Pohick Church

Pohick Church, previously known as Pohick Episcopal Church, is an Episcopal church in the community of Lorton in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Often called the "Mother Church of Northern Virginia," the church is notable for its association with important figures in early Virginian history such as George Washington and George Mason, both of whom served on its vestry. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.
History.
Early colonial period: first churches.
The origins of Pohick Church can be traced to a chapel of ease for Overwharton Parish, which appears to have been built around 1695 in the Woodlawn area of today's community of Mount Vernon. This church, the first in the parish and thus the first in Northern Virginia, was recorded in a 1715 land grant as being along the Potomac Path, the "county main road," which today is U.S. Route 1. In 1730 the parish relocated the church south, building a frame structure, the so-called "church above Occoquan Ferry" near what later became the community of Colchester. The site of this church is today occupied by Cranford United Methodist Church; there, a stone in the churchyard marks the original site of Pohick Church, and a walkway of oversized brick on the property is thought to date from the period of the original building. No other trace of the original structure or its site exists; the last remnant was the cemetery, whose location is known but which was empty of grave markers by 1938.
By 1730, the population of the parish had grown substantially, and it was decided by the Virginia General Assembly to create a new parish, Hamilton, out of Overwharton to better serve the needs of the people. The church at Occoquan became the parish church of this new parish. In 1732 another split was made, and Truro Parish was formed; the church, now renamed "Pohick Church" in honor of its position along Pohick Creek, became the parish church for this new parish as well, being the only church then in the neighborhood. The first person to preach there was the Reverend Lawrence DeButts, who in 1733 was contracted to preach at various points around the parish three times a month for a year, for the sum of eight thousand pounds of tobacco.
Dr. Charles Green was the first rector of Pohick Church; he was successfully sponsored by Augustine Washington, father of George, who was elected to the church vestry in 1735. Green was confirmed to the post in 1736 and traveled to London for ordination, returning to take up his duties the following year. During his tenure as rector Green was involved in a major scandal when he was accused by Lawrence Washington of sexual misconduct with his wife Anne. Washington demanded Green's ouster from his post at the church; Green refused, and brought countersuit against Washington for slander, whereupon the latter demanded an ecclesiastical trial. This took place in the chapel of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg beginning on November 6, 1745; before a verdict was reached, however, Governor William Gooch stepped in and ordered Green to drop the suit, in exchange for which he would not be removed from his post. In the end, the rector remained at Pohick for the next twenty years as a respected clergyman; at his death in 1765 George Washington served as his executor. He was replaced as rector by Lee Massey, a former lawyer who was ordained in 1766 and took up his post the following year. Massey's duties frequently took him to other churches in the parish, and as a result Pohick Church was not open for services every Sunday of the year.
George Mason began his long association with the church in February 1749–50, when he was named warden to replace the deceased Jeremiah Bronaugh; he would go on to serve the congregation as a vestryman until the dissolution of vestries after the American Revolutionary War. Also elected to the post of warden, on October 25, 1762, was George Washington. He, too, would go on to serve as vestryman, attending frequent meetings at the church despite its distance from his home at Mount Vernon; he also remained otherwise quite active in the parish, and is said to have often persuaded house guests to attend services with him. In October 1763, Washington and George William Fairfax were appointed churchwardens for the following year.
Construction of the present church.
By 1767, the Pohick vestry determined that the now-dilapidated frame structure serving the parish should be replaced. George Washington argued the need for finding a new location, believing that the new building should be more centrally located, at the intersection of the Potomac Path and the back road – today's Telegraph Road – for the convenience of members of the congregation. George Mason, for his part, argued that the new structure should be built at the site of the old church, as the cemetery contained the graves of many family members; Washington is supposed to have responded by surveying the new location, showing that it was more convenient to most members of the parish, and presenting the results to a meeting of the vestry, whereupon Mason's objection was dropped, although he is reported to have stalked out of the meeting, exclaiming, "That's what gentlemen get for engaging in a debate with a damned surveyor!" The final vote was seven to five in favor of moving the site of the church. The new location was settled on, and a building committee was impaneled; its members were Washington, Mason, George William Fairfax, Daniel McCarty, and Edward Payne. Recalling the Biblical image of a "city upon a hill", the highest point of land in the vicinity was chosen as the site of the new church.
Twenty percent of the building's cost was raised at a 1772 auction of pews in which many local landowners participated; the remainder came from tithes and other contributions, including three annual levies on the tobacco crop. The churchyard was laid out at a meeting of the vestry, held on the future site of the church, in 1769; three acres and twenty-six perches of land were purchased, at the rate of a guinea an acre, and the deed was made by Daniel French of Rose Hill, also the first contractor of the building. French was to be paid £877 for his work, in Virginia currency.
The original plan for Pohick Church was drawn up by James Wren, and was identical to that used for both The Falls Church and Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia; however, at some point during the construction process the footprint of the church was altered to that seen today. Some sources have claimed that George Washington himself drew up the design for the building, and at least one hints that George Mason, too, might have provided input; however, records show that in March 1769 the vestry paid James Wren and William West for the church plans. Construction was initially overseen by the planter Daniel French of Rose Hill, a member of the congregation. He died before completion of the building works, and oversight passed to William Buckland, who was also involved in the building of Gunston Hall nearby, and who may have participated in the decoration of the church interior as well; it is possible that Buckland took over the work at the instigation of his employer, George Mason, who had assumed many of French's debts and obligations at the latter's death. Much of the original woodwork in the building was executed by master carver William Bernard Sears, a longtime associate of Buckland's who was also attached to Gunston Hall, likely in indenture to Mason, and is known to have worked at Mount Vernon as well. The account presented by him for his services survives, and indicates that he was paid £58:19:0 for his craft. Plans for the church complex also called for the installation of mounting blocks and six benches in the churchyard, so that people could sit under the trees, and for the area to be cleared of all rubbish and litter. Washington's records indicate that he took an interest in furnishing the new church; besides paying William Copan for carving ciphers on both his pew and that of his neighbor Fairfax, he fitted his own pew with drawers, and also paid for a latch and a door for the church building.
An early plan describing the initial disposition and ownership of pews in the building was copied by Benson Lossing and republished by him in 1859; the original is currently unlocated. A 1774 entry in the church vestry book assigns an unusual order to four of the pews, stating: "Ordered that the Upper Pew in the new Church adjoining the South Wall be appropriated to the Use of the Magistrates and Strangers, and the Pew opposite thereto to the use of their Wives, and the two Pews next below them be appropriated to the Vestrymen and Merchants and their Wives, in like manner." The two most notable pewholders were George Mason and George Washington; other pews were kept by William Triplett, George William Fairfax, Alexander Henderson, Lund Washington (cousin of George), John Manley, Martin Cockburn, and Daniel McCarty. The eight pews located in the west end of the church were set aside for "Inhabitants and House Keepers of the Parish".
Construction of the church building was completed in 1774, just before the start of the American Revolutionary War. Early discussions of the Fairfax Resolves took place at the site in that year; among those in attendance at the meetings were George Washington and George Mason, and Rector Massey was among the signatories at their adoption. William Grayson is said to have been a member of the congregation in these years as well, and he is recorded as having served as an attorney for Truro Parish on numerous occasions.
Early Federal period.
With the Religious Freedom Act of 1785, the Virginia General Assembly formally disestablished the Church of England. Many former Anglican turned Episcopal churches, fell into decline, including Pohick Church. It remained active; Mason Weems, better known as a biographer of George Washington, preached at the church off and on from around 1798 until at least 1817, and styled himself as the "formerly rector" of the congregation, though this was likely an exaggeration. Another fixture at the church was Reverend Charles O'Neill, remembered chiefly for having been presented with a used suit of Washington's clothes, which he would wear while preaching, although it did not fit him well; he was held to be quite popular among local families.
Little else is known of the history of the structure from 1777 to 1836, although the vestry book records that George Washington resigned from the vestry in 1782, and that Rector Massey ceased his regular duties shortly thereafter due to ill health. Furthermore, Washington is known to have stopped attending regular services at Pohick by this time, having instead shifted his attention to Christ Church in Alexandria as his preferred house of worship; even so, he kept up payments on his pew at the church, and purchased that of his cousin Lund as well. In 1801 John Davis wrote a surviving account of a service at Pohick Church; it indicates that at the time of his visit approximately half the congregation was white and half black. Davis also attended a number of services preached by Weems, and found them well-attended.
