U.S.

U. S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY.- Extension of Massachusetts Avenue.

of use to mariners, such as precision of knowledge of latitude and longitude, variation of the compass, accuracy of chronometers and other instruments used in the navigation of ships of war, and similar information more Observatory. or less allied to astronomy. Purely scientific astronomical work is also carried on, and the equipment of telescopes and other instruments is complete, enabling the staff of learned men-naval and civilian - attached to the institution to accomplish notable results in the advancement of that department of knowledge. The special inquirer will be welcomed by the officers at all suitable hours, and on Thursday nights cards of invitation admit visitors generally to look through the great telescope.

This observatory dates from 1892, when it was moved from the wooded elevation, called Braddock's Hill, at the Potomac end of New York Avenue, which it had occupied for nearly a century. That ground was a reservation originally set apart at the instance of Washington, who wished to see planted there the foundations of the National University - the dream of his last years. It is called University Square to this day.

6. Georgetown to Tennallytown and Glen Echo.

From Georgetown an electric road runs north out High Street and the Tennallytown Road to the District line, where it branches into two lines. Leaving the city quickly it makes its way through a pretty suburban district, out into a region of irregular hills and dales, where, about one mile from the starting point, the new United States Naval Observatory is seen about a quarter of a mile to the right. Just beyond its entrance is an industrial school. The general district at the left is Wesley Heights, ninety acres of which, and the name, are the property of a Methodist association, which proposes to establish there a highly equipped university, to be called the

Woodley
Heights.

American, modeled upon the plan of German universities, and open to both sexes. The site of the buildings will be west of Massachusetts Avenue, where it intersects Forty-fourth Street, forming University Circle. Work is beginning on the buildings, and the endowment is growing. The district west of the road is Woodley Heights, Woodley adjoining it

further east along the valley of Rock Creek. Tunlaw Heights is another local "subdivision" here; and somewhat farther on is Oak View, where there is a lofty observatory, open to anyone who cares to climb it and obtain the wider outlook, embracing a large part of the city. A few years ago there was a great "boom" in suburban villa sites near here, and many noted persons built the fine houses which are scattered over the ridges in all directions. Among them was President Cleveland, whose house, "Red Top" (from the color of the roof), "Red Top." is passed by the cars just beyond Oak View. It was afterward sold by the President to great advantage, and during his second term he occupied another summer home not far to the eastward of this site. The cross-road here runs straight to the Zoological Park, a trifle over a mile eastward. Woodley Inn is a summer hotel on the left of the road, which keeps northward along a ridge with wide views, for a mile and a quarter farther to Tennallytown, lately become a suburb of considerable population, largely increased by families from the city in summer. A road to the left (west) from here gives a very picturesque walk of a mile and a half over to the Receiving Reservoir, and a mile farther will take you to Little Falls, or the Chain Bridge. Up at the right, at the highest point of land in the district (400 feet), the new reservoir is seen, occupying the site of Fort Reno, one of the most important of the circle of forts about the capital during the Civil War. A wooded knoll, some distance to the left, shows the crumbling earthworks of a lesser redoubt near the river road, which branches off northwest from the village. Threequarters of a mile beyond Tenallytown the limit of the District of Columbia is reached, and the Junction of the line to Glen Echo. The main line runs north to Rockville, Maryland.

Tennallytown.

The Glen Echo line runs a car every half-hour (fare 5 cents) along a winding road through the woods to the Conduit Road and bank of the Potomac, at the Glen Echo grounds.

7. Georgetown to Glen Echo, Cabin John, and Great Falls.

Chain Bridge.

The Georgetown and Great Falls Railroad Company operates an electric line to the Great Falls of the Potomac, which affords one of the most delightful excursions out of Washington. Its large cars leave the Union Station, in Georgetown, and take a high course overlooking the river valley, which becomes much narrower and more gorge-like above the city, with the Virginia banks very steep, rocky, and broken by quarries. The rails are laid through the woods, and gradually descend to the bank of the canal which skirts the foot of the bluff. About three miles above Georgetown is the Chain Bridge, so called because the earliest bridge here, where the river for some two miles is confined within a narrow, swift, and deep channel on the Virginia side, was made of suspended chains. The lofty bank is broken here by the ravine of Pimmit Run, making a convenient place for several roads to meet and cross the river. The bluffs above it were crowned with strong forts, for this was one of the principal approaches to Washington. A mile and a half above the Chain Bridge, having run through the picturesque woods behind High, or Sycamore, Island, owned by a sportsmen's club, you emerge to find the river a third of a mile wide again, and dashing over black rocks and ledges in the series of rapids called the

Little Falls of the Potomac. The wild beauty of the locality makes it Little Falls. a favorite one for picnicking parties, and bass fishing is always excel

lent. The Maryland bank becomes higher and more rugged above Little Falls, and takes the name of Glen Echo Heights. (Also reached by cars from Georgetown via Glen Echo Junction.)

