1
10
2
-
https://mallhistory.org/files/original/f112cf5a2d5131edbf59ec6fc3b4a043.jpg
dc34d41208d9884b89686a2397d3e767
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Text
Any textual data included in the document.
<p class="p1">Conrad's boarding house was on the south side of Capitol hill and commanded an extensive and beautiful view. It was on the top of the hill, the precipitous sides of which were covered with grass, shrubs and trees in their wild uncultivated state. Between the foot of the hill and the broad Potomac extended a wide plain, through which the Tiber wound its way. The romantic beauty of this little stream was not then deformed by wharves or other works of art. Its banks were shaded with tall and umbrageous forest trees of every variety, among which the superb Tulep-Poplar rose conspicuous; the magnolia, the azalia, the hawthorn, the wild-rose and many other indigenous shrubs grew beneath their shade, while violets, anemonies and a thousand other sweet wood-flowers found shelter among their roots, from the winter's frost and greeted with the earliest bloom the return of spring. The wild grape-vine climbing from tree to tree hung in unpruned luxuriance among the branches of the trees and formed a fragrant and verdant canopy over the greensward, impervious to the noon day-sun. Beautiful banks of Tiber! delightful rambles! happy hours! How like a dream do ye now appear. Those trees, those shrubs, those flowers are gone. Man and his works have displaced the charms of nature. The poet, the botanist, the sportsman and the lover who once haunted those paths must seek far hence the shades in which they delight. Not only the banks of the Tiber, but those of the Potomack and Anacosta, were at this period adorned with native trees and shrubs and were distinguished by as romantic scenery as any rivers in our country. Indeed the whole plain was diversified with groves and clumps of forest trees which gave it the appearance of fine park. Such as grew on the public grounds ought to have been preserved, but in a government such as ours, where the people are sovereign, this could not be done. <em>The people</em>, the poorer inhabitants cut down these noble and beautiful trees for fuel. In one single night seventy tulip-Poplars were <em>girdled</em>, by which process life is destroyed and afterwards cut up at their leisure by the people. Nothing afflicted Mr. Jefferson like this wanton destruction of the fine trees scattered over the city-grounds.</p>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
The Mall in 1800
Description
An account of the resource
In this passage, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/118">Margaret Bayard Smit</a>h describes the Mall as it was when she first arrived in Washington in 1800, a plain covered in trees, shrubs, and flowers. By the time she wrote this passage in 1837, the banks of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/40">Tiber</a> had been transformed into the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/41">Washington Canal</a>, and the groves had been harvested for timber for the new city.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Margaret Bayard Smith
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<div class="csl-bib-body">
<div class="csl-entry">Smith, Margaret Bayard. <a><em>The First Forty Years of Washington Society</em></a>. Edited by Gaillard Hunt and J. Henley Smith. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1906.</div>
</div>
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1837
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1800-1829
building the mall
design & monuments
environment
ghost mall
-
https://mallhistory.org/files/original/23b929da599d7724bdfba7685f5a99d2.png
a3b859a5dffd56416e62e2af2bc05d60
Omeka Image File
The metadata element set that was included in the `files_images` table in previous versions of Omeka. These elements are common to all image files.
Width
402
Height
523
Bit Depth
8
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Screenshot from frontispiece of GoogleBooks edition of Hunt, Gailliard, ed. The First Forty Years of Washington Society: Portrayed by the Family Letters of Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith (Margaret Bayard) from the Collection of her Grandson, J. Henley Smith. New York: Scribner, 1906.
People
An individual, biographical data, birth and death, etc.
Birth Date
02/20/1778
Birthplace
Pennsylvania
Death Date
06/07/1844
Biographical Text
<p>Margaret Bayard was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of a revolutionary war officer. In addition to her seven siblings, her parents also raised her three orphaned cousins. Margaret and her sisters attended the Moravian School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where they learned German, arithmetic, and literature, in addition to embroidery and the other domestic skills usually taught to young women. In 1791, at the age of 13, Margaret went to live in New York City with one of her sisters and her brother-in-law, through whom she met New York intellectual elites.</p>
<p>In 1800, she married Samuel Harrison Smith, a newspaper writer and publisher who was friends with <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/301">Thomas Jefferson</a>, then president-elect. Shortly after the wedding the Smiths moved to Washington, DC, where at Jefferson's request Mr. Smith established a newspaper, the Daily Intelligencer. The Smiths were among the earliest long-term, year-round residents of the new national capital, and became part of its core social community. At her home in Washington, Margaret Bayard Smith entertained politicians, artists, authors, and journalists, of all political persuasions.</p>
<p>When she could, Smith spent time at her country house, Sidney, which although removed from the city was still within the boundaries of the District of Columbia. There, she had an attic room where she could read and write without the constant interruptions she experienced in the city. She wrote two novels published in the 1820s, as well as short stories, poems, and short non-fiction essays that were published in literary magazines and newspapers. Smith was also a prolific <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/363">diarist</a>, recording her thoughts in a series of commonplace books for most of her adult life. In addition to teaching her children, Smith gave basic lessons in reading, writing, and math to local children, including poor and African American children, and her servants. At one point her informal schoolroom served ten students. Her philanthropy extended beyond education; she helped establish an orphanage and school for girls in Washington.</p>
First Name
for nav purposes
Margaret
Last Name
for nav purposes
Smith
Occupation
Author
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Margaret Bayard Smith
Description
An account of the resource
Margaret Bayard Smith was a writer and a vital figure in the early social life of Washington, DC. Her letters and diaries provide some of the best descriptions of early Washington. <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/363">In 1837 she recorded what the Mall looked like when she and her husband moved to Capitol Hill in 1800</a>: "Between the foot of the hill and the broad Potomac extended a wide plain, through which the Tiber wound its way. The romantic beauty of this little stream was not then deformed by wharves or other works of art."
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Hunt, Gailliard, ed.<a> <em>The First Forty Years of Washington Society.</em></a> New York: Scribner, 1906. Quotation from page 10. <a href="https://archive.org/details/firstfortyyearso00smituoft">View original document</a>.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1800-1829
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Margaret Bayard Smith
everyday life
work & play