We invite you to take a deep dive into local history by watching a recording of a Feb. 7, 2024, webinar hosted by HCCDC featuring two guest historians, Mark Auslander of Mount Holyoke College and Lisa Fager of Black Georgetown Foundation. The hour-long program focused on what burial records at one of the oldest African American cemeteries in the Nation’s Capital tell us about the connections individuals with roots in Chevy Chase DC’s Black enclaves and plantations made in the their lives, since few historical records are available to tell their stories. The cemetery is the joint Mount Zion-Female Band Society Cemetery in Georgetown.

Watch the program here.

The Webinar builds on the HCCDC’s years of advocacy work to amplify the voices of free and formerly enslaved people who lived here long before the streetcar suburb of Chevy Chase DC was created. The research by historians Auslander and Fager further illuminates the connections these Black communities made across the Capitol area that helped individuals survive and thrive in a time of immense hardship from before the Civil War to the Jim Crow era. 

These include persons enslaved on the Belt plantation, in the vicinity of present-day Chevy Chase Circle, including those who were transferred to various Belt land holdings in Prince George’s and Calvert counties, and who, in some instances, escaped back to the District of Columbia in the late slavery period.

They also trace Mount Zion’s connections to free Black families who farmed on Pointer-Harris-Dorsey properties, the present day location of Lafayette Elementary School and Lafayette-Pointer Park on Broad Branch Road.  

Auslander, a Ph.D. sociocultural anthropologist, teaches anthropology at Mount Holyoke College in Western Massachusetts. His  award-winning  book, The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race and Finding an American Family (University of Georgia Press, 2011), rethinks American racial politics under slavery and post-slavery through structuralist approaches to mythology and kinship. He has also written on the role of enslaved persons in the construction of the Smithsonian and the making of the lands that became Sidwell Friends and the National Cathedral campuses.

Auslander grew up on Chevy Chase Parkway and attended Lafayette Elementary School. Although he has long worked on histories of enslavement, liberation, and race in D.C., only recently did he realize that he came of age on land that once were inhabited by persons enslaved by the Belt family from the 18th century until the Civil War era.  In dialogue with descendant families and HCCDC members, he has been reconstructing histories of slavery and freedom-making in Chevy Chase DC.

Lisa Fager is the executive director of Black Georgetown Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reclaiming the past and preserving the future of the historic Mt. Zion and Female Union Band Society cemeteries in Georgetown – active from 1808 to 1950 and historically African American. She leads the efforts to protect and restore this American treasure, and to resurrect the wealth of stories and historical artifacts that reflect the rich legacy of Black Georgetown.

The post Feb. 7 Webinar Recording Now Available appeared first on Historic Chevy Chase DC.

Watch the April 7 discussion here.

The event featured HCCDC’s Carl Lankowski, Ward3Vision’s Matt Bell and Ellen McCarthy along with David Cristea. They discussed the draft plan, affordable housing options, and how an SAP gets implemented. Audience questions focused on how the plan does or does not control development along Connecticut Avenue, its apparent lack of integration with other concerns such as parking and school capacity, and a reference to future land use changes outside the narrow area of the SAP. 

The Panel: Matt Bell is an award-winning architect, professor, and member of the DC Historic Preservation Board; David Cristeal is a city planner focusing on finance and land-use tools to expand housing affordability; and Ellen McCarthy is a neighbor, urban planner, and former director of the DC Office of Planning. As president of HCCDC, I’ll be moderating the discussion.

Why Now? After a year of engagement, the DC Office of Planning last month issued its draft Small Area Plan. Its goal is to address community ambitions for sustainable growth, retain Chevy Chase’s unique Main Street character, and provide opportunities to welcome new neighbors with increased housing choice and enhanced social inclusivity. Our question is, how does the SAP propose to make this happen?  And how do we formulate next steps? The public comment period ends on May 13.

Background: The draft plan follows a year of assessment of the Chevy Chase DC Gateway and the commercial corridor between Chevy Chase Circle and Livingston Street. The neighborhood has been involved via a citizens’ advisory committee and myriad events organized by community groups including the Chevy Chase Citizens’ Association, Ward3Vision, Washington Interfaith Network, Historic Chevy Chase DC and Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3/4 G.

HCCDC’s Role. HCCDC has enthusiastically welcomed the small area plan process as an opportunity to celebrate what we cherish while learning from our past and reconnecting with the rest of the city on which our livelihoods depend. Our role is not just to preserve our history but to reimagine our portion of the Connecticut Avenue Corridor for the generations to come, managing change in accordance with the values we espouse.