Oral tradition indicates that Pohick Church was targeted by the British during the War of 1812 for its association with George Washington. One of the parishioners had carved a wooden dove, gilded it, and placed it on Washington's former pew, although some accounts state instead that it was affixed to the pulpit. According to the story, the sculpture was decapitated by a British soldier who also removed its wings, and was then thrown into the church courtyard, whence it was later retrieved. It was returned to the family of the sculptor, a Mr. Bowie, and passed down among his descendants before being returned to the congregation in 1988. It is on display in the parish house of the church. Otherwise, it is recorded that the interior of the building remained largely intact until the time of the American Civil War.
William Meade, later to become Episcopal Bishop of Virginia, visited the church in the summer of 1837, and described what he had seen in an address made the following year:
My next visit was to Pohick Church, in the vicinity of Mt. Vernon, the seat of General Washington. It was still raining when I approached the house, and found no one there. The wide open doors invited me to enter, as they do invite, day and night through the year, not only the passing traveller, but every beast of the field and fowl of the air. These latter however seemed to have reverenced the house of God, since few marks of their pollution were to be seen throughout it. The interior of the house, having been well built, is still good. The chancel, Communion table and tables of the law &c. are still there and in good order. The roof only is decaying; and at the time I was there the rain was dropping on these sacred places and on other parts of the house. On the doors of the pews, in gilt letters, are still to be seen the names of the principal Families which once occupied them. How could I, while for at least an hour traversing those long aisles, ascending the lofty pulpit, entering the sacred chancel, forbear to ask, And is this the House of God which was built by the Washingtons, the Mc.Cartys, the Lewises, the Fairfaxes?—the house in which they used to worship the God of our fathers according to the venerable forms of the Episcopal Church, and some of whose names are still to be seen on the doors of those now deserted pews? Is this also destined to moulder piecemeal away, or, when some signal is given, to become the prey of spoilers, and to be carried hither and thither and applied to every purpose under heaven?
On the strength of this appeal, the Reverend W. P. C. Johnson, then serving as a tutor at Gunston Hall, became the first post-Colonial rector to serve the church. Within a few years, Johnson, whose wife was a daughter of Bushrod Washington, was able to raise fifteen hundred dollars for repairs, largely on the strength of the Bishop's account; Meade further noted, however, that the doors belonging to the Washington and Mason pews were gone, although most of the others remained. Among those who provided funds to fix the leaking roof were John Quincy Adams, Martin van Buren, Daniel Webster, Francis Scott Key, and Henry Clay. The church continued serving an active Episcopal parish, being staffed sporadically by students from the Virginia Theological Seminary after Johnson's 1840 departure; in addition, a Methodist congregation held services in the building for some years in the 1850s, and a debating society used it for meetings for a time.
Benson Lossing attended a Methodist service at Pohick Church on December 10, 1848, and recorded the event in his widely-read "Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution"; he stated in his account that during the service he sat in the Washington family pew. He also noted the presence of a number of broken windows in the building. Furthermore, he recorded that the pulpit appeared to have been the target of vandals, and that birds had built nests around it and otherwise used it as a perch. The account also states that the altarpiece was still extant at this time. Lossing counted twenty-one members of the congregation, white and black combined, on this occasion. Also included in the book is a description of the site of the church; at the time of the writer's visit, it stood on the edge of a primeval forest composed largely of oaks, pines, and chestnuts, which extended "almost uninterruptedly" to Mount Vernon.
The earliest known detailed picture of the church building dates to this period in its history; it was painted by John Gadsby Chapman, and shows the dilapidated state to which the structure had been reduced. Dating to 1835, it is believed to have been painted to raise money for the restoration fund, although this is uncertain. The painting is in the church collection, but has been loaned to Mount Vernon for display.
American Civil War.
By 1860, conditions at Pohick Church had deteriorated to such a state that it is unclear whether or not the building remained a consecrated house of worship at the dawn of the American Civil War. With its proximity to Washington, D.C., the building was quickly embroiled in the fighting that rocked Northern Virginia. although in that year a plan was formed by a clergyman from Fairfax, Reverend R. T. Brown, to return the building to active service, a plan which was quashed by the beginning of the conflict. The 2nd Michigan Volunteers, under the command of General Samuel P. Heintzelman, raided the church on November 12, 1861. Lieutenant Charles B. Haydon was outraged at the men's behavior, describing it thus: At 8½ A.M. we reached the church 12 miles out. Pohick Church is a brick building built in 1773. Gen. Washington contributed to building it & was a frequent attendant. It has a very ancient look & one would suppose that it might be sacred enough to be secure. I have long known that the Mich 2nd had no fear or reverence as a general thing for God or the places where he is worshiped but I had hoped that the memory of Gen. Washington might protect almost anything with which it was associated. I believe our soldiers would have torn the church down in 2 days. They were all over it in less than 10 minutes tearing off the ornaments, splitting the woodwork and pews, knocking the brick to pieces & everything else they could get at. They wanted pieces to carry away ... A more absolute set of vandals than our men can not be found on the face of the earth. As true as I am living I believe they would steal Washington's coffin if they could get to it. Private Robert Sneden visited the church in January 1862. He painted a watercolor of the encampments around the building and described its condition in his journal:We reached Pohick Church about 4 pm in a snow storm ... It was a substantial two story brick structure with white marble, quoins and trimmings and old colonial gambrel roof ... Here Washington attended service, with all the old first families of the time ... He drove from Mount Vernon to church in his coach with four horses, tandem fashion as did the others. Now the church was in ruinous condition. Windows were all broken out, doors gone, pews nearly gone, being used for firewood by our pickets. The ceilings broken by the rain coming through the roof, walls discolored black by smoke, etc. The mahogany pulpit was half cut away and carried off for relics, while the cornerstones had been unearthed and the contents carried off. Washington had lain this stone in 1765 [sic] and the soldiers who got it out must have found valuable relics. There was not much left for the relic hunters now even the sconces and door knobs and hinges were gone.Confederate General J. Johnston Pettigrew also recorded visiting Pohick Church in his wartime journal.
Thaddeus S. C. Lowe soon took over the church as a base of operations, and a garrison stationed at the site began to use the building as quarters. The men left graffiti behind on the church doorposts, quoins, and walls; much of it is still visible today, as are bullet holes in the exterior walls. From this location Lowe repeatedly launched his balloon, "Intrepid", to track Confederate troop movements along the Occoquan River, and here he saw the earliest successes of his short-lived Federal Balloon Corps. The church was used as a stable by Union forces during the winter of 1862–63, during which time the interior was stripped of everything save the upper cornice. Some of this damage was documented by Mathew Brady in a photograph taken in 1862.
Skirmishes are known to have taken place in the vicinity of the church throughout the war; the area was officially neutral ground, but was populated by guerrillas attempting to disrupt local military operations. Jacob Erwin of Company C of the 1st New York Cavalry, killed in one such action, is believed to have been the first volunteer cavalryman of the Army of the Potomac to have been killed during the conflict.
Robert E. Lee is recorded as having been a member of the congregation at some time during this period of its history.
Post-Civil War.
The congregation of Pohick Church had scattered thoroughly by the end of the war, so that for a time the building stood empty and unused. In 1874 the structure began to see a return to its original purpose once again. Renovations, paid for by a donor from New York City, were undertaken beginning in that year to make it suitable for use, but no attempt was made to restore the church to its colonial splendor. The box pews were replaced by straight benches, and other architectural elements were added which bore traces of the Victorian Gothic style. A large platform was installed at the eastern end of the building, and on this a vestry room was partitioned off and constructed at the north end. Many of the furnishings were donated by a congregation from New York. A service of reconsecration, led by the Episcopal Bishop of Virginia, John Johns, was conducted on the first Sunday of October 1875. After this the congregation was once again served by students from the Virginia Theological Seminary until a permanent rector was appointed in 1881. A rectory was purchased for the church in 1883, and by 1908 the church property consisted of forty-three acres of land as well as the rectory and parish hall. Pohick Church on occasion played host to dignitaries; in 1878 President Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife Lucy attended a service there after having spent the night at Mount Vernon.
