Now that spring has finally sprung, I look forward to our walks at my favorite local place to watch the seasons turn: the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve. Just south of Old Town Alexandria along the scenic George Washington Memorial Parkway, Dyke Marsh does have its scrappy patches, the old wounds still visible and, in places, growing. Still, there … Continue reading
As you fly into DC, a bizarre structure greets you, monumentally confusing in its architectural references. I saw it as a Greek temple with the Ark of the Covenant stacked on top and opened up like a Russian matryoshka doll to issue a garland of diminishing square vessels into the sky. It is an eyeful … Continue reading
If you find yourself in Washington, DC, with a morning or an afternoon to spare, consider crossing the sleepy Potomac into Virginia: On a warm, sunny day, a stroll through Old Town Alexandria is an engaging stroll through history–local and national. Established by Scottish merchants in 1749 and laid out with help of a 17-year-old apprentice surveyor named George Washington, … Continue reading
The summer is almost over, and I am ready for autumn to begin (DC summers are entirely too hot, humid, and, lately, temperamental for comfort). Here is a memory of early summer, before it became its usual impossible self, from one of my favorite places to watch the seasons turn: Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, a … Continue reading
Its entrance lost among the storefronts of Old Town Alexandria’s South Fairfax St., just off the bustling King St., a wonderful place is waiting to be stumbled upon: the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum. A family-owned business from 1792 to 1933, the apothecary played part in Alexandria’s history from the Revolutionary War (filling orders for the Washingtons … Continue reading
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