For more information, download the draft CC Small Area Plan Here.

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“Picture the Plan: Let’s Talk About Shaping Chevy Chase DC’s Future,” had an impressive turnout of more than 115 viewers, said Chas Cadwell of HCCDC who curated the many questions from the audience typed into the chatbox.

The webinar, hosted by HCCDC President Carl Lankowski, featured a series of streetscape visualizations created by Ward3Vision, a neighborhood organization that advocates for “even better urban places – more walkable, sustainable, and vibrant.” Ron Eichner, a founding member of Ward3Vision who is a longtime Chevy Chase DC resident, former planner, and real estate developer who focuses on Smart Growth, said the idea was to “move the conversation … from the abstract to specific options.”

The development featured in the Ward3Vision graphics focused on the “Gateway” portion of Connecticut Avenue — from the Chevy Chase Circle to Livingston Street — and adds about 750 units of housing, each an average of 900 square feet. Of those, 230 would be “affordable,” according to the definition used by the city — a complicated formula that equals “up to 80 percent of mean family income” and caps rents at 30 percent of household income.

The presentation featured Ward 3 resident Matt Bell, architect and urban designer who teaches at the University of Maryland and has designed numerous  projects in the DMV, and Chevy Chase DC neighbor Ellen McCarthy, principal at the Urban Partnership LLC and former DC Director of Planning. But the bulk of the evening will be reserved for questions, discussions and debate moderated by HCCDC President Carl Lankowski.

Ward3Vision has been active in the process leading to the adoption of revisions to DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s citywide Comprehensive Plan, advocating for efforts such as the Chevy Chase Small Area Plan. It supports Smart Growth solutions and has participated in task forces and committees throughout Ward 3 to address planning, sustainability, racism, and social equity issues. 

Eichner characterizes the Ward3Vision concept as “not quite a plan, but it identifies opportunity sites and presents a framework for further discussion and design during the Small Area Plan process.”

In announcing the event, Lankowski noted that HCCDC’s goal is to promote informed discussion, debate, and engagement around the community’s history, streetscape and future development. “The Ward3Vision team makes a very useful contribution to the many discussions of the Small Area Plan, and we are happy to host this event to let Chevy Chase neighbors hear their ideas and join the discussion,” he said.

Questions from the Chatbox 10/6/2021

08:02 PM I wholeheartedly support the goals, especially adding more affordable housing.  Current neighborhood schools are very overcrowded. What is the plan for adding school capacity given that we are looking to add new housing?

08:01 PM How many affordable units do you anticipate under your plan? Why only 20% of total units? How much would an affordable unit cost in today’s dollars?

08:03 PM  how does this vision incorporate DDOT’s proposed protected bike lanes on each side of conn ave. and your statement about plenty of parking on conn ave?

08:06 PM  With regard to parking, shouldn’t we encourage use of buses rather than inviting driving to this area, in line with the environmental and life quality goals?  At Comm. Chang’s discussion last week, we found out that the apartment building residents on the panel all bike, walk and/or use public transportation.  Not everyone drives or should drive.

08:08 PM  How will the school district address the increase in housing/residency in the Chevy Chase DC area ? Specifically, I understand that Lafayette Elementary is already working with limited space, particularly for the pre-K 4 program.

08:09 PM  While the existing “Gateway” buildings are taller, they are not surounded by other tall structures — so, they don’t feel as tall or cramped. Whereas, the vision buildings packed in those spaces would not feel as human scale as the “Blessed Sacrament” apartment building or the L&F building seem. Also, the architecture of the “Blessed Sacrament” apartment building is lovely…..doubt that new construction would equal or surpass since developers generally care more about the bottom line.

08:11 PM  The playground, basketball court/pickleball court and tenis back board are constantly in use.  The concept shown here does not include any outdoor recreation area.  How does this lack of open outdoor space conforn to the four goals laid out at the beginning of this presentation?

07:59 PM  Where do all the new residents and visitors park?

08:01 PM  Thanks for this presentation.  Any consideration of Military Rd. up to Friendship Hts as that is the walking route to Metro?

08:01 PM  Are we within walking distance of transit ? Where is the nearest transit? What is the frequency of transit for people that are in these areas?

08:01 PM  Solar?  seems to be a maximum residential development scenario… what happened to basekball and playground space adjacent to library and community cetner that is in great demand and constant use?

08:02 PM  Do you envision some kind of shuttle transport from the Fr. Hts Metro stop?

