Neighborhood

Georgetowner • November 9, 2016

  For some time now, we’ve been noticing with awe the rising influence of inspirational, high-achieving women throughout the Washington area. They are making their mark not only in traditional […]

The Georgetowner •

With Mayor Muriel Bowser in attendance, the D.C. Chamber of Commerce held its annual Chamber’s Choice Awards and Gala at the Marriott Marquis Nov. 4. The theme was “Innovation, Impact […]

Mary Bird •

GALA, a national center for Latino performing arts in Columbia Heights, opened its 12th Annual Flamenco Festival on Nov. 4 with “Salvador.” Edwin Aparicio, recipient of Spain’s Cross of the […]

Georgetowner •

The 23rd annual Knock Out Abuse Against Women gala was held Nov. 3 at the Ritz-Carlton in the West End — and raised more than half-a-million dollars for the nonprofit […]

Robert Devaney • November 8, 2016

“I’ve got my keys,” is the phrase that celebrates the ultimate achievement for those without a home. Meanwhile, Georgetown Ministry Center, chaired by Megan Gabriel and Nancy Taylor Bubes, maintains […]

Gary Tischler • May 4, 2016

Washington is known to politicians and tourists as the granite and marble center of the world, where history, policy, government, embassies and the Powers That Be comingle among the monuments and statuary.

But for residents of the city’s many neighborhoods, Washington has always been a city of trees — in fact a city of foliage and flowers — where oaks, beeches, sycamores and magnolias preside over homes and yards, front and back, shading green lawns and colorful clusters of roses and tulips. If Rock Creek Park sometimes seems like the most endless, greenest place on earth, the blocks of row houses, duplexes, single-family homes and apartment houses, dappled in light and shadow, give the city its lived-in, at-home-with-nature character.

If Washington is a city of trees, then Georgetown is a village of gardens. In spring and fall especially, but all the year through, among the old streets and splendid homes, you can sometimes see the results out front — hints in the flower boxes of the well-tended patios and gardens within.

Every year, the Georgetown Garden Club sponsors its annual Georgetown Garden Tour, when visitors can see and peruse and stroll in gardens on both the east and west side of the village. As always, the tour will benefit local organizations that work for the preservation of gardens, parks and green spaces.

This year’s tour is Saturday, May 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Refreshments made by Garden Club members will be served in Keith Hall at Christ Church, 3116 O St. NW, between 2 and 4 p.m.

Among the nine gardens selected this year is the Pyne garden at the 30th Street house owned by Nancy Gray, the widow of Gordon Gray. A favorite — it was on the tour two years ago — the extensive garden is beautifully planted and maintained. There is an emphasis on boxwoods, especially hardy varieties, and many of the terraces and perennial beds have a formal feel. There are also vegetable gardens designed by Adrian Higgins.

Another highlight is the garden on 34th and O Streets where elegant Georgetown hostess Evangeline Bruce lived with her husband, Ambassador David Bruce. Its garden was designed by Amy Mills. The home, now owned by Kevin Plank of Under Armour, has undergone a complete renovation. A third showpiece is a property that was once adjacent to Tudor Place, featuring a garden with an eye-catching perennial border. The garden was designed to be handicapped accessible.

Tickets for the Garden Tour are $40. Tickets may be purchased online in advance and at Christ Church on the day of the tour. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit
georgetowngardenclubdc.org.
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Robert Devaney • April 27, 2016

It comes but once a year, one of Georgetown’s peak experiences, when homes open up on an April day.

Every year, some wonder how it will all come together. Who will agree to put their place on the tour? Who will host the popular Patrons’ Party — founded by the tour’s heart and soul, 100-year-old Frida Burling? From the co-chairs to the docents, work on this single Georgetown Saturday involves hundreds (not counting the visitors).

Reviewing this newspaper’s pages on the house tour over the years, one reads a living scrapbook of past and present, of people and place. Called “the glue that holds Georgetown together,” the tour provides a living record of the republic’s architecture: Federal, Georgian, Classic, Revival, Victorian and Modern.

Founded in 1931, and thought to be the nation’s oldest such event, the Georgetown House Tour & Tea is a love affair with this town. The 2016 tour, the 85th, will feature 10 private homes on Saturday, April 23.

In fact, this year — with co-chairs Jill and Scott Altman — it looks like the sky’s the limit. Scott is a former NASA astronaut and Jill is an astronaut’s wife.

