Very pleased to have steve as our speaker is going to tell us about John Burroughs, a young man on capitol hill during the civil war introduced the nation to the Natural Beauty of washington and became one of those countries leaving a wellknown nature. I suspect burroughs would appreciate the career path off our speaker for Political Science from duke and masters in International Affairs from columbia. Those led to almost 20 years as a reporter and editor for newspapers here and abroad. This has focused on the local pounding, and how it top restoration project in executive director. This digs deeper into the Natural Resources in the area John Burroughs knew and loved 50 years ago. As a second reason delighted to introduce this topic. Almost 20 years now headed by john francine at the time looking for someone on the one time John Burroughs. Once i asked the owner of the bookstore and he would give a lecture to bring anybody who named ain bookstore would probay know a lot about John Burroughs. He said he was an appreciator but not a lecture. This topic stayed on our list as something we want to do. And they were on this branch. Within that article was a section that began, first reported explorer was John Burroughs. Bingo. Maybe, i thought, somebody who knew that about him would also know a lot more than might just be lying to give a lecture or he might know somebody who would. It took 20 years to get to this lecture in the hospital John Burroughs might have seen when he was here in washington. [applause] thank you, nancy and thank you for the opportunity to talk tonight its not on . Is that better . Maybe i should just shout. It is on . I have to get really close. How is that . That sounds a little better. I will shout. Its great to be back here on capitol hill. I lived here longer than 20 years ago on third street and pennsylvania, im sure a few of you remember. The house i was living in a gas lamp in the front which i thought was extremely cool and i the 19th century would stay there except i had an appointment in egypt and thats enough of the story. Went away and never cap came back to capitol a hill. I spent a lot of time of year because of the. It will home base for me. I am happy to have a chance to talk about John Burroughs and extremes of washington d. C. Not an expert on burroughs but there is a lot of Information Available thats pretty easy to find. I have a biography of him, diamond edward who really is the expert. I want to start with one clarification because i know these things get confusing and i usget confused all the time by these names. Very important distinction here, John Burroughs is not related to william s burroughs. The picture here is a famous writer in certain scenes, a member of the lead generation and more and wrote the famous naked lunch, probably the best title put together. He was in International Travel and adventure and i i wont go into that but he was born in st. Louis and i dont think they were related in a close by soo want to get that out of the way because sometimes it does it confusing so the real John Burroughs as a young man with his flowing locks and he is forgotten today. Nancy remembers him and a few others but between the confusion with other burroughs and major writers, hes very much a man of the past, unfortunately. I dont think there will be campaign to rename the school named after him on rose street northeast. I think thats a safe name, of the keys guilty of anything particularly egregious and no link with william s burroughs. This is a big test. You have a book by John Burroughs in the library, raise your hand. [laughter] im not surprised dont be embarrassed, i didnt have one to about five years ago. It is curious. Writers go through periods of pain, notoriety and disappear. Believe it or not, it seems John Burroughs was more famous than walt whitman in the 19th century and early f 20th century, hard to measure that but burroughs was very famous and so famous people like henry ford were seeking him out with wisdom which is ironic given the disparity between their pursuits but nevertheless roosevelt and turnofthecentury photographed with John Burroughs and he lived until 1950 but when you think about it, 100 years ago. Whitman on the other hand, who lived i dont havee an exact date, whitman grew in fame and probably americas most beloved poet but they were literary comrades and a little bit about that both of them were exiled from new york who came to washington bring the civil war. Whitman came because he was looking for his brother who he ethought was wounded in the battle and fredericksburg and he got a job and made enough money to get by. At that time, whitman published a version and was known among the readers but wasnt a superstar but he was here and people like burroughs who was 20 years younger knew about this. Burroughs was born and raised on a farm in the mountains and benefited from that because he was outdoorsd and not to love nature, we think via his upbringing. He was also studious and curious so you do not want to become a father and asked when he was 17 and finished schooling, his father would give him money to pursue an education but said im sorry, i dont think i want to support you in that, dont need toor do that kind of thing so as to burroughs, senior said goodbye to his son who left home and went to seek his passion just learning to be a teacher and thought could earn some money and went to Seminary School for a while and started writing in the late 1850s and known, was getting to be they were sort of in the same locale so to speak. Burroughs was riding and published in the authentic monthly, the first article in the philosophical text which didnt read but it read so much likeke that they thought it was plagiarized. But it was an original. This published in that gave him energy and drive and thought he had a chance too be a writer. As the civil war began, he found burroughs could not make a living teaching and writing in rural new york. He got married at the age of 20 so he had that responsibly so he decided because he had no friends in washington, they said come on down and we could give you a place and you could stay with us. So, he went down and all of 1863 lived at the back of the