08:02 PM Could some green space and/or a fountain be added in along Connecticut to create some natural gathering spaces.

08:02 PM  Doesn’t underground parking compete with affordable housing?  Both add costs.  If you have more of one, you have less of the other, yes?

08:03 PM  Why limit height to 65 feet?  Why not make it consistent at 90 feet like the buildings below Livingston?

08:04 PM  Thank you for all of your efforts. I think this vision would go a long way towards helping to address climate change and affordable housing. I appreciate the idea of keeping some of the individual storefronts on the west side as I think they have a lot of character. If this is further developed, I’d love to see bike lanes!

08:08 PM  Where are alterantives and how was this alternative chosen… seems to respond to a question where can we maximize INFILLING… rather than plan and preserve

08:09 PM  Responding to an earlier question regarding the height of buildings…having 90′ buildings will destroy the character of ChevyChase DC

Ellen McCarthy 08:20 PM Existing apartment buildings of Chevy Chase are already 90 feet.

08:13 PM  Disappointing that the VISION here does not examine streetscape and existing retail for livable neighborhood.  This areal view just seems again to maximize opportunity for in filling rather than any kind of  vision for what this would feel like as an experience.  So it answers one question…how many units of housing can you fit into this area… does not really provide a VISION.  Appreciate the build up…but can use alot more refinement.

08:16 PM  900 square feet per unit is not family-sized. Affordable family-sized homes are a priority for this community.

08:18 PM  900 square feet per unit is not the size of unit that will attract teachers or public service employee with families.  Our goal should be to provide housing within our neighborhood that is affordable for families not just single bedrooms or studios!

08:19 PM  You know better.  This is a vision that happens if the property owners think it works for them economically.

08:20 PM  Then let’s encourage larger apartments

08:20 PM  Will there be infrastructure developed for all the new families, like schools etc ?

07:50 PM  On the screen, “Looking Ahead, Which models are best,” are these 65-75 feet high?

07:59 PM  The renderings suggest fairly large buildings, but earlier you spoke of the promise of smaller parcels.

08:00 PM  As for height, the height of the 5333 building was considered too high by many of us

08:01 PM  Approximately how many residential units would be included in this 30 year vision?

08:01 PM  65′-75′ is 7 story building in your proposal, correct? The current zoning only allows 40′ high building which is 4 story and the scale is much better for the chevy chase circle. Why can’t your plan work as 4-5 story buildings?

08:02 PM  It seems like the density of all of the fill-in townhouses is too great for the area

08:02 PM  Why are the tallest buildings to be located at Chevy Chase Circle, which is at the top of the Connecticut Avenue incline?  A better height transition would be to have the tallest buildings at Livingston and then go DOWN in height as you move north along Connecticut Avenue.

08:02 PM  Thank you for this really helpful visual presentation.  How does Ward3Vision’s suggested building height  limit correspond to the proposed new heights that are being considered in the new zoning regs.

08:04 PM  Didn’t the zoning regulation rewrite of 2016 restrict the amount of parking required and allowed in a new development? And developers generally demur from building much underground parking due to the cost.

08:05 PM  Parking now fills the street areas to the west of Conn Ave on Saturdays and when popular movies are at the Avalon. With the planned density, it is imperative to plan for underground public parking.

08:05 PM  If 750 new units, how many would be affordable under the updated IZ requirements?  How does this number reflect the DC owned property at the  library/community center?  Is that assumed to be 100% affordable?

08:06 PM  Does seem out of scale, and how does this relate to historic nature of Chevy Chase DC… This seems to ignore existing character…. This is maximum infill without regard to existing retail…

08:06 PM  Just wondering how different heights on the two sides of conneticut will feel like. It might create an un balanced streetscape. Just a thought.

08:07 PM  When you mention 65’ maximum height, do you include the 15’ penthouse?  Note that penthouses now can include apartments.  If yes than we have 80’.

08:07 PM  In terms of “gateway” aren’t the taller buildings sending the message “welcome to the canyons of DC”.  Is this the message we want to convey?

Ellen McCarthy 08:22 PM The apartment buildings just south of this area are all either 90 feet or 75 feet.  Does that area feel like a canyon?

08:08 PM  The FLUM allows for 80 feet, I believe.

08:08 PM  Re parking, please consider that current apartments with parking lots charge for spaces (I think $150/mo. at the Kenmore as an example) which pushes residents to compete for parking on neighborhood streets.  So offering underground parking would help but it needs to be affordable for new residents to use it.)