“It’s an exciting year with Jill and Scott Altman leading our mission!” says Reverend Gini Gerbasi, rector at St. John’s Church on O Street. “The Georgetown House Tour provides vital funding for St. John’s ministries that support the needy in our community. We are grateful to the Altmans and every St. John’s member, friend and sponsor who contributes to this celebrated Georgetown tradition.”

“The thing I love most about Georgetown is being able to walk everywhere,” Jill says. “I am a gardener and look forward to spring because we have an explosion of bulbs everywhere. During the blizzard, we joined friends almost every evening for dinner. I also love that we are so close to all that D.C. has to offer. There is a real sense of community here. The house tour is special to me because it is a tremendous labor of love.”

Scott says his favorite thing “about Washington, and especially about Georgetown, is just walking around and breathing in all the history and stories that have taken place here. I love knowing that both Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln visited soldiers in hospitals here in Georgetown and that there is a continuity in this town that will continue after we are gone.”

Each year, the tour co-chairs work overtime to coordinate all the parts of the show, and each year their own life stories reveal a part of Georgetown — and add to its story.

Jill and Scott Altman met in San Diego at a friend’s engagement party. He was a Navy aviator and she, a college senior. “Are you one of those jet jocks?” Jill asked Scott, who was stationed at nearby Naval Air Station Miramar, known then as “Fightertown, USA.” She knew how haughty fighter pilots were. “You think you’re Prince Charming?” she parried, after he took her shoe, drank champagne out of it and kept the shoe — ensuring a date the next day at the Old Globe theater in Balboa Park.

Within months, the two — each with Midwestern roots — were engaged. They married in 1984. As a F-14 pilot in the Weapons School program, Scott acted as a stunt double and flew his plane in the 1986 film “Top Gun” starring Tom Cruise. For the movie, he buzzed the station’s control tower — an insane maneuver in real life. He also got to flip the bird, so to speak, to a MiG pilot flying alongside his jet. He was shown upside down. (Yes, some tricks of the camera were used, and the rumors are true: a “Top Gun 2” is planned.)

Next up for the Altmans was Monterey and Naval Postgraduate School, with Scott as an F-14D test pilot. Later on, there was an assignment in this area at Naval Air Station Patuxent River — as well as months in the Indian Ocean. At the time, Jill worked for Pacific Southwest Airlines and could readily fly to ports where the supercarrier USS Carl Vinson docked.

After medal-earning missions over Iraq’s no-fly zone in the 1990s, the Navy captain got the call from NASA. He had been rejected two years earlier. At six-foot-four, he was able to become a naval aviator (he was too tall for the Air Force). At the end of his second consideration, he told the NASA interviewers in Houston that his grandmother already thought he was an astronaut. He became one in 1995.

Scott had seen the Apollo 11 lunar landing on live television as a ten-year-old in Pekin, Illinois, next to Peoria. His love of flight was egged on by the “Sky King” TV series. Today, there is an elementary school named after him in Pekin. He was also honored by his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, with a bust of his likeness. And about 10 years ago, he met his hero, astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.

For her part, Jill — originally from Tucson, Arizona — was happy to hold down the home front, raising three boys and playing her part as an astronaut’s wife during 15 years in Houston, home to the Johnson Space Center.

“NASA took good care of us,” Jill says. She recalls walking past the space shuttle at the Kennedy Space Center launch pad in Florida. “It was amazing to be that close. You could almost touch the shuttle. Astronaut wives were usually relieved when MECO [main engine cut off] was announced, but Columbia showed us that danger continued throughout the mission.” (Shuttle Columbia burned up in the atmosphere during its descent in February of 2003.)

Her husband — known as Scooter and considered NASA’s tallest astronaut — went on four shuttle missions as pilot or commander, logging more than 40 days in space. His last time up was as commander of Atlantis, STS-125, in May of 2009. It was the last service mission for the Hubble Space Telescope, itself a singular achievement.

During his first time in space, Scott glimpsed his hometown in Illinois. “It was an incredible feeling to look down and see the place where I grew up, where so many of my friends and family still live,” he says. “It was an emotional rush for me that put the whole spaceflight in a human perspective.

“I also felt that way as we flew over the Holy Land. It is amazing to look down on that part of our planet and think of how much impact that land and the people who lived there long ago are still having on us today.

“On my last mission, after having so many struggles with the repairs to Hubble, but finally being able to release the telescope with all our repairs completed, it felt good to set Hubble free to continue its voyage of discovery of our incredible universe.”