store his friend was running downtown and who would he bump into but walt whitman . He bumped into him the first timeen evidently was a serious eencounter on capitol hill in what is called a lonely path. Burroughs came upon whitman and whitman was on his way as he tended to do in washington when he wasnt working, whitman would bring fruit and candy anything he could afford to give to soldiers in the hospital in washington. This was his Mission Comes out of hiding and burroughs was thrilled frankly a hero and the two became good friends. At that time Washington City what they call it, the grid of washington was still the city which people thought was washington outside of the grid was Washington County, on developed and mostly forming land. F that was not too far from anywhere ind washington so the two of them could take a walk into the wild of Washington County which was what they did. When burroughs first got to washington, he wanted to be a teacher and he had no marketable skills. The first job, the only thing could find a measure of desperation was he was a membera of burial detail of the quartermasters unit and soldiers who have been killed in the fighting and according to records which the biographer found, the bodies were taken to the outskirts of washington where they were buried in mass graves and as you can imagine, this was horrible work and burroughs didnt last very long with that. I was struck by it and unbelievable for someone to come at the age of 20 and it is hard to pin down without taking place but thats a topic for another time because there doesnt seem to be any burial ground. In any event, burroughs didnt last more than a few weeks. Luckily he had a connection back home and was able to exercise it with congressman who got him a job. Sound familiar . [laughter] got him a job clerking so the first month of 1864, burroughs was earning a pretty good salary, more than 1000 year which was nice to have, equal to what women were getting. So burroughs, because he had an income was able to move out of the back storeroom with his friends store their downtown and actually find a house for him wife which was in the neighborhood for the Senate Office building is today, a brick road houston and moved in and not only did he have a house but an acre of lands, accordingo the report for you had a cow, chicken, through petitos and support his wife and the walt whitman. According to what they said about whitman, he didnt pay yimuch attention to a regular schedule and taking care of himself so burroughs would invite them over for breakfast sunday morning so he would come over and he was down on m street staying with his sister, he would go to burroughs house and have a big sunday breakfast was great for whitman and burroughs, not great for burroughs life was not happy with a lot of things she was not happy with whitman hanging out in this manner. What was the tension between he and his life but it did happen and he developed a friendship. So here we have a map from the civil war. The Capital Building here is over there the russell building would be. This is the greek it was still there even though this shows the city filled out, it wasnt no doubt we are not sure where the creek was definitely the creek which flowed down was a long here that started north of here so that was one place they could take their walks. Your we have a plentiful portrayal. This was just painted in 2009, i came upon on the website in front of the white house. I dont think it looks this beautiful. [laughter] whatever. A lovely painting. Whitman of course being whitman and a visionary writer had ideas about writing and was happy to act as a father figure with burroughs and he encouraged burroughs beyond observations his nature and mix it with a poetic language. Burroughs of course had to have some kind of talent but evidently it was a major influence on him one reason why it is so beautiful and he believed in only personal vision could do justice to National History and was keeping up with those times and the writers of those periods to inject yourself into the world to give a compelling portrait and move the reader. Burroughs has an influence on whitman t. Burroughs with thist detail influenced and encouraged him to pay more attention to these details. These two guys were becoming omquite good friends he wrote to another friend of his i have been very much with gold, i love him very much. The more i see and work with him, the greater he becomes me and on and on. The flowery language in those days. You probably are thinking okay, what is going on . Whitman was gay, unclear exactly his activities but definitely a man who liked men. Burroughs the was never seen as gay or bisexual and it seems they had they platonic friendship. Burroughs was chastised by whitman a few years later because burroughs marriage was very unhappy from the get go and was a bit of a womanizer in women didnt approve of that. Whitman was a single relationship by an burroughs was kind of acting out and women wrote him letters saying this is not the way to do it, you will not succeed in your marriage so that i think was the extent of their relationship. They were there for ten years and had different ideas about a lot of things but they were united in their appreciation and understanding in a this need. Burroughs came back from a visit to new york and the summer of 1865, lincoln was assassinated. Whitman was devastated by lincolns death and was writing about that and burroughs was excited about the fact that he has seen and heard this in new york and he got so carried away and excited about this burden that whitman used in this story are and i have a relevant piece here. Drawn to himself avoiding the settlement i wont read any more of it but the influence is obvious and its interesting it was this inspiration or keystone for whitman. The official bird of washington d. C. Is also a trash but not the hermit thrush. Does anybody know what the official bird is . More of a speckled breast. Burroughs would write about that later. This is a map of that. And this shows you where burroughs moved because burroughs was making a good salary at the Treasury Department and i dont know if he got money from his wife for what they