In 1894 the original vestry book of Pohick Church was recovered by Reverend Philip Slaughter, an event which appears to have inspired new interest in the history of the parish. Contributing to the new attitude was the publication of two books, "The Life and Correspondence of George Mason" by Kate Mason Rowland in 1891 and Dr. Slaughter's own "The History of Truro Parish in Virginia" in 1908. These works, coupled with the efforts during the nineteenth century of Reverend Samuel Wallis, introduced parishioners, previously cognizant only of George Washington's connection with the church, to the roles played by the McCarty family, George Mason, Jeremiah Bronaugh, and Lee Massey, among others, in its history.
Not long after the structure reopened for worship, the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, at the instigation of a member of the vestry, began to take an interest in its workings. The association took a pew in the church, and members sometimes attended services there. Another major restoration effort resulted from this interest. This one, designed to replicate the colonial fabric of the church as best could be managed, began in 1890 and continued until 1917. These repairs were spearheaded by the Ladies' Association and the Daughters of the American Revolution. They were overseen by architect Glenn Brown, and much of the woodwork currently visible in the church is his handiwork. Contributions to the repair fund came from around the country, and descendants of the original pewholders were contacted to restore their respective families' pews. Phoebe Hearst provided the money to construct a temporary space for worship to continue while the original church was being refitted; this white frame structure soon became known as "Hearst Hall" in her honor, and went on to serve as a parish hall for the community. Additional support for the project was provided by Harrison Howell Dodge, a member of the vestry who served as superintendent of Mount Vernon for many years. The restoration also saw the replacement of the pulpit with one patterned along colonial lines. In 1912 a pew in the church was dedicated to Ann Pamela Cunningham, first regent of the Ladies' Association, for her work in preserving both Mount Vernon and the church, a dedication which no longer exists.
In 1916 an endowment was in the process of being raised to provide support for the congregation, which was described by numerous sources as being poor and lacking the money necessary to support repairs to the building; at this time the rector was Reverend Everard Meade, a grandson of the bishop whose account had earlier made the church's plight known. Some original pieces of the interior fittings have been returned to the church as part of the restoration works; a piece of the balustrade surrounding the communion rail was sent back by the taker or a member of his family, as was a fragment of the Washington pew; the latter, returned in 1986, provided an indication of the original color of the woodwork, and provided a match to be used in the refitting of the interior. The church continues to be home to an active congregation, members of which give tours of the structure after Sunday services and at sporadic other times; the building is also open for self-guided tours daily. A chapter of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew has existed at the church for many years, and is today one of the largest and most active in the country.
Documentation and recognition.
Pohick Church was photographed by Frances Benjamin Johnston in 1930 as part of the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South; it was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1941. A historical marker was erected by the state of Virginia commemorating the history of the structure in 1934, and can still be seen today, located just outside the church property itself. Next to it is a sign placed by the Civil War Trails Program in 2014 and detailing the Civil War-era history of the church and grounds. Also at the site is a marker detailing the history of the old telegraph line, one of the first in the world, which ran nearby and which is today memorialized in the name of Telegraph Road. The church is the centerpiece of a historic overlay district established by Fairfax County in 1970; it was the first such district designated by the county. It was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register in 1968, and to the National Register of Historic Places the following year. Restoration and maintenance of the church property is currently overseen by the Historic Pohick Church Foundation, formally known as the Pohick Church Endowment Fund Inc., a nonprofit organization established in 1983.
Architecture.
Exterior.
Pohick Church is a two-story tall rectangular building with a hipped roof and modillioned cornice. There is a roof overhang of about three feet. Its dimensions at the time of construction were fixed at sixty-six feet in length and forty-five-and-a-half feet in breadth; the specification indicated that the walls were to be twenty-eight feet tall. The construction material, Flemish bond described initially as "good Bricks well burnt", were baked at or near the site of the church. The water table is considered to be of note, as it combines concave and convex styles. White freestone was used for various fittings on the building, and the window arches are of rubbed brick. The windows of the first floor have flat lintels, those on the second story have arches. The exterior stonework has been described as "especially fine"; the rusticated surround of each of the western entries is framed by Ionic pilasters and topped with a pedimented frieze. The main entrance, at the south, is similar in construction, but with a triple keystone instead of the single one used over other doors. Also notable are the quoins at the corners of the building. The doors are trimmed with Aquia Creek sandstone, using designs common to English architectural books of the period. More specifically, they have been traced to the publications of James Gibbs, and were likely executed by stonemason William Copein. The exterior has been restored on multiple occasions, and much of the building's external fabric has been renewed. The complex is surrounded by a low brick wall, donated in 1917 by a group of prominent citizens from New York. Such a wall had been part of the original design when the church was completed, but was ultimately rejected by the vestry as being too expensive; it was replaced with a wooden post fence. Stylistically, the church has been described as belonging to the Late Georgian school of architecture, with Palladian tendencies; one source has called it "a sophisticated essay in the Georgian style", and states that it "recalls the more refined dissenter chapels of 18th-century England".
Interior.
The church interior, described by one writer as "probably the most sophisticated interior of its time in the colonies", contains two aisles, with a separate entry door for each one. The box pews conform to the traditional English arrangement. Markers have been affixed to many pews in memory of past members of the church community. As nearly the whole of the original interior woodwork was destroyed during the Civil War, what exists today is an example of early Colonial Revival design dating to the restorations of the early twentieth century.
 The altarpiece, twenty feet high and fifteen wide, is in wainscot, with Ionic decorations. As per Anglican requirements, it displays the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments. In the pediment window is a cross, 42 inches high, carved of walnut from Mount Vernon and faced with gold leaf. The church is provided with a modern tracker organ, completed by Fritz Noack in 1969 to a design by Charles Fisk, with carvings executed by Roger Martin. This instrument contains 880 pipes, with thirteen stops and seventeen ranks. The pulpit, also Ionic in its fittings, is carved of pine, as are its canopy and the reading desks; the gold leaf used to execute portions of its decoration was donated by George Washington. Its base is formed in the wineglass style. Below the pew box under the pulpit is the grave of the Reverend Lee Massey, last colonial rector of Truro Parish; his remains were removed to the church in 1908 from the former site of his house, Bradley, the first in a series of reinterments of early parishioners in the church and churchyard. The entirety of the church interior is painted a putty color, which serves to unify the various architectural elements within, as does the clarity of the design of the space as a whole.
Two baptismal fonts remain in the church. The newer of the two was carved by William Copein from a design in a book by Batty Langley; its base was destroyed during the American Civil War and it was removed from the church for some time, although it was later returned. The older has been dated to the eleventh or twelfth century, and appears to have once been a mortar from a monastery refectory; many such pieces were shipped to the American colonies for liturgical use, and the font is associated with an earlier church occupied by the congregation. It was restored in 1890 and continues to be in use for baptisms. The chandeliers lighting the building are French, and were given as a memorial to members of the congregation who served in the European theater of World War II. Also inside the church is a memorial, dedicated by President Warren Harding on May 29, 1921, to six men of the Mount Vernon and Lee Districts who had been killed in World War I. Another memorial was raised to the novelist Vaughan Kester, who died at Gunston Hall, by his mother.
A description of the interior prior to its restoration survives in an oral history of the church:
The Church had been practically abandoned for some years and was in a bad state of delapidation, but the beautiful carved work that had been done by William Bernard Sears, soon after the church was built, had not then been molested. My mother used to sit in the church and read the Lord's Prayer and Ten Commandments over the Chancel, and admire the gilded dove that Mr. Sears had placed high over the Pulpit. The 'Eye' which he also had made seemed to be looking at her no matter where she sat.
Little remains of the original interior fabric of the church, save for the cornice and one baluster on the chancel rail. Much of the rest is a conjectural reconstruction dating to the early years of the twentieth century. Notably, despite the presence of the second tier of windows there was no gallery inside during the colonial era; the current gallery was installed early in the twentieth century. Further restoration of the interior is in progress. Contemporary fittings inside the church include needlework cushions in a number of pews, worked by women of the parish and friends of the congregation and depicting symbols and scenes of historic significance both to Pohick Church and the surrounding area; the Episcopal Church as a whole; and the state of Virginia.
Ancillary buildings.