In 2010, with the U.S. manned space program on hiatus, Scott retired as an astronaut and the Altmans moved to Georgetown.

Scott works for Arctic Slope Regional Corp. as a vice president in its Engineering and Aerospace Solutions section in Beltsville, Maryland. The firm provides federal services, including those that assist the Orion program, NASA’s next manned project, and works with engineers at the Goddard Space Center. Among her charities, Jill is on the board of directors of the Georgetown Senior Center and the Salvation Army Grate Patrol.

The two are members of St. John’s Church. Scott gave a stirring homily on God, science and faith — with an image from the Hubble Telescope shown above the altar — during a service at St. John’s last year. His faith in God got him through very tough basic training, he says, adding, “It’s hard to imagine an atheist in the cockpit of the space shuttle.”

The Altmans have three grown sons: Daniel, Alexander and Michael. Mom and Dad live on 36th Street with their little white coton named Roxie. Neighbors include Georgetown College Dean Chester Gillis, real estate agent Michelle Galler, Robin and Jeff Jones — who is an advisory neighborhood commissioner and an airline pilot — and two 90-year-old nuns. Jack the Bulldog, the sports mascot for Georgetown University, lives across the street. Scott likes that Mike Lackey, whose O Street house is on the tour, also flew F-14s.

While we wonder if Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer will indeed fly again in the movies, we know that Scott Altman would like to return to space. “I’ve had a fun ride,” he says. “I stood on the shoulders of giants. I like to imagine that someone I’ve talked to will become the first person to walk on Mars.”

As participants in the Georgetown House Tour experience on a small scale, the houses, the people, the stories collectively reveal this extraordinary neighborhood in the nation’s capital. One might even say that Scott has taken the ultimate house tour: he has orbited our home planet — with Jill keeping it all together on the good earth. [gallery ids="102408,122237,122230,122246,122241" nav="thumbs"]

Shelia P. Moses • April 18, 2016

You can’t walk two blocks in Georgetown without passing a church tucked in between the 18th- and 19th-century homes, or beside an upscale boutique or consignment shop. If you stroll further, you’ll see yet another church or a small cemetery next to one of our famous restaurants.

One thing is for sure, when historians write the real history of Georgetown, the places of worship will be featured. This history will include the Lutheran Church of Georgetown, which has occupied the corner of Volta Place and Wisconsin Avenue for 240 years. Georgetown Lutheran is not only the oldest Lutheran church in Washington, D.C., it was founded 32 years before Washington was organized as the nation’s capital.

The original building was a log cabin, erected in 1769, that served as the place of worship until a newer structure was built in 1835. The members worshiped and went to school at this location until the cornerstone was laid for a new building in 1867. In 1919, a faithful member named Daniel Eli donated $50,000 to the church to build the beautiful building that now stands.

The members are as faithful today as they were almost one hundred years ago when Eli made the donation. They showed their faithfulness when they found themselves at a crossroad three years ago and $30,000 in debt to the IRS.

Interim Reverend Dr. Janice Mynchenberg stepped in, to not only help solve their financial problems, but to help mend the broken hearted. Her duties as interim pastor might range from six months to an indefinite number of years. She has been at Georgetown Lutheran for three years, with no regrets.

“When I came here I found that the church was not just broken with financial issues, but with the broken hearted. The members remained faithful to God and to this church, so it was not hard to get back on the road to recovery. I am so proud of the way they not only paid off their debt but … they came together as a congregation.”

In the beautiful sanctuary, Reverend Mynchenberg’s face lit up as she explained their journey back to being a healthy church. “People actually walked by and thought this church was closed to the public and deemed a historical site. People get the wrong idea when things go wrong. They are on the outside looking in. There is life and fellowship in this building.”

She is right about the building and the people that I interviewed after service. The church is filled with members willing to give, not only to the survival of the building, but to each other and their community.

Sara Kaufman serves as treasurer and has a wealth of knowledge about the church she loves so much. She couldn’t resist telling me the history of the beautiful Celtic harp that stands from the floor to the ceiling in the back of the church. The instrument is as beautiful as the sound that music director and organist Pat Henry makes with it during the services.

Ranging from treasurer to music director, they all have so much to give. Giving is what Reverend Mynchenberg’s sermon was about as the members listened with care. “It is harder for a rich man to get to heaven than it is a camel to get through the eye of a needle,” she told her congregation as she talked about patterning your life to do good for God and your neighbor. You have to be willing to give and also live your life in a way that is pleasing to God. When you do wrong, you are separating yourself from God and from the good he has in store for you.

