buildings should be designed. Despite this lack of direction, certain national trends in Chautauqua architecture and planning emerged. In his writings, Chautauqua Institution founder John Heyl Vincent imagined a community organized by circles representing progressively sacred spaces, with each level representing a higher attainment of knowledge. Those who came to Chautauqua for entertainment resided in the outer regions, while Chautauqua graduates dwelled in the center – what Vincent deemed “Upper Chautauqua.” While Vincent’s theory was more philosophical than practical, the Upper Chautauqua concept encouraged density and community, goals generally embraced by Chautauqua planners when they laid out their assemblies.

Many Chautauqua assemblies were organized in naturalistic, parklike settings. Often, meandering paths, copses, and grottoes were incorporated into the design of the grounds to encourage a feeling of remoteness. Repudiating the formal grid signaled an urge to be close to nature and an antiurban sentiment. While camp meetings tended to be organized around a central point – the preacher’s stand – Chautauquas typically had several aesthetic foci, as their operation required spaces for religious, educational, and recreation functions. A site plan for the independent assembly at Mahtomedi, Minnesota, which was nestled between the shores of two lakes, featured curvilinear paths and irregular lots. The auditorium (labeled “amphitheater” on the plan) was located in an oval clearing overlooking one of the lakes.

Like many other independent assemblies, the Washington Grove Chautauqua was established on a preexisting camp meeting site. Thus, the spatial arrangement, which combined a wheel plan with a typical suburban gridiron, was predetermined. Chautauqua organizers aimed to create an exotic fantasyland of healthful recreation and learning for their guests. A variety of strategies, many borrowed from Methodist camp meeting sites, were employed to relocate guests to a “‘natural’ landscape to evince a recuperative state of mind.” For instance, Chautauqua grounds could be located at the end of a bridge, on top of a steep hill, on an island, or set within a dense growth of trees. Additionally, elaborate gates, sometimes decorated with classical or biblical design elements, often welcomed guests, further suggesting that one had arrived at a sacred space.

Washington Grove embraced the escapist concept as well. As it had in the camp meeting era, the Grove’s tree canopy contributed to a feeling of an environment separate from the modern world. A promotional pamphlet from 1902 declared, “[the Grove] affords a delightful place for those who desire to escape the oppressive heat of summer and to get out into the woods and fields alongside the quieting and uplifting influence of nature.” Chautauqua assemblies’-built presence varied. Spaces for cultural programming, educational instruction, and recreational purposes ranged from a single building to a resort campus. The rest of the Chautauqua grounds was usually filled out by residential cottages or tents.

An example with a significant built footprint was the National Chautauqua at Glen Echo, Maryland, which featured a series of stone-clad buildings, including an auditorium, a polygonal tower, and an entrance gate complex. The Colorado Chautauqua in Boulder, Colorado, had a community house, an art gallery, academic halls, and an auditorium. Other assemblies, however, particularly those not connected to a real estate venture, were more modest. Some housed all of their programming in a single auditorium building. Many of the early Chautauquas began as camps of tents, which served as residential quarters, classrooms, and meeting halls. Most, however, eventually built permanent accommodations. Some evolved into resorts, with hotels, clubhouses, and restaurants.

The signature building and principal focal point in Chautauqua assemblies was the auditorium, or amphitheater. The Chautauqua Institution included both an auditorium – an open-air structure with a gable-on-hip roof – and a smaller Hall of Philosophy, which was a Greek-style temple for lectures. Because building and maintaining a Hall of Philosophy, in addition to the auditorium, proved difficult for many assemblies, few were built. An auditorium, which housed large quantities of ticket-buyers, on the other hand, was a commercial necessity. Most Chautauquas therefore merely combined the functions into one all-purpose building.

Perhaps the most influential architect to perfect the design of the Chautauqua auditorium was John Cilley of Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Cilley, a self-taught civil engineer, solved a central problem that proved frustrating for auditorium builders – how to support the structure without a center pole, which was often visually obstructive to audiences. Cilley borrowed from advancements in barn architecture for his solution. Triangular trusses began to be used in the 1880s to free barns of the center pole, which obstructed hay loading. Cilley adopted the concept to stabilize the Chautauqua auditoriums he designed. Due to his influence, many auditorium builders started using triangular trusses in rectangular buildings or a Cilley-designed adaptation, which employed steel tie-rods connected to a collector ring in the center, for circular or polygonal buildings.

Auditoriums were typically large, frame structures with simple massing, usually in the form of a rectangle, circle, or polygon. The level of exterior decoration varied, but many were austere. Indeed, some were essentially wooden shells that kept out inclement weather. One assembly admitted its auditorium “makes no claims to architectural beauty.” Some, however, like the Colorado Chautauqua auditorium in Boulder, were expressed with more flare. There, the front façade of the auditorium featured a temple front flanked by pylons. A large dome sat atop the Redondo Beach, California, Chautauqua auditorium. Popular cladding materials for auditoriums included wood siding or shingles.