THE CABIN JOHN BRIDGE. -Length of Span, 220 Feet; Height, 57 Feet. Glen Echo is a place where it was proposed to combine educational privileges with recreation, and form a suburban residence colony and day resort of high character. Extensive buildings of stone and wood, including a very spacious amphitheater, were erected in the grove upon the steep bank and commanded a most attractive river view; in them courses of valuable lectures, Sunday services, and concerts of a high order were given, and many means of rational enjoyment were provided, but the project failed.

Glen Echo.

The river has pretty banks to Cabin John Run, where the fine arch of the celebrated bridge gleams through the trees. The remainder of the run Cabin John (five miles) is through a wild, wooded region at the edge of the canal Bridge. and river, which is again narrow, deep, and broken by islands flooded at high water, with high, ravine-cut banks. This is a favorite place with Washingtonians for fishing with rod and fly, from the banks; Daniel Webster often came here for this purpose.

The Great Falls of the Potomac are a series of bold cascades forming a drop of eighty feet within a few hundred yards of distance, very pretty but hardly deserving the panegyrics bestowed by some early writers. The place will always Great Falls. be exceedingly attractive, however, especially to artists and anglers. The

appearance of the falls has been considerably modified, and probably enhanced, by the structures of the City Water-works, for this is the source of Washington's public water supply. The water is conveyed to the city through a brick conduit, which runs along the top of the Maryland bank, and is overlaid by the macadamized driveway called the Conduit Road. This work of engineering meets its first serious difficulty at Cabin John Run, where a stone arch leaps across the ravine in a single span - unequaled elsewhere- of 220 feet.

8. To Bladensburg and Kendall Green.

Bladensburg.

Bladensburg is a quiet Maryland village, some seven miles northeast, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. It is a port on the Anacostia, to which large boats formerly ascended with goods and went back laden with farm produce. Through it ran the stage road from the north; and here, August 24, 1814, the feeble American army met the British, under Ross and Cockburn, who had marched over from their landing-place on the Patuxent River, intent upon the capture of the Yankee capital. The Americans, partly by blundering and partly by panic (except some sailors under Commodore Barney), ran away after the first attack, and left the way open for the redcoats to take and burn the town as they pleased; but they inflicted a remarkably heavy loss upon the invaders.

"It is a favorite drive with Washingtonians to-day," remarks Mr. Todd, in his Story of Washington, "over the smooth Bladensburg pike to the quaint old village. Dipping into the ravine where Barney made his stand, you have on the right the famous dueling ground, enriched with some of the noblest Battle Field. blood of the Union. A mile farther on, you come out upon the banks

of the Eastern Branch, here an inconsiderable mill stream, easily forded, though spanned by a bridge some thirty yards in length. On the opposite shore gleam through the trees the houses of Bladensburg, very little changed since the battle-day. Some seventy yards before reaching the bridge, the Washington pike is joined by the old Georgetown post-road, which comes down from the north to meet it at an angle of forty-five degrees. The gradually rising triangular field between these two roads, its heights now crowned by a clubhouse of modern design, was the battle ground." A string of pleasant suburban villages nearly join one another along the railway and turnpike Highland, Wiley Heights, Rives, Woodbridge, Langdon, Avalon Heights, and Winthrop Heights or Montello. The last is well inside the district and brings us back to Mount Olivet Cemetery burial ground, lying between the turnpike and the railway near the city boundary, which has the sad distinction of containing the bodies of Mrs. Surratt, one of the conspirators in the assassination of Lincoln, and of Wirz, the cruel keeper of Andersonville prison. Electric roads now reach all these suburbs.

Mount Olivet.

The National Fair Grounds, opposite Mount Olivet and west of the railroad, contain the Ivy City race track. The suburban “addition,” Montello, is north of the fairgrounds, and south of them is Ivy City, with Trinidad east of the railroad. The southern part of Ivy City is occupied by the extensive grounds of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, popularly known as Kendall Green.

This institution, which is reached by cars on H Street to Seventh Street, N. E., was incorporated in 1857, and is for the free education of deaf-mute children of sailors and soldiers of the United States, as also of the children of the District so afflicted. It was indebted in its early years to the benefactions of the Hon. Amos Kendall, who gave land, money, and buildings toward its establishment. All students have opportunity to learn to speak, the system of instruction including both manual and oral methods. Poor students are received on very liberal terms. Visitors are admitted on Thursdays between the hours of 9 and 3.

9. To Benning and Chesapeake Beach.

Kendall
Green.

Benning and Deanewood are suburban villages east of the Anacostia River, and reached by the Columbia line of electric cars, out G Street and Benning Road, N. E. At Benning is the principal race track of the District, where spring and fall races are run that attract everybody interested in such things. Benning is also a connecting point of

Benning
Races.

Chesapeake
Beach.

the Chesapeake Beach Railway, a line of steam railroad some thirty miles in length, which connects the capital with a shore resort upon Chesapeake Bay called Chesapeake Beach. These trains run into the city station of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad by way of Hyattsville. At the beach are hotels, amusement places, bathing facilities, and much that is naturally as well as artificially attractive.