08:11 PM  I’m surprised at all the pitched roofs. How about green roofs and entertainment space at the top of these buildings?

08:11 PM  I apologize if you addressed earlier (I came in late)- will buildings be LEED-certified, in addition to the suggestions from other participants about solar panels, etc.? Margie

08:12 PM  This is a 20-year plan…How does it begin?

08:12 PM  The renderings indicate fairly large buildings, but earlier you spoke of the promise of smaller parcels. How should this be reconciled?

08:15 PM  other than the community center and the library all the other property is privately owned how does dc get the rights to the other properties on the east side to do what you are suggesting? are you proposing eminent domain acquisition?

08:22 PM  As for parking.  Metro is 3/4 of a mile away. Well within walking distance for those who don’t want to drive.  And if there is more density, wmata will then need to be pressured to provide better bus service.

08:23 PM  Single-family house prices are astronomical all over the city — see Northeast!  Affordable housing is not built by the market.

08:24 PM  Nobody is suggesting eminent domain.  Not happening here or anywhere in town except at Dave Thomas Circle.

08:24 PM  To what degree have you looked at existing use of R3 90 FT  height construction south of Livingston? Many large parking lots next to R3 buildings exist in that area – also much lower R3 height buildings on R3 space.  Goals estimated by Ron could be  exceeded in that area alone.  Appreciate your vision / creativity – perhaps can consider this aspect.  – also could reduce residential pressure above Livingston.

08:26 PM Just not true.  Scarcity in Ward 3 is driving much higher prices here.  Double the rest of town.

08:26 PM  Compare/contrast and synergy – CC and Friendship Heights and Tenleytown

08:28 PM Other features that attract people to live in Chevy Chase are “good schools”, trees/green/and open spaces, convenience for shopping and transportation, the variety of architectural styles, and the relative beauty and safety of the neighborhood.

08:29 PM The greatest need for affordable housing in the city to which we are connected is for family-sized affordable housing. So that should lead to increased school population.

08:29 PM I lived on McKinley st.  Movie crowds are a minor annoyance.

08:30 PM  Planning is not real estate development.  It is very much concerned with infrastructure, transportation, schools.

08:32 PM Schools are an issue.  But the argument that building cannot happen until schools expand is not a reason to wait to build.  If you are for more housing, this cannot be a condition precedent to building.

08:33 PM I was just in Kentlands.  Was there form-based zoning to get the small store frontages?  It does have a “home town” feel to the “downtown” area which also has sort of a “town square.”

08:35 PM The small area planning process is expected to wrap up by the end of the year. How’s the community to come to agreement on the long list of priorities you’ve listed as needing to be in the small area plan?

08:35 PM We should not assume that new housing won’t lead to additional school age children, especially if we add affordable units and townhomes. I agree that school crowding is not a reason to refrain from this plan, but we need to have an some assurance that the City will actually take the school impact into account. These issues need to be linked together or this plan will not benefit either existing students or new residents.

08:36 PM Why continue the angled positioning of the library & community center? I’ve wondered for decades why that was done.

08:37 PM That is what is being suggested.

08:39 PM My 30-something son is looking to move (from WA State) to Brookland, NE, which is another gentrification frontier, and the relationship of price to value is profoundly out of synch. Prices for homes that need incredible amounts of work are being driven up by flippers/speculators. For the same money, he could get something liveable here, but being a Millennial, he doesn’t want to live where he grew up.

08:40 PM To what degree have you considered and/or mitigated the impact of  design related (needed) alleys / related traffic side street additional congestion / noise / trash disposal / smell / rodents and it’s impact to immediately adjacent homes? We have a shallow non transitional width area to residences. Net net seems to be more of a citylike urban transformation vs. the current less dense  / open suburban feel.

08:43 PM I think it’s inaccurate to refer to the blocks east and west of Connecticut Avenue as suburban. More like an old small-town. Important to understand what we have, and what is cherished.

08:43 PM True about prices being inflated everywhere.  Not true that Chevy Chase does not command a significant price premium from Brookland

08:44 PM Parking…parking…parking

08:46 PM “Charrette” or “charade”?

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The post Planning our Future series appeared first on Historic Chevy Chase DC.

The final program in HCCDC’s three-part “Planning Our Future” series aired June 9 and is now available to watch by clicking here. The June panel featured local activists and professional planners examining proffered solutions to the affordable housing needs in Ward 3, and in Chevy Chase DC in particular.

The series that started in April was organized to help provide historical perspective and context to the Small Area Planning (SAP) process that will shape our community’s future scale and appeal.