On November 5, 1772, during a meeting of the Truro Parish vestry, it was ordered that a vestry house be built at Pohick Church. Specifications were laid that the structure be built of brick, twenty-four by eighteen feet, with a wooden floor and a chimney inside, three windows, and walls one-and-a-half bricks thick. In 1774 the vestry rescinded its order, as the cost of construction was found to be too great. The plan was revived in 1931 to commemorate the bicentennials of both the parish and the birth of George Washington; the resulting structure, completed in that year, was constructed of old brick and incorporates a fireplace mantel from an 18th-century house and a fender from the 1753 glebe house of the parish. The structure, which stands to the east of the church, continues to be used by the vestry for meetings and contains a gift shop as well, proceeds from whose sales are used to support church missions and other outreach projects.
To the south of the church is a parish house, completed in 1955 in a style complementary to that of the main building; an addition to this structure was constructed in the 1980s. To the southwest sits the rectory, completed in 1963. The belfry in the churchyard was erected at the time of the restoration works in the early twentieth century, and was fitted at its construction with a bronze bell inscribed "In Memory of Washington"; it was the gift of a donor from New York, Augustus Schermerhorn. None of these ancillary structures is included in the National Register nomination, nor are they considered of historic significance in the County's discussions of the site.
Archives and collections.
Numerous gifts have been presented to Pohick Church over the years; these include a plate and cup of hammered silver, dating to 1711 and 1716 respectively; a chalice from the United States Marine Corps; a bread box and silver cruets, from the Corps of Engineers; and a silver paten. More recent gifts have included several pieces of silver crafted in Alexandria. A cross for the altar table was provided by the Bishop of Washington, D.C.
Due to the vicissitudes of the congregation's history, the archives of Pohick Church are not extensive. Nevertheless, they do contain a handful of notable books and documents. Chief among these is the original vestry book of Truro Parish, which documents every vestry from 1732 until the organization was disbanded on January 23, 1785. The book was then used by the Overseers of the Poor, legal successors to the vestry, until 1802. The book was lost for 75 years – William Meade writes that he "can hear no tidings" of it in "Old Churches and Families in Virginia", published in 1857 – but was eventually repurchased by the church for $20. It was held for a time at Mount Vernon, and was later deposited with the Library of Congress, with copies left with the church office for record-keeping. The vestry book has been digitized, and is available online for perusal.
Other books in the church archive include a 1761 prayer book imported by George Washington, later adapted by erasure and insertion from the old order into the new. A two-volume Bible of 1796 was donated to the church in 1802 by George Washington Parke Custis; it is inscribed inside by him, and further contains an inscription written by a Civil War soldier who took possession of it in 1861. It was later found in a collection of old books which had been donated to the church by an unknown person. Other books in the library have been donated by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. The pledge book circulated by Reverend Johnson to raise funds for repairs, which contains the signatures of many notables of the period, still exists. The archive also contains the grave marker of Katherine Popkins, dated 1766, which is the lone surviving stone from the graveyard of the congregation's former location in Colchester.
Cemetery.
The cemetery of Pohick Church was initially surveyed and platted to the west of the church building, and was only officially organized in 1886. Burials are formally recorded as having taken place in the churchyard beginning in 1840, although oral tradition among some local families indicates that some interments took place as early as the 1790s, and John Gadsby Chapman's painting of the church dated 1835 depicts some tombstones in the yard, several broken or toppled, near the site of the current vestry house. Locations of these earlier graves are now unknown; all pre-1886 grave markers seen in the cemetery today have been moved to the site from elsewhere in Fairfax County. Additional land was added to the cemetery in 1920. A memorial garden, accepting only cremated remains, also exists on the church grounds, at the foot of the belfry. The oldest remaining tombstones original to the cemetery are those of Eliza Harover, erected in 1865, and John Robertson, dating to the following year; the burial of Ann S. Nevitt, on October 2, 1875, is the first for which a written record was kept.
A number of figures notable in the early history of Fairfax County and the surrounding area are buried in the cemetery, many of their graves having been moved from other sites over the years. Among these are a number of members of the Fitzhugh family, including Continental Congressman William Fitzhugh. The Fitzhugh plantation, Ravensworth, was the centerpiece of the largest landholding in the county; its plantation house was destroyed by fire in 1926, and the graves from the family cemetery were moved to the church in 1957. The graves of several members of the Alexander family, for whom Alexandria is named, were relocated from Preston Plantation in 1922. The grave of Will Harris (died 1698), formerly of Neabsco Plantation in Prince William County, is the oldest in Fairfax County; it was moved from its original location in 1954 as a result of highway construction. Other graves and gravestones in the churchyard were moved from Summer Hill, Bradley, Stisted (in the former town of Colchester), Mount Air, Cedar Grove, Belmont, Springfield, Cameron, and Halstead plantations; also reinterred there were remains from the West family cemetery in Alexandria. Daniel French, original contractor of the present church building, is also buried in the churchyard; at his death in 1771, he was interred at Rose Hill, but his grave was moved in 1954. The grave of the wife of the first rector of the current church, Elizabeth Massey, is near the vestry house; her husband, Lee, is interred inside the church building. Both of their bodies were moved from the cemetery of their plantation, Bradley, in 1908. The grave of William Brown, Surgeon General of the Continental Army and personal physician to George Washington, is also among those which have been removed to the churchyard over the years.
Other notable figures buried at Pohick Church include novelist and playwright Paul Kester and his mother; Kester, whose brother Vaughan is memorialized inside the church, had lived locally at both Gunston Hall and Woodlawn at different stages of his career, and had served for a time as a member of the church vestry. George A. Malcolm, teacher at the Lorton Valley School and Fairfax County deputy sheriff, is also interred in the churchyard; he was shot on April 6, 1905, while attempting to arrest a man who had been harassing students at the school, and became the County's first law enforcement officer to be killed in the line of duty. At the time of his death he was also serving as the deputy treasurer of the Mount Vernon and Lee districts. Harrison Howell Dodge is also buried in the cemetery, as is former White House Chief Usher Howell G. Crim. Near the Fitzhugh graves is a memorial marker to Long Tom, a chief of the Doeg tribe, who according to legend was killed by Susanna Alexander to save either herself or her husband John during an attack. According to Alexander family lore, he was buried at the Preston plantation cemetery and his remains were moved to Pohick with those of the family; the exact location of his grave in the churchyard, however, is not known. A memorial to John Augustine Washington, brother of George, was erected by a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1986, but it does not mark a known gravesite.
The first wife of Rear Admiral Donald Temple Eller is buried at Pohick Church; the Admiral is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, but some of his ashes were interred next to her grave. Also in the churchyard is the grave of Carnegie Medal recipient John Charles Springer, who served as a vestryman at the church and as secretary of the Historic Pohick Church Foundation.
A memorial to the unknown dead interred in the cemetery was erected in 1925, and has since been set into the brick wall surrounding the parish house. It reads:
To the Unknown Dead of Pohick Church
this Tribute of Respect is paid the
Many Parishioners Buried in this Hallowed Churchyard
The Records are Lost & the Graves
cannot now be identified
1925
Several surveys of the cemetery have taken place over the years, beginning with that done by Carrie White Avery in 1923. The results of another survey, done in 1967, were published by Edna May Stevens and Lesba Lewis Thompson as "Tombstone Records of Pohick Church, Fairfax County, Virginia". A third survey, done by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the Annandale, Virginia, stake, was sponsored by the Fairfax Genealogical Society; its results were checked against earlier parish records, and the entire survey was rechecked for errors in the summer of 1998.
The cemetery remains active and open to members of the congregation for burial; it is not a public cemetery, and interment is restricted to members of the congregation and those non-members with family buried there. Earlier remains continue to be reinterred there as well; if unmarked graves are found on land whose ownership can be traced back to original members of the parish, the church is willing to discuss moving them to the churchyard. Fences and permanent plantings are prohibited in the churchyard, and use of artificial flowers is restricted, as is the design of gravestones.
Remeum.