got but had an to build a house there at 1332c street 13th and 14th street in the late 18th and utc hes on the edge, this is boundary street which was later florida avenue and this was in the land toward the end of the end and he was wellpositioned to take walks which was what he did in this case, walking into what would become Mount Pleasant along what was the seventh street turn pike, t order later georgia avenue. As with any branch there so could do this easily and that led to a number of essays you will publish the book is about when the first major book, he in this book have an essay about time in the capital and his observation and talked about this and this is what inspired me and said it was a small noisy broke and it shaded nearly all the way and it was in trees. He says thats where he goes every spring and by the way it is an iconic bird and starting with audubon and Going Forward from liberty, but it was extraordinary. It sounds like several would wind instruments formalizing nttogether and it is one of thee miracles of nature. Audubon and everybody were enthralled with this bird and it remains one of the most evil clones in the eastern United States and is the official bird of washington d. C. Which was 1957 bc, like the official bird. They were confused whether or not they have the power to declare an official board. Im not kidding you, this is in the record. The home rule on the horizon. The Washington Post wrote an editorial against it and that led to a lot of backandforth with the Audubon Society and leslie said not prevail. So burroughs is out early season, out there in february, march poking around and finding these plans which are a whole group of flowers that come up early before the rest and the flower and go through the reproductive cycle and take advantage of the sun and then they are gone for the most part for the rest of the summer so a dozen of these beauties out athere and its something available so burroughs wrote about that and he knew where to go and would walk up these streams and find various species including mileage which he said was the mostl beautiful and cas forth wrappers applause. Menopause from all. So burroughs publishes hisso bok in d. C. In the 1871 and a few years later they lead but that is ten years and washington and that friendship was lifelong with equipment. Burroughs decided to move back in a rustic cabin on a piece of landhe. Whitman had a stroke and was living with i think his sister. No, his brother. He had a stroke but he did survive. So they left and that time. We are looking at 1870s, the gilded age and this realization in United States rather good perhaps, they left at that time because there Washington County and it was soon to be no more. But first, this is the cabin burroughs built and was going a beard which he did deliberately and got wider and wider. They leave and new people arrive in washington who are thinking about them a little more scientifically rather than politically but this is important. This man y was i think he was born in illinois and he came to washington and went to law school, the George WashingtonUniversity NearMount Pleasant and he ditched his legal career for cataloging and finding plans which is a wise choice and he never practiced law again. He was an amazing one, he worked for the Geologic Service and train himself in paleontology. He then later became a sociologist and professor of sociology. At Brown University and the American Sociological Association and he was crawling around in washington and this was very interesting which he named, he actually took this map and went on around Washington County and said he would name them and offers no apology so he was Walking Around and found this which he called this swamp named after the family that owned the land there and there is still a street there. He was struck because of the plant variety and soil and it was very different than anything hed seen before. He had a lot of interest in this and it is interesting he called it swamp because it is a wetland that is for us to but those kind of aha word they used. Well go back to the map. This is coming off of rock creek to the right here and heres the swamp which is kind of a wetland currently on spring road here between georgia and 14th street. So those who started to study this pound a lot of plants that were not found in washington elsewhere. They recorded t a rare red milkweed and an umbrella and common flowers like the cardinal flower. Also found a son do which is a carnivorous plant here it is. It is a plant that survives and a nutrient poor oil such as this particular site was and provided the clue later as to what was going on this particular place and why the plants were flourishing there and nowhere else. The next who was investigating this was mr. Mcafee, another man in the midwest who came to start to work for agriculture where he spent his entire career and he wrote about washington d. C. And publication in 1918 still used and he was able to define this area and they called them the term of magnolia and the reason is magnolia, a relative of the southern magnolia we know and love and it grows in. Here is the flower that looks like it but it smells even nicer. It doesnt grow the world except in this. I had to read this in detail because it is very precise but these are situated on the fall line you have the waterfalls and little falls and etc. The sand from the coastal plain is in the fall line areas and it is nutrient poor and allows a plant species to grow there so that is whats going on so theres one there and one for the north and their several in county and they were discovered later but they were based on this discovery. Also at the magnolia, the swamp which has a nice fragrance and a whitish pink. I p included a latin greek lessn here because it was a name for them because theyre both part of the genome so it is rose and greek. This refers to this sticky substance created by the flower so thats where they got that name. Mcafee was working and living in that period of the late 19 centuries when they were proceeding quickly in this area in the eastern part of the watershed and he saw this and the destruction taking place and was very upset but nothing she