June 9: Affordable Housing in Chevy Chase and Ward 3

The focus on this final webinar was focused around the 2019 report “Creating Housing Affordability West of Rock Creek Park” organized by the Urban Land Institute and sponsored by the office of the mayor.

Panelist included Prof. Uwe Brandes, director of the Global Cities Initiative at Georgetown University, as moderator; presenter Philip Payne, co-founder and chairman of the Loftus Campaign, Charlotte, NC, and chairman of the 2019 ULI panel report; and two respondents — Ellen McCarthy, principal at the Urban Partnership LLC and former DC director of planning, and Peter Gosselin, ANC commissioner for ANC 3/4G. Listen to this program here.

April 28: Re-Imagining Washington, circa 1900

The first of the three webinars featured author/historian Tom Lewis as he took us back to the McMillan process that essentially shaped the DC we inhabit today. Lewis is emeritus professor at Skidmore College and author of the acclaimed “Washington: A History of Our National City” (2015) — a book that Ken Burns called “a vivid example of the best kind of history.”  

Lewis examined how the DC we know today was created between 1890 and 1910, an urban landscape defined in part by the increasing force of Jim Crow racism. Despite post-Civil War modernization projects by “Boss” Shepherd, the original L’Enfant federal city plan had lost its charm due to rapid urbanization. A Republican senator from Michigan, James McMillan, initiated an episode of planning in the mid-1890s to address that. If you missed the program, watch a recording of it here. 

May 19: Segregation Yesterday and Today: It Doesn’t Happen By Itself

The second Zoom webinar featured historian/architect Neil Flanagan. He focused on the mechanisms that produced the segregated racial geography we are living with today. Flanagan discussed how residents of Chevy Chase DC, or any city, can take collective action to shape their future in positive ways. A recording of this program will be posted soon.

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The event was organized as an alternative to the ever-popular History Walking Tour HCCDC hosts each September that we had to postpone this Fall due to Covid. Because it is virtual, the format allowed us to go the extra mile and cover a lot more history than the actual walking tour possibly can.

This hour-long virtual stroll goes back more than a century to when this “streetcar suburb” was just some crazy idea, fulfilled by developer/politician Francis Newlands’ deep pockets.

Highlights include the early secret land buy that turned farms into streets; the near-loss and heroic saving of The Avalon Theater; the eclectic architecture that makes our community unique; the hidden-in-plain-sight vestiges of an earlier country manor once home to General Blackjack Pershing; the role Jim Crow played in our local politics; and the contributions of the many famous residents who once lived here such as Vera Rubin, Rev. James Reeb, and Walter Tobriner.

The post Virtual History Walking Tour of Chevy Chase DC Now Available appeared first on Historic Chevy Chase DC.

Several dozen neighbors joined  the latest installment of HCCDC’s “Race Matters Locally” series on Oct. 15 to explore the connection between George Pointer and the Marquis de Lafayette. These two names will be joined by a hyphen when the Lafayette Park and Recreation Center on Broad Branch Road is officially re-designated as Lafayette-Pointer by the DC City Council. Formal approval is expected soon following a hearing on the issue in September.

Watch the recording of the Oct. 15 event here.

To sort out the issues bearing on the subject, the webinar featured Julien Icher, a French national who has followed in the footsteps of Lafayette’s last visit to the still young American republic in 1824-1825 and directs The Lafayette Trail project. He was joined by Dr. Reba Carruth, historical interpreter at Mount Vernon and adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

After introducing the Lafayette Trail project and discussing the likely link between the naming of Lafayette Elementary School in 1928 and the centenary of Lafayette’s farewell tour, the conversation turned to Lafayette’s record on slavery in the context of his close relationship with George Washington. Dr. Carruth brought Washington’s perspective to bear, delving into the international scope of slavery, the political-economy of the institution, as well as the moral dimension of slavery in a republic called into being with reference to inalienable rights. She also brought George Pointer into the conversation, who was hired out to Washington while still enslaved, before purchasing his freedom. Pointer the freedman was more aligned to both Washington’s and Lafayette’s vision for the future of the new country than the enslaved Pointer.

Instead of pressing the panelists to judge the wisdom of linking George Pointer to Lafayette, the moderator appealed to the attendees to weigh in in the chat-box. The several that availed themselves of the opportunity expressed themselves as enthusiastic supporters.

Click here for the The Lafayette Trail website.