Charles Mason Remey, a descendant of George Mason, contracted with Pohick Church in 1937 to build a family mausoleum on its grounds, to be located on five acres of land about one half-mile south of the church building. Called "the Remeum", it was to be a "magnificent complex of walled courtyards, underground chambers with soaring vaulted ceilings, marble reliefs and statues, carved pillars, chapels and burial vaults", and was planned as a memorial to his family and its contributions to American history. Construction began in 1939; when finished, the structure was four times the size of Pohick Church itself. Sculptural work was done for the mausoleum by Felix de Weldon; reliefs illustrated historic events in which the family participated, and depicted scenes from the lives of Saints Peter, Paul, and Stephen. The structure was guarded by a pair of sleeping lions, and statues inside included depictions of "Faith" and "Charity" as well as a copy of the "Bruges Madonna" of Michaelangelo and life-sized statues of Remey's parents and wife. Also inside was a massive marble sarcophagus, transported from Lisbon, for Remey himself. The grounds were landscaped, the underground areas electrified. A trust account was established with the church for maintenance. Remey eventually transported the bodies of fifteen other relatives to the mausoleum, mostly from his home state of Iowa. Some two million bricks were used in the construction of the mausoleum, and Remey planned to crown it with a three-story structure that would have dwarfed the church.
Problems soon developed, and the mausoleum site became the target of vandals. As a preventative measure, the entrance was bricked up to prevent access, but the wall was breached in 1956. By 1958 the church vestry became concerned, and in 1962 refused to grant permission for any more work to be done on the site. Soon negotiations began to break the original contract; in 1968 the property reverted to the church, and Remey was given five years to remove anything of value from the site. Most of the dead were taken by relatives to another family cemetery in New York; Remey's wife Gertrude was reinterred in the main church cemetery. After the last of the bodies was removed, the Remeum was demolished beginning in 1973, and the last of the aboveground ruins was finally bulldozed ten years later. Little remains on the site to mark the former presence of the complex save an obelisk dedicated to Remey's parents and a pair of structures which served as chimneys or vents. Urban legends about the site persist, describing parties in the crypts below the mausoleum.
Cultural references.
Pohick Church and its cemetery play a large role in the children's novel "Cinnabar, the One O'Clock Fox" by Marguerite Henry, published in 1956. Private Robert Knox Sneden of the Union Army was stationed at the church during the Civil War, and it figures prominently in his diary and watercolors, which were published in 2002 as "Eye of the Storm".


Mount Davidson (California)

Mount Davidson is the highest natural point in San Francisco, California, with an elevation of . It is located near the geographical center of the city, south of Twin Peaks and Portola Drive and to the west of Diamond Heights and Glen Park. It dominates the southeastern view from most of Portola Drive. It is one of San Francisco's many hills and one of its original "Seven Hills".
Mount Davidson's most notable feature, aside from its height, is the concrete cross situated on the crest of the hill. It is the site of a yearly prayer service, performed on Easter, when the cross is illuminated, and a yearly commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, held on April 24.
Mount Davidson Park tops the hill – excluding the land at the summit, which is privately owned. The parkland portion is located between Myra Way (east), Dalewood Way (southwest), and Juanita Way (north). Public transportation is provided by the 36 Teresita Muni line, which stops at the Dalewood Way and Myra Way entrance to the park.
The residential neighborhoods around Mount Davidson Park are Miraloma Park to the east and Westwood Highlands and Sherwood Forest to the southwest.
History.
Adolph Sutro purchased the land in 1881. After his death, the highest of the San Miguel hills was named "Mount Davidson" at the request of, and to honor, charter member "George Davidson, of the Sierra Club. The appraiser for Sutro's heirs, A.S. Baldwin, bought the western slope of the mountain in 1911, along with much of the land immediately north and south of Mount Davidson. Baldwin began plans for development of St. Francis Wood, Westwood Park, Westwood Highlands, Forest Hill, Sherwood Forest, and Monterey Heights.
The cross.
The first temporary cross was high, and erected in 1923 for a service led by Dean J. Wilmer Gresham of Grace Cathedral. A second high cross was built in 1924 and burned down in 1925. In 1926, a nearly high cross was built and illuminated every night a week before Easter, then burned down in 1928. In 1929 an high wood and stucco cross with lighting was built. The same year at the top of Mount Davidson was purchased by the city of San Francisco for use as a park with funds donated by the Mount Davidson Conservation Committee, led by Mrs. Edmund N. "Madie" Brown. Mrs. A. S. Baldwin donated a further on the summit to the city at the same time. Arsonists burned down the 1929 cross in 1931.
In 1933 Mayor Angelo Rossi, Governor and former Mayor "Sunny Jim" James Rolph, the Easter Sunrise Service Committee, and the Native Sons of the Golden West pledged to construct a permanent cross to commemorate the early California pioneers. The high concrete and steel cross was completed the next year with President Franklin D. Roosevelt lighting the cross via telegraph from the White House on March 24, 1934 – eight days before Easter. Sunrise services are held at the cross every Easter and were broadcast nationwide by CBS from the 1940s through the 1970s. (According to local gossip columnist Herb Caen, the original plans in 1934 called for a cross high, but there was "enough concrete on hand for an extra three feet – so on it went.")
Director Don Siegel filmed a scene from the 1971 movie "Dirty Harry" at the cross. Harry enters the park from Lansdale Avenue, an entry close to the Muni bus stop, before confronting "Scorpio" at the base of the cross. According to Warner Bros. literature, Siegel was pleased to discover the huge cross at Mount Davidson Park. However, the height of the cross and foggy weather made filming difficult. Every night for a month cinematographer Bruce Surtees would ride a crane to the top of the cross only to be hampered by foggy weather. When the weather finally cleared the shot was made in one night.
The cross itself has been the subject of much debate among the residents of San Francisco as they have tried to weigh its religious role against its status as an historic landmark. In 1991 the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Jewish Congress, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued the city over its ownership of the cross. After a long legal battle and loss at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in 1997 the City auctioned of land, including the cross, to the highest bidder. The decision to sell the land was challenged by two members of the group American Atheists, but a federal appeals court ruled against them in 2002 and the Supreme Court declined to hear their case in 2003.
The cross was purchased for $26,000 by The Council of Armenian American Organizations of Northern California which installed a bronze plaque at the base memorializing the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide. On Armenian Independence Day September 23, 2007, it was discovered that the plaque was missing. The original plaque was never found, and a replacement plaque was dedicated at a ceremony on April 20, 2008.


George Washington on Horseback

George Washington on Horseback is an equestrian statue by sculptor Herbert Haseltine. It is located south of the Washington National Cathedral.
It was dedicated on February 22, 1959.


The Rising (memorial)

The Rising is a memorial located in the Kensico Dam Plaza of Valhalla, Westchester County, New York, created by architect Frederic Schwartz. It stands against the backdrop of Kensico Dam, commemorating the September 11 attacks on America and remembering in a special way the men and women from Westchester County who were victims of those attacks.
Design.
The design for "The Rising" was unanimously chosen by the Westchester Family Victims and Survivors Group from among entries in an international design competition. The design process was "an exacting and intense collaborative effort of architects, engineers 3D computer specialists, sculptors, welders, government representatives, and members of the families" of the victims.
The memorial is dedicated to the victims of the 9-11 attacks from Westchester, and lists the names of residents who died as a result of those attacks, along with the names of the communities within the counties in which they lived. It also includes a quote about each one, engraved along the outside of the memorial's circular base, were chosen by the survivors in their families. From the base, 109 steel rods, one for each of the victims remembered by this memorial, extend like spokes of a wheel which then intertwine. A 110th rod was crafted for the memorial as well, but that rod was cut apart so that each portion could be presented to an individual who helped make this memorial possible.
Architect Frederic Schwartz has stated that the goal of his design was to create a memorial that "invites families and visitors to look back in memory of their loved ones and look forward as a community, and provides a place for prayer and reflection...The 109 intertwined strands (like DNA) rise 80 feet from the ground reaching upward to the heavens. The rods are bound together in a literal and symbolic gesture exemplifying the strength of the Westchester community and the families who lost loved ones."
Schwartz notes that the "reflective quality of the stainless steel" is designed to change according to the time and light of day, so that there is a "dynamic quality" to the structure, and in many ways the visitors themselves will become part of the structure as well. The goal, according to Schwartz, is that the memorial might provide "a gathering place and reaffirms the capacity of individuals as well as the Westchester community to renew and grow."
The victims.
109 Westchester residents are remembered through this memorial. The memorial also includes the names of ten additional victims who had been former residents of Westchester. There were actually 110 residents of Westchester; one was unintentionally omitted. The design remained unchanged. The person's name was added to the stones.