could do. It was a way of characterizing it and talked about the antiquity and they survived and entitled this respect and they had a continued existence and commends them to the most considerate care so there was not much of that time. This was the early 20th century and this is a tiny ranch near arkansas and 14th street i like to describe this as a moonscape and they take everything away and buried the stream. This took place during the first couple of decades with her was great demand for housing so area of the watershed sense all the way from Mount Pleasant to takoma park includes that more than bright with an almost neighborhoods. There was prime territory for development and onene reason it was completely developed as it was relatively flat on the western side who had great valleys and other ravines on the eastern side, it wasnt as hilly and there is great demand. Because you basically paved over what was almost 2500 acres of a stream valley, that meant street valley watershed is likableho and all of the waters were to come down because of the topography and go to one place, which is the storm sewer. So you got all of this water now coming off of the streets and roofs and going into the storm sewers and the g got to come out somewhere but this is where the come outwh here this is, i likeo call them the gates of hell or something but theyre like the garage doors that are all of these openings to keep people from going in there and hanging out but these are the storm outfalls come reps 15, 20 feet high this is at the corner of piney branch and 17th street you cant see it let you get out of car t and walk up and looked down but one of the most ugly Public Utilities in washington. And it is a tort of water when there is a storm. And to add insult to injury it is a combined sewer outfall, overflow outfall which means raw sewage fromm the area also mixes in with his water when theres a great storm. Because of the way this particular storm sewer was engineered back in the day. This was an advance believe it or not what they used to do was just letting everything sort of flow in the streets so to speak. But it is extremely antiquated peer into the late 19th Century Technology which theyre getting ready to deal with. They did in the anacostias probably you know they made an entire new underground holding tank for the water but here they couldnt do that they been working on green infrastructure, various gardens and bio gardens, that sort of thing up in the watershed. I think they will have to build a take underground just not a big one. Thats the way they will deal with that. And this is built probably the first one i think on the right side built in the 1930s and the other was built in the 1950s because the water becomes so fast. And deep. May be the one to think about Piney Branch Parkway and the construction of that area there is thatid it did preserve a nate american site which is one of the sort of unknown parts of Rock Creek Park but its unknown for a reason. Actually on the hills that are leading up to crestwood if youre down on the parkway there is a quarry site that was used by native americans for stonework. Whats left is actually just piles of stones which were rebel from the stone fashioning tools made from these stones rebel. This is a diorama from the smithsonian when they did an exhibit on this particular discovery. This wasry discovered in the lae 1800s. Its not marked, there is no trail that youre supposed be used to go to because of park service thats what you go in there and collecting stones understandably enough but it was preserved. So that was that. That was the end of piney branch as a real screen. All you havean left is about a quartermile of a flowing stream that goes down into rock creek along the parkway. And its all very sad and very distressing that this had to happen and it still hasnt been remedied completely. The water that rushes out of those enormous outfalls flows down into rock creek and scholars out the creek even more and contributes to sediment pollution, so its an Ongoing Technical problem the district is trying to deal with. However, my work just as a footnote to this, is actually centered in piney branch i started this project in 2013 to improve the habitat and what was left of the stream valley which was about 65 acres. We have been planting trees and we contract with casey trees. We also doc outreach to the community on migratory birds and have a lot of students coming down and watching what were doing and even participating. This is a funny part photograph because this is what one of the wetlands which are still existing next to the parkway look like for we began the work. That for the most part is called porcelain bakery, which is a vinein that covers everything ad destroys everything in its path. Nothing can grow underneath the. We had a lot of volunteers out there. We had to work with, this is a picnic pavilion right behind which had been vandalized and was really just a shadow of itself. There was no fireplace left there. And there was a basketball court, believe it or not, which have been put there next to the picnic pavilion, and the water, there was aer spring in the vicinity which in the 1990s supposedly started really pumping out water and basically flooded the basketball court. We got a backhoe in the end of this out. Now we have a fireplace in defense at the wetland, and people can have picnics and birthday parties, which is what theyre doing there. And watch the wetland which is in back of this fence. So thats all happening and good. Theres some students from the Sacred Heart School in Mount Pleasant who are helping plant some plants in the wetlands, which is one of our projects here and to conclude, here is my favorite young lady from the Environmental School on 16th street. They have since moved but shes holding a northern red oak, which she helped plant they n the piney branch watershed, and its now 20 feet high. So with that i will end and y to take your questions or comments. Thank you. [applause] do you know what the name of the quarry is . Asking with the name of that quarry is. Well, i dont think it has come ive never really seen a name, like theres a soapstone quarry for example, in the