Other signature features of the Chautauqua assembly auditoriums were clerestory windows for natural light and ventilation and generous window and door openings that let in cross breezes. Creating a space that was readily open to the elements was also meant to emulate the outdoor assembly areas and open-air tabernacles of Methodist camp meetings. Dissolving the division between exterior and interior space was usually accomplished by either incorporating wall openings filled with sliding doors or leaving the walls entirely open. Despite the Colorado Chautauqua auditorium’s decorated front façade, one of its side elevations was left open. Auditorium interiors usually consisted of a single volume with seating and a stage. The stage was usually at one end of the building, even in those that were circular or polygonal.

A notable example of a polygonal-shaped auditorium was the Chautauqua auditorium in Shelbyville, Illinois. Built in 1903, the Shelbyville auditorium was an icosagonal (twenty-sided) frame building. It was sheltered by a compound roof topped by a low drum pierced with clerestory windows. At the roof’s peak was a conical-roofed cupola. The exterior was clad with German siding. Each of its twenty sides was fenestrated with sliding doors and/or a pair of double-hung sash, wood windows.

Chautauqua auditorium, Shelbyville, Illinois (source)

(CJP Architects’ website includes some great historical and contemporary photographs of the Shelbyville auditorium. Don’t miss the interior photos of the auditorium’s amazing roof support structure. )

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Forest Song https://washingtongrovemd.org/events/forest-song/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=forest-song Tue, 20 Jun 2023 16:56:52 +0000 https://washingtongrovemd.org/?p=38729 On the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Town of Washington Grove

by Luther Jett. Copyright 2023.

Before there was a town —fields,
and before the fields
a forest. Chestnut, Oak, Hickory,
Maple. Quartz quarries speak
of an age before even trees.
Tonight we sing of songs
no longer sung and songs to be.

Who came here first? Ancestors
of the birds whose choruses
greet dawn and bid the day adieu,
behemoth saurids whose long strides
shook tender ground. Then fire
and ice, rains upon rains,
woodland and marsh, green springs,
golden autumns. New migrants
followed game down long river valleys.
They came to hunt, to plant, to chip
the pale stones, shape the red clay.

We cannot know the names
they called themselves — Their songs
forgotten now. And who came after?
Farmers and refugees who cleared
timber to make fences, played
their lonesome fiddles late
into the night.

Farm wagons followed tracks
laid down by deer, dusty in summer,
muddy and rutted in spring. Chickens
ran where turkeys gobbled once.
Cattle took the place of deer, dogs
howled to a moon that saw it all
before we came to linger here.

There were drums of war. No battle
here, only widows wearing weeds
to grieve. There were lilacs in the yard.

Before there was a town, the railroad
had to come. Then tent and tabernacle.
New trees planted. Cottages and gravel
paths laid out under maple, hickory,
and oak. The summer people came
and stayed the winter. The townsfolk
sang late, late into the night. Wars came.
Peace followed. Hard times and times
of plenty. More wars. More peace.

Now here we are — and who
will follow us? A song
cannot remain the same,
lest it die. Even the moon
must wax and wane. Tonight
we’ll sing old songs
so new songs might take flight.

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150th Anniversary: About Luther Jett https://washingtongrovemd.org/events/150th-luther-jett/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=150th-luther-jett Mon, 19 Jun 2023 21:34:27 +0000 https://washingtongrovemd.org/?p=38709

Photo by Emily Cavey

W. Luther Jett is a native of Montgomery County, Maryland and a retired special educator. He has been a resident of Washington Grove since 1992.

Luther’s poetry has been published in numerous journals as well as several anthologies. His poem “How Many Fingers’, published in Bourgeon, was nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize.  His poetry performance piece, Flying to America, debuted at the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival in Washington D.C.  He is the author of five poetry chapbooks: “Not Quite: Poems Written in Search of My Father”, (Finishing Line Press, 2015), and “Our Situation”, (Prolific Press, 2018), “Everyone Disappears” (Finishing Line Press, 2020), “Little Wars” (Kelsay Books, 2021), and “Watchman, What of the Night?” (CW Books, 2022). A full-length collection, “Flying to America” is scheduled for release in the spring of 2024 from Broadstone Press. Luther is also the facilitator of a monthly virtual open mike sponsored by the Hyattstown Mill Arts Project in Hyattstown, Maryland.

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150th Anniversary: Puppet Musical https://washingtongrovemd.org/events/150th-puppet-musical/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=150th-puppet-musical Mon, 05 Jun 2023 16:00:16 +0000 https://washingtongrovemd.org/?p=38610 How do we introduce the concept of history to a young child?

This year, Washington Grove celebrates its 150 years of history, the perfect opportunity to teach history to kids.  Arnold’s Flight into History Class: a Puppet Musical began in a brainstorming session with John Harrington, a kindergarten teacher at Rosemont Elementary in Gaithersburg. Three puppets and a chorus of five owlettes drive the discussion of history from ancient to modern times. Ken McCathran is sound engineer. The production will be performed at Acorn Library, August 12, 10:30 am and is appropriate for all ages.

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