Dedication.
The memorial was dedicated on September 11, 2006, five years after the attacks. It included a recitation of all the names of the victims remembered by this memorial, music performed by the Mayor's Interfaith Community Choir of Mount Vernon, and a special performance of the 2002 song, "The Rising," created by Bruce Springsteen.
Awards.
The "Faith and Form Journal" ("The Interfaith Journal on Religion, Art, and Architecture") recognized "The Rising" with its 2007 Faith and Form Sacred Landscape Award.


New Rochelle 250th Anniversary half dollar

The New Rochelle 250th anniversary half dollar is a commemorative coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint to mark the 250th anniversary of the settling of New Rochelle in Westchester County, New York. Artist Gertrude K. Lathrop designed the piece; she was chosen after work by Lorrilard Wise was rejected by the federal Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). The coin depicts a fatted calf on one side, being led by John Pell, who sold the land on which New Rochelle now stands; the other shows a fleur de lis, an element of the city seal of New Rochelle and of France's La Rochelle, its eponym. The piece is dated 1938 but was minted the previous year. The New Rochelle piece was the last new-design commemorative struck by the Mint until 1946.
Aware of the many commemorative issues being authorized by the U.S. Congress in the mid-1930s, members of the Westchester County Coin Club sought a half dollar for the New Rochelle anniversary. They gained the support of members of Congress, who secured the passage of legislation for the half dollar during 1936. After Wise's work was rejected, Lathrop was hired based on her work on the Albany Charter half dollar (1936). She decided to depict the "fatte calfe" which was to be presented annually to Pell if he asked for it, lest New Rochelle's land be forfeited back to him. The CFA approved her work, and the coins were struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 1937.
New Rochelle's coin committee sold the half dollar for $2 locally, and by mail order to all 48 states and internationally, during late 1937 and early 1938. When sales slowed, 9,749 pieces were returned to the mint for redemption and melting. They have risen in price and now sell in the low hundreds of dollars. Lathrop's work has been both praised and criticized by numismatic commentators.
Background.
The city of New Rochelle, New York, in Westchester County, was founded by Huguenots from La Rochelle in France in 1688. The following year, Jacob Leisler, their agent, purchased from John Pell a tract of some on which the city now stands. One of the conditions was that Leisler would give to Pell and his heirs "one fatte calfe" on June 24 of every year thereafter, if demanded. British-American political theorist Thomas Paine later owned land in New Rochelle, which was incorporated as a village in 1858 and as a city in 1899. It is a suburb of New York City.
Sparked by new issues with low mintages for which the demand was greater than the supply, the market for United States commemorative coins spiked in 1936. Until 1954, the entire mintage of such issues was sold by the government at face value to a group authorized by Congress, who then tried to sell the coins at a profit to the public. The new pieces then came on to the secondary market, and in early 1936 all earlier commemoratives sold at a premium to their issue prices. The apparent easy profits to be made by purchasing and holding commemoratives attracted many to the coin collecting hobby, where they sought to purchase the new issues. Congress authorized an explosion of commemoratives in 1936; no fewer than fifteen were issued for the first time. One coin authorized and issued in 1936 was the Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar, controlled and profited from by Thomas G. Melish and issued to celebrate a nonexistent anniversary. At the request of the groups authorized to purchase them, several half dollars minted in previous years were produced again, dated 1936, senior among them the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar, first struck in 1926.
By April 1936, Congress had reacted to these practices, adding protections to commemorative coinage bills. These included a requirement that all coins be struck at a single mint, rather than all three then operating as with earlier issues (the use of mint marks would force coin collectors to buy three near-identical coins to have a complete set). Such provisions were in the New Rochelle half dollar bill; they could only be coined at one mint and all pieces were required to bear the date 1938, though the authorization took place in 1936 and the striking of the coins in 1937. They would be issued at face value to a committee of not less than three members appointed by the mayor of New Rochelle.
The moving force behind the New Rochelle issue was the Westchester County Coin Club, including collectors Julius Guttag (of Guttag Brothers, a prominent New York City coin dealer) and Pitt M. Skipton, who planned the issue to avoid the abuses of earlier commemoratives. The issue originated in discussions between club members, who were aware of the many commemoratives being issued in the mid-1930s. The idea was attractive as the piece would help fund the 250th anniversary celebrations in New Rochelle, rather than draw on taxpayers strained by the Depression. The coin club, at its November 1935 meeting, appointed Skipton as a one-man committee to make the necessary contacts to gain authorization for the issue.
Legislation.
Bills for a New Rochelle half dollar were introduced in both houses of Congress in January 1936; in the Senate by Royal S. Copeland and in the House by Charles D. Millard, both of New York. Skipton had contacted both legislators, who had agreed to help, though Senator Copeland had warned, "The President is pretty hard-boiled on this subject." The House bill reported back favorably from the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures on February 17, 1936, proposed amendments increasing the authorized mintage from 20,000 to 25,000 and requiring there to be a committee of not less than three people to order the coins on behalf of New Rochelle. The House adopted the amendments and passed the bill without debate on March 16.
The Senate bill was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency; it was one of several commemorative half dollar bills to be considered on March 11, 1936, by a subcommittee led by Colorado's Alva B. Adams. Senator Adams had heard of the commemorative coin abuses of the mid-1930s, when issuers increased the number of pieces needed for a complete set by having them issued with different dates and mint marks; authorizing legislation placed no prohibition on this. Lyman W. Hoffecker, a Texas coin dealer and official of the American Numismatic Association, testified and told the subcommittee that some issues, like the Oregon Trail pieces, had been issued over the course of years with different dates and mint marks. Other issues had been entirely bought up by single dealers, and some low-mintage varieties of commemoratives were selling at high prices. The many varieties and inflated prices for some issues that resulted from these practices angered collectors trying to keep their collections current.
The Senate took no further action on Copeland's bill, but on March 26, Senator Adams reported back the House bill to the Senate, entirely rewriting it to incorporate protections such as requiring all of the New Rochelle coins to have the same date and mint mark, and to be issued to the sponsoring organization in lots of not less than 5,000. He recommended that future commemorative coin bills have similar protections. The Senate considered the bill on March 27, the fifth in a series of six commemorative coin bills being considered by that body, and like the others, the New Rochelle bill was amended and passed without debate or dissent.
As the two houses had passed different versions, the bill returned to the House of Representatives. On April 17, John J. Cochran of Missouri moved that the House agree to the Senate amendment, though with one change: that instead of no less than 5,000 being issued at one time, no less than 25,000 could be issued at one time. Cochran explained to Marion A. Zioncheck of Washington state that this was for the protection of the collector. The House agreed without further debate, and on April 27, on the motion of Adams, so did the Senate. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill into law on May 5, 1936. According to coin dealer B. Max Mehl in his 1937 volume on commemoratives, "Having visited New Rochelle on two or three occasions, I don't quite comprehend why this town rates a commemorative coin ... But apparently it must have, and it does have, some active collectors who apparently knew the art of string-pulling and got the bill for the coin through Congress for an issue of 25,000 coins which will be distributed at $2 per."
Preparation.
The New Rochelle Commemorative Coin Committee was formed by Mayor Harry Scott of New Rochelle with the membership being Pitt Skipton as chair, Ernest H. Watson as treasurer and Jere Milleman as secretary. Assisting was Amy Skipton, spouse of Pitt Skipton, who served as executive secretary. The Committee initially hired Lorrilard Wise to design the half dollar. He depicted a Native American sitting among vegetation watching the settlers' ship sail in before a rising sun for the obverse, with a representation of New Rochelle's coat of arms for the reverse. On July 17, 1936, the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), charged by a 1921 executive order by President Warren G. Harding with rendering advisory opinions regarding public artworks, including coins, considered the design and raised several concerns, including whether the man depicted was based on a member of a local tribe. In a letter dated July 20 to Assistant Director of the Mint Mary M. O'Reilly, the Commission suggested the obverse be entirely redone. Wise submitted new models on August 17, and these were approved by the CFA on September 6. In the meantime, the Coin Committee was receiving many orders, and some would-be purchasers were becoming impatient.