It is clear that her congregation has not separated themselves from God nor from their neighbors. They may have been broken for a season but they are not broken for life. On second and fifth Sundays, the members stay after church and prepare meals for the needy in the community. As they work their laughter fills the cross-covered walls of the sanctuary.

“The crosses are gifts from people around the world,” the pastor told me as I was leaving — which was hard to do as I was caught up reading some of the messages posted beside the crosses. As I looked at the crosses I left knowing that whatever was broken is now restored.

Shelia P. Moses • March 30, 2016

“He is worthy, he is worthy, worthy to be praised.”

The hymn warmed my heart as I walked closer to Mount Zion United Methodist Church on a freezing cold February morning. When I entered the sanctuary, I knew I was in no ordinary church. I was standing on sacred ground.

The architectural design of the oldest African American Methodist church in the nation’s capital was so overwhelming that it became difficult to focus on the hymn. It is clear that Father Time has taken a toll on the halls and the ceiling, but not on the souls of the people. The congregation is a combination of young and elderly. Many of the members are related and their history can be traced back generations — not just to the current building but to the original church their ancestors started in 1816.

Pastor Johnsie Cogman, who came to Mount Zion five years ago, knows all the details of the church’s origins. When she speaks, you can almost see the 120 men and women who grew weary of the racial divide at Montgomery Methodist Church (now called Dumbarton United Methodist Church) 200 years ago.

The vision of their ancestors’ pain is hard to forget, but a moment of reckoning came when Pastor Mary Kay Totty from Dumbarton Methodist arrived at Mount Zion last October. She came to apologize to the descendants of those wronged all those years ago. Pastor Totty presented a crystal dove in remembrance of the past and in hope for their future. Even before the dove’s arrival, the two churches were serving the community together.

There is joy in Cogman’s voice when she talks about the Saturday dinners Mount Zion started providing three years ago. The church collaborates with Dumbarton Methodist and four other churches in Georgetown to feed those in need every Saturday at 5 p.m. The hot meals are served on china with tablecloths and silverware. Those who have fallen on hard times do not drink out of paper cups but sip from glasses.

The coalition of churches will continue to serve the dinners at Jerusalem Baptist until the new kitchen at Mount Zion is completed this summer. This is one of many projects the members are happy to see expand, while celebrating 200 years of love and fellowship.

Cogman and the members are equally excited about the future of Mount Zion after all the fanfare of the anniversary is over.
“We have a lot to be thankful for,” says member and Georgetown native Vernon Ricks. “I was born in Georgetown, but my family was forced out when I was eight years old. My folks could no longer afford to live here when wealthy white families started buying up the area. They bought everything except the churches. By the grace of God we held our ground on the churches.” There is sadness in his voice when he tells the story of walking back from 18th Street to Mount Zion, no matter the weather, every Sunday morning.

Today, there are only a few members who still live in Georgetown. Like Ricks, the families commute to the area they once called home. He has witnessed the church leadership change over and over again. He welcomes the young leaders like Pam Coleman, who has been a member all of her life.

Coleman tells stories about the church, as well as about the cemetery that sits on the hillside a few blocks away, behind Q Street near Rock Creek. Yes, their ancestors are gone on to glory, but their resting place is in despair, like many African American burial grounds around the country. She is sure that one day they will be able to honor their ancestors by repairing these sacred grounds.

Hopeful that people around the country will learn about the Mount Zion she loves so much, Coleman is writing a letter to President Obama and his family to invite them to the final 200th Anniversary service. She wants the president to know their story. There is too much history for Cogman, Coleman or Ricks to remember, as he continues to tell their story.

Mount Zion held a health and wellness fair at the church last Sunday. On the sidewalk you could find the pastor popping popcorn and inviting people to go inside. There are more activities to come, including members participating in the 25th anniversary celebration of the book, “Black Georgetown Remembered,” at Georgetown University Feb. 24. The formal anniversary dinner will be held Sept. 30 with the 200th anniversary Sunday Service Oct. 2.

“Pastor Cogman has a fire inside her that we need at Mount Zion,” Ricks says. It is clear that she is as beloved by the members as the church.

“We are a church that loves God,” says Cogman. “Yes, we have a rich history, but we are moving forward into tomorrow to serve God and this community.” [gallery ids="102252,128871" nav="thumbs"]