In addition, Dr. Carruth has provided this list of resources for further reading:

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Listen to a Zoom webinar on “Mapping Segregation in Washington DC,” a project that reveals the role systemic racism has played in shaping neighborhoods in the nation’s capitol. The Webinar, held Sept. 24th, featured Mara Cherkasky, of Prologue DC who co-founder the mapping project with Sarah Shoenfeld. The webinar was a partnership between Historic Chevy Chase DC and Northwest Neighbors Village

Listen to the Recording Here!

Cherkasky also explained ordinary citizens can contribute to this fascinating historical research by volunteering a couple of hours in online searches of old D.C. tax records looking for once-legal racial covenants. A tutoral is being held Sept. 29 and a recording of that will also be made available. She said the sleuthing for these old pieces of evidence is exhilarating and enables you to be part of a worthwhile project.

The website can be found here at Mapping Segregation in Washington DC. It will explain how the digital public history project allows one to truly envision the systemic way in which residential segregation was established and enforced in Washington, DC, in the first half of the 20th Century.

At the core of Mapping Segregation is ongoing lot-by-lot research of DC real estate records and documentation of properties formerly subject to racially restrictive covenants. These covenants, which barred conveyance to African Americans, were written into property deeds by developers and, starting in the 1920s, also written by white citizens associations and filed with the city. Treated as contracts, they were perfectly legal and were enforced by the courts. Prior to the project’s launch, no one knew the extent to which racial covenants affected DC, and most white people, along with almost all younger people, were unaware of restrictive covenants at all. 

“What is fascinating about maps is that they can reveal patterns that would otherwise remain invisible,” Cherkasky said. The project has also mapped segregated schools and recreation facilities; block-level Census data; segregated public and FHA-insured housing; and the impact of eminent domain on an African American community. 

With its focus on systemic racism, Mapping Segregation has played a crucial role in helping residents and policymakers understand the historic forces that shaped DC’s neighborhoods, and has fostered much-needed conversation about race, inequality, and gentrification. Educators have used it in classrooms at all levels: from elementary school to graduate and law school. 

Cherkasky and Shoenfeld established Prologue DC in 2014 with the mission of providing historical expertise, research, and writing for publications, exhibits and signage, historic landmark nominations, and other such projects. Among Prologue’s current or recent projects, beyond Mapping Segregation, are a Neighborhood Heritage Trail for Eckington, in Northeast DC; the DC Civil Rights Tour and Downtown DC Women in History Callbox Tour; research for various exhibitions at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum; a successful Historic District nomination for Bloomingdale, in Northwest DC; and National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom signage for Kalorama Park in Adams Morgan.

Mapping Segregation has been funded in part by grants from Humanities DC (including, currently, a Vision Grant), the DC Preservation League, and the National Park Service but depends to a great extent on volunteer labor. In fact, Mara has spent a good part of the pandemic documenting restrictive covenants in Ward 4.

Also, check out HCCDC’s work in reckoning with past racial discrimination in housing HERE. There are many fascinating components to our project, which involves renaming Lafayette Park to honor Black landowners forced out in 1928 so a White school could be built on Broad Branch Road.

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Technology Glitch Prevented Many From Tuning In Live

We are pleased to post the recording of the in-demand Zoom webinar held Sept. 16 that explores the little-known history of racial displacement that occurred in Chevy Chase nearly 100 years ago to the descendants of enslaved man George Pointer.

It was the granddaughter of Pointer, who bought his own freedom while working for George Washington’s canal on the Potomac River, who settled on Broad Branch Road in the 1840s. The small community of Black landowners thrived there for about 80 years until forced to leave in 1928 by eminent domain so the then-Whites-only Lafayette Elementary School and park could be built.

The Zoom webinar featured HCCDC Board Member and Chevy Chase native Tim Hannapel in a conversation with James Fisher, a direct descendant of Pointer, and genealogist Tanya Hardy who has been tracing the family roots. HCCDC’s Chas Cadwell was MC of the event.

The much-heralded event was one of several Zoom conversations we have hosted as part of a virtual “Race Matters Locally” series. More than 450 people signed up to attend it, which we believed our Zoom license could handle. Unfortunately, it topped off at 100 participants, leaving so many of you without a connection. We apologize for our error and are working to correct it.

For more in-depth information about all the components of this project — including HCCDC’s efforts to rename Lafayette Park in honor of George Pointer’s family — see our website’s Lafayette-Pointer Project page. You can also hear some recorded testimony from the Sept. 15 DC City Council hearing to officially change the name of the land to Lafayette-Pointer Park and Recreation Center.

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