Members of the CFA almost immediately reconsidered. Sculptor-member Lee Lawrie believed the design about the best that Wise could do, and given the few sculptors he believed capable of the work, was inclined to let the issue go ahead. Eugene Savage and Gilmore Clarke, also members, did not agree and after rejecting a design revision on October 23, the CFA asked that the New Rochelle Committee hire a new sculptor. By mid-November, the Skiptons had seen an example of the Albany Charter half dollar, designed by Gertrude K. Lathrop, who was hired to replace Wise and who spent many hours in New Rochelle, studying local views. Lathrop's appearance in New Rochelle came as something of a surprise to Pitt and Amy Skipton, who knew of her as G.K. Lathrop, and had assumed she was a man. After several meetings between Lathrop and Pitt Skipton, both decided on the fatted calf for the obverse and a fleur-de-lis, an element of the shield of New Rochelle, for the reverse.
The CFA took some time to decide, apparently under the impression the old coat of arms reverse was still to be used. Lathrop knew President Roosevelt from his days as Governor of New York and went to Washington to lobby for her designs; on her return she stated the CFA would approve the calf obverse and that both reverses were acceptable. After discussion, the Coin Committee affirmed its support of the fleur-de-lis design. On February 18, 1937, the CFA approved both of her designs with the concurrence of the new sculptor-member, Paul Manship. It conveyed its approval to Director of the Mint Nellie Tayloe Ross the following day. On March 12, the Treasury Department received $300 to pay for the coinage dies for the issue (by law the sponsoring committee's responsibility) and in early April it received $12,500 to pay in advance for the half dollars.
Design.
The obverse shows a fatted calf, roped and held by a man in elegant dress who is meant to be John Pell. Lathrop studied paintings in the possession of Pell's descendants to achieve the likeness. The model for the calf lived on Kenwood Farm of Albany, New York, owned by Parker Corning, congressman from New York, and was a thoroughbred Guernsey calf lent to the sculptor. Lathrop stated that the calf was a bit unruly at first, but grew so accustomed to her presence that it would kiss her on the nose when it was allowed. The sculptor intended, with the calf design, to inject a touch of humor while maintaining dignity and beauty.
Arranged in arcs around the periphery of the obverse are the legends "NEW•ROCHELLE•NEW•YORK" and "SETTLED•1688•INCORPORATED•1899". The artist’s initials "GKL" appear to the right of the calf’s forelegs. The half dollar's reverse depicts a Fleur de lis, an element found within the city’s coat of arms and borrowed from the arms of La Rochelle, France. Arranged in arcs around the periphery are the statutory inscriptions "UNITED•STATES•OF•AMERICA, E•PLURIBUS•UNUM, LIBERTY" and "IN• GOD•WE•TRUST". The date 1938 and value "HALF•DOLLAR" appear at the bottom in two lines. The New Rochelle half dollar is the last U.S. coin to have denticles along the rim, a feature that had been previously eliminated on the circulating coinage. It was also the last new-design commemorative to be struck by the U.S. until 1946.
Frank Duffield, editor of "The Numismatist", wrote at the time of issue that "Again Miss Gertrude K. Lathrop, of Albany, has scored with her designs for the New Rochelle half dollar. The Albany coin, also designed by her, is regarded by many collectors as one of the most attractive in the entire commemorative series." Numismatist Stuart Mosher, in his 1940 work on commemorative coins, praised the New Rochelle piece, stating that Lathrop "has produced in this one a most pleasing effect. The calf was modeled from life, and the colonial costume on the figure of Lord Pell has been accurately reproduced according to the style of that period. One of the handicaps belaboring every artist who attempts to design a coin for the United States government is the multiplicity of legends that must be used so as to comply with our coinage laws. In this instance the artist has arranged them in an orderly manner on the reverse, thus avoiding the cramped effect so often found on our coins when the designer attempts to crowd too many ideas into a small space."
Art historian Cornelius Vermeule, in his volume on American coins and medals, called the New Rochelle half dollar "a simple, bold, and absolutely tasteless coin". He wrote that "aestheticians demanding bovine fidelity can take comfort in the fact" that the calf's model came from Congressman Corning's farm. Vermeule stated, "it is small wonder that, on seeing a coin such as this, President Franklin Roosevelt urged a moratorium on their issue. More distressing is the fact that the accumulated prejudice against commemorative half-dollars" meant that none were issued, twenty-five years later, for the Civil War Centennial, despite the "clever fare in the artistry of American coinage" provided by "fatted calves".
Distribution and collecting.
In April 1937, a total of 25,015 New Rochelle half dollars were struck at the Philadelphia Mint, 15 pieces being reserved for inspection and testing at the 1938 meeting of the annual Assay Commission. As the Bureau of the Mint deemed it undesirable to turn the coins over to the Westchester County Coin Club, they were instead sent to the First National Bank of New Rochelle, where they arrived on April 16, 1937. Lathrop visited and stated she was pleased with the new half dollars. At the bank, the many mail orders were processed by the Skiptons and others; the bank also had a window for locals wanting to buy a few coins. They were sold through local banks and through mail order at $2 each plus postage and insurance for coins sent through the mails. The first coin struck was presented to Mayor Scott; the second to the president of the Westchester County Coin Club. The Coin Committee filled orders from all 48 states, Puerto Rico, Hawaii Territory, the Canal Zone, Canada, New Zealand and the Dutch East Indies. By 1937, the market for commemoratives had crashed due to too many different issues, and sales ground to a halt after just over half the coins sold. Members of the Coin Club bought several hundred specimens at face value, and 9,749 half dollars were returned to the Philadelphia Mint in mid-1938 for redemption and melting. This left a total of 15,266 coins extant, counting the assay pieces. The profits generated by the sale were used to help fund the city's 250th anniversary celebrations in June 1938.
Fifty pieces were struck in proof condition on polished planchets, each placed in a box along with a silver medal and presented to dignitaries, members of the Coin Committee, and selected members of the Westchester County Coin Club. At least one piece was struck in matte proof for Mint Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock.
By 1940, the New Rochelle half dollar sold for $1.75, and reached $6 by 1950. By 1970, the market price was $67 and by 1985, $500. The deluxe edition of R. S. Yeoman's "A Guide Book of United States Coins", published in 2018, lists the piece for between $310 and $425, depending on condition. An exceptional specimen sold for $3,593 in 2006.
The requirement that Pell's family be presented with a fatted calf became void after the American Revolution; with title to the land no longer subject to forfeiture, the presentation has been made from time to time since, for example on the 250th anniversary of settlement in 1938 and the 300th in 1988. On the latter occasion, those representing the Pell family included Claiborne Pell, U.S. senator from Rhode Island. The calf refused to cooperate with events and it took four men to drag it onto the stage before it was allowed to return to its abode on a farm in Granite Springs; the roast beef served at the luncheon that followed came from a less fortunate source. Had a calf been purchased, rather than borrowed, for the ceremony, it would have cost about $1,000 for the gift to William Rodman Pell 2d, '"sixteenth claimant to the Lordship and Manor of Pelham", who would have been unable to take it home, as local ordinances forbade the keeping of livestock.


William Howard Taft National Historic Site

William Howard Taft National Historic Site is a historic house at 2038 Auburn Avenue in the Mount Auburn Historic District of Cincinnati, Ohio, a mile (1.6 km) north of Downtown. It was the birthplace and childhood home of William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States and the 10th Chief Justice of the United States. It is a two-story Greek Revival house built circa 1845.
History.
William Howard Taft's father, Alphonso Taft, came to Cincinnati from Vermont in 1838 to establish a law practice. He moved his family to this house a little over a decade later. Alphonso Taft became an early supporter of the Republican Party in Cincinnati. He lived in this house with his family and parents. He would eventually serve as the 31st United States Secretary of War and the 35th United States Attorney General.
The house is believed to have been built in the early 1840s by a family named Bowen. Alphonso bought the house at 60 Auburn Street (now 2038 Auburn Avenue), with its accompanying 1.82 acres, for $10,000 on June 13, 1851. Mount Auburn was once a popular area to live for upper-class Cincinnatians, as it allowed those of higher incomes to escape the sweltering heat and humidity of downtown Cincinnati summers. The Taft residence, a Greek Revival domicile, was relatively modest compared to other nearby residences, which were a mix of Second Empire, Italianate, and Georgian Revival.
