Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D. C.

Washington’s Favorite, Sept. 28 – 29  1907

                B. and L.

Horse-drawn carriages and trolley cars mingled with the newfangled motor cars that made Pennsylvania Avenue a noisy busy scene for our honeymooners Bessie and Luke as they toured Washington, D. C. over the weekend.  Bessie called the street Washington’s Favorite to indicate the importance she felt it had for the city in 1907 and, indeed, it remains the most famous avenue in the city a century later.

Saturday morning was cool and crisp as the couple continued their adventures with a visit to The Smithsonian Institute where they were immersed in the museum of American history and its most recent significant addition, the flag known as The Star-Spangled Banner.  The flag was loaned to the Smithsonian in 1907 by a Maryland family that had owned it since it flew proudly at the Baltimore garrison which successfully resisted the British naval bombardment in the War of 1812.  An American lawyer named Francis Scott Key had watched the cannons fire during the night from a boat a short distance away and when he saw the ragged American flag raised as the light of dawn bathed the scene,  he wrote the words to what would be recognized as our national anthem by President Herbert Hoover in 1931.  When Luke and Bessie saw it in the Institute almost a hundered after the War of 1812, they were moved by the careful preservation of the tattered faded stars and stripes.  What a country!

Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C. 

Sat Sept 28, 1907

No time to linger here, though, as they needed to grab a quick lunch before the afternoon’s excitement of a  tour of The Capitol…food required for stamina.

The Capitol, Front View                            Washington, D. C. 

Prettiest View, Sep 28  –   1907

House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

Sat Sept. 28th from 12:30 – 4:30

Spent in Capitol

Capitol, West.  Washington, D. C. 

Capitol has 437 rooms in all. We spent 4 hrs here on p.m. Sep 28. Sat. 1907- A guide explained all to us.

       L and Bess

 Although the tour of The Capitol ended at 4:30, Luke and Bessie decided to save the rest of their D. C. sightseeing for Sunday.  The Smithsonian and The Capitol in one day had been overwhelming – an overload of facts and hard on the feet in pre-tennis shoe days.  Luke’s leather boots and Bessie’s honeymoon heels weren’t designed for comfortable wear and their adrenalin sagged in the late afternoon.  Get to the hotel and lie down, they decided…have a late dinner and a little night music.

And that’s where we’ll leave them until tomorrow…