soapstone valley. You could call this the holds quarry because there was a phone at fire at famous archaeologist dane William Henry holmes which is a guy who actuallyt described it. In fact, described to such an extent that he revolutionized the whole series about the longevity of native americans, elbow native americans had actually been in north america. Its a long story, kind of complicated but it was very important in that respect. So its well known to archaeologists and others. Other questions . Thank you. Yes. They successfully destroyed piney branch creek, but you said there is still theres a remnant of it because the stream valley or watershed was five oriv six mils in length, and the final part of it was actually in Rock Creek Park they couldnt really take that, and also there is quite a ravine there. Can you tell me more specifically where i would love to walk up there and see it. Sure. Its right next, northwest of Mount Pleasant here its just to the west of columbia heights, and if you drive down 16th street, for example, 16th street and you reach arkansas avenue which if youre coming from the south does to the east, you can park along arkansas avenue there, there is Street Parking and you can walk down the valley there. Thats one way of doing it. Thank you. I wonder if you could talk first of all about why burros was so famous and what happened to that, he was popular and then not . Well, as i said he was a prolific writer he was a beautifulli writer. That was the period in the 19th century was a period of great, great loss of Natural Beauty and resources in the United States industrialization took its toll in such a horrible way, and thats one of the reasons why you had the first attempts by the government to make parks, for example, the First National parks because they saw what was going on and they knew they had to stop it somehow and they couldnt exactly stop this is because as i think coolidge said, business in america is business but nevertheless, its a big country. Anyy event, people like burros who could so wonderfully describe what was being lost and talk about why we need to care were going to be very appealing and yet good publisher. He just crank them out. He was very active with, as i said, a number of i guess you would call them celebrities at the time who sought him out. And there were others who were equally but not at famous peer john near who was founder of the sierra club was not up there at that level. Burroughs was truly, its one of these oddities, like a couldnt really come you have to really look at it more closely in the whole movement of why in particular burroughs was such a superstar, but nevertheless, then he dies in 1920. Think about it, 1920 is the beginning of the roaring 20s, the beginning of the new deal, world war ii period of incredible change in the United States. And i think that those who read nature writers, scholars and others would certainly remember burroughs, but at that point in time there wasnt the kind of audience for nature writers. Nature writers who succeed later on were people like n for example, who were very focused on one threat, silent spring. So she became quite famous in that respect because she had a cause. Somebodys other writers indeed were associate with causes like john deere and the sierra club. Bruce was not he was just frankly not a recluse but he built his cabin in upstate new york andt lived out his life there. And faded away. Thats the best. I can put it. Are there any other questions . Let me add one thing as a footnote, im sorry. Again, in the 19th century if youre thinking about people like thoreau, for example, a wonderful writer but hes associated with of course some very, very important intellectualel traditions and advocacy, and to support of civil disobedience and his famous life on walden pond and all these things m which made it more ofe a person for the age, forever in that respect whereas burroughs again didnt have that kind of input. Im sorry. Please, go hand. I certainly know the name, we all do, John Burroughs but i confess im not familiar with his writing. Did he write specifically about geographical areas . He wrote was a just general matrix . All kinds of things. He traveled around the United States there he was out in the west so his writing about that he wrote about birds in particular. He wrote about rivers. He was just a journalist really when it came right down to it. Dashing generalist. Yes. So you said in the 1870s that washington kind of started to lose kind of the farmland and stuff serenity area. What was the reason for the courts wasnt just expansion of the city and winter that really reach its kind of like zenith . It seems like it extends forever now. Yeah, right, it does. After, during the civil war a lot of people came to washington of all types for various reasons the population exploded and a lot of those folks stayed for various reasons. The government expanded so that meant there was more employment, families were being started here. In that period you had to sort of natural growth of washington and the government, and that led to a demand for housing. The housing that was built much of this area was rather inexpensive but it was moderate Income Housing for the government clerks and workers and others so thats what led to that. And then of course i dont know, the government gets bigger and bigger not to sound like a conservative or something but it does get bigger and bigger in the 20th century you have the new deal, more government workers more, the demand grows, lobbyists, et cetera. Thats a story that is still unfolding. Not seeing any other hands, thank you very much, steve, for your lecture. Thank you. And i hope everybody remembers or when the e blast goes out that you will sign up to see the film, the premier. [applause] a healthy democracy doesnt just look like this. It looks like this where americans can see democracy at work where citizens are truly informed, a republic fries get informed straight from the source on cspan. Unfiltered, unbiased, word for word from the Nations Capital to where ever you are. Because the opinion that matters most is your own. This is what democracy looks like cspan powered by cable. American history tv