Alphonso's wife Fanny Phelps Taft died a year after the family moved to the Mount Auburn residence, in June 1852. In December 1853 Alphonso remarried, choosing a schoolteacher from Massachusetts named Louise Torrey. Louise Taft would give birth to their second child, William Howard Taft, in the house on September 15, 1857, presumably in the first-floor nursery in the rear ell. (The first child had died at age fourteen months from whooping cough.) Alphonso had six children living in the house, two by Fanny (three others had died beforehand) and four by Louise.
The house was used for social events. Visitors included many local and state dignitaries, including future President James A. Garfield. Rugs in the parlor were often rolled up for dancing. Family activities took place in the library; Alphonso was an avid book collector.
William would live in the house until he went to Yale University in 1874. Afterward, the Taft family would spend less time in the house, starting when Alphonso served in the Ulysses S. Grant administration. In 1877 a fire damaged the second floor and roof. Alphonso and Louise would lease the house in 1889, moving to California because the climate was thought to be beneficial for those with declining health. William had married in 1886, and the rest of the Taft sons had moved out by this point as well. In May 1891 Alphonso died in San Diego, California, and was buried in Cincinnati; the tenants of the Auburn house allowed the mourners to gather at the house for the funeral. Louise eventually was able to sell the house outright, after ten years of trying, in 1899 to Judge Albert C. Thompson, after returning to her home town of Millbury, Massachusetts, to live with her sister.
Post-Taft ownership.
Within five years of the house leaving the Taft family, the front veranda was removed, replaced by a one-story porch. Other modifications were the addition of a conservatory and the demolition of outbuildings, including a stable. Upon Thompson's death the house was sold by his widow to Colonel Ernest H. Ruffner in 1912. Upon Ruffner's death it was sold by his daughter. The William Howard Taft Memorial Association was formed on July 7, 1937, in hopes of buying the property, but went without support of the Taft family, as Robert Taft thought it would look too opportunistic to memorialize the house his father grew up in, and thus failed in acquiring the $12,000 to buy it. In the 1940s the building was used as apartments, with the new owner Elbert R. Bellinger once considering selling it to become a funeral parlor for local blacks. Taft family political fortunes faltered with Robert's death in 1953, and with Charles Phelps Taft II available to spearhead the movement, the William Howard Taft Memorial Association eventually acquired the house for $35,000 (the assessment price), instead of the $75,000 Bellinger was demanding for it.
By 1961, the house was in poor condition and needed restoration, to the tune of $92,500. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964. A ceremony on September 15, 1964 (William's 107th birthday), celebrated the home becoming a National Historic Landmark.
The association gained full title to the house in 1968 and in 1969 transferred it to the National Park Service, which currently operates the site as a historic house museum, so that its future upkeep is ensured. The United States government took the property title on November 1, 1970.
Letters and diary entries written by Louise Taft during her time in the home helped preservationists to return the domicile to how it appeared during William's childhood.
Today.
William Howard Taft National Historic Site has two main buildings. The first is the original home owned by William Howard Taft's parents, Alphonso and Louise Taft. It has been restored to look as it did during the time William lived there. All the family portraits and many of the books on display belonged to the Taft family. The first floor has five rooms restored: William's birthplace, and four rooms representative of the period. The furniture is period pieces and did not necessarily belong to the Tafts. The second floor contains exhibits on the accomplishments of William.
The second building is the National Historic Site's Visitor Center, officially called the Taft Education Center. It has offices, a National Park giftshop, an audio-animatronic exhibit of William's son Charles Phelps Taft II fishing and telling stories about his father and other members of the Taft family, and a short biographical film on William Howard Taft.


Juan Cazares

Juan Ramón Cazares Sevillano (born 3 April 1992) is an Ecuadorian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Brazilian club Fluminense.
Club career.
Youth career.
Born in Quinindé, Esmeraldas, Cazares moved to Guayaquil at early age and joined Barcelona's youth setup in 2006, aged 14. After being rarely used, he moved to Norte América in 2009, and subsequently joined Independiente José Terán later in the same year.
At Independiente, Cazares made his senior debut in 2009 Ecuadorian Serie B, appearing in nine matches and scoring one goal on 6 September, in a 4–0 home routing of Municipal Cañar.
River Plate.
In January 2010, Cazares was loaned to River Plate. Initially assigned to the reserves, he impressed enough to secure a permanent contract in August of the following year. River paid Independiente US$ 500,000 for 50% of his rights, with a further one million in a future sale.
Cazares made his first team debut for River on 7 December 2011, coming on as a late substitute for goalscorer Chori Domínguez in a 1–0 Copa Argentina home win against Defensores de Belgrano; he became the first Ecuadorian to play for the club. In 2012, after establishing himself as a starter for the B-side, he won the 2012 U-20 Copa Libertadores and was also elected the tournament's best player.
Cazares was called up to train with the first team for ahead of the 2012–13 campaign by manager Matías Almeyda. He made his Primera División debut on 26 August 2012, replacing Manuel Lanzini in a 0–0 draw home draw against San Lorenzo.
Cazares was made a starter in the following matchday, a 1–1 draw at Colón on 2 September. After the sacking of Almeyda and the appointment of Ramón Díaz, he was not utilized by the club and subsequently placed in the loan list.
Barcelona (loan).
On 25 February 2013, Cazares was loaned to his first club Barcelona for six months. He made his debut for his childhood club on 10 March, coming on as an 80th-minute substitute for José Ayoví in a 1–0 home win against Macará.
Cazares only made one further appearance for Barcelona, starting in a 1–2 loss at El Nacional on 21 April 2013, before returning to River in July.
Banfield (loan).
On 10 July 2013, Cazares was loaned to Primera B Nacional side Banfield for one year, reuniting with his former River manager Almeyda. He made his debut for the club on 5 August, starting in a 1–1 away draw against Almirante Brown.
Cazares scored his first goals abroad on 7 December 2013, netting a brace in a 4–2 home win against Unión de Santa Fe. He finished the season as an undisputed starter, scoring four goals in 38 appearances as his side achieved a top tier promotion as champions.
In July 2014, Cazares' loan was renewed for a further 18 months, with Banfield having a 1.5 million buyout clause for the remaining 50% of his rights (which belonged to Independiente). He scored his first goal in the main category of Argentine football on 24 August, netting the last in a 2–0 away success over San Lorenzo.
Atlético Mineiro.
2016.
On 27 December 2016, Cazares agreed to join Série A club Atlético Mineiro, who paid 1.5 million dollars for 50% of his rights directly to Independiente. Presented the following 4 January, he had to wait until 23 February to be registered due to bureaucratic problems involving his previous clubs.
Cazares made his debut for "Galo" on 24 February 2016, starting in a 1–0 home win against former club Independiente for the year's Copa Libertadores. He scored his first goal for the club on 17 March, in a 3–0 home success over Colo-Colo for the same competition.
Cazares also scored Atlético's first goal in 2016 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, in a 1–0 win against Santos. Returning from the Copa América Centenario in June, he scored goals against both Ponte Preta (3–0 home win) and Corinthians (2–1 home win); late in the month, he scored a double in a 5–3 home success over Botafogo, taking his tally up to six goals in only six league matches.
After establishing himself as a starter, Cazares suffered a thigh injury, which kept him out for nearly a month. On 7 December 2016, during the 2016 Copa do Brasil Finals, he scored from his own half to equalize the second leg against Grêmio. The match, however, ended 1–1 and his side finished runners-up after a 3–1 defeat in the first leg.
Cazares finished the year with ten goals in all competitions, being the club's fourth top goalscorer (behind Robinho, Lucas Pratto and Fred, respectively) and the best in the midfield position.
2017.
Cazares scored his first goal of 2017 on April 27 in a 2017 Copa Libertadores 2–0 home victory against Paraguayan club Libertad. His first brace came on May 4, in a 5–1 away victory against Bolivian club Sport Boys. On May 7 Cazares assisted the winning goal in a 2–1 victory against rivals Cruzeiro, winning his first trophy with the club. On May 16, Cazares scored a brace against Godoy Cruz to win the home match 4–1, qualifying Atletico Mineiro in the top–spot of Group 6. On June 18, Cazares scored a goal against giants Sao Paulo FC, winning their first match of the league 2–1. Cazares scored his first Copa do Brasil goal of 2017 on June 30 against Botafogo winning the first–leg match 1–0. On July 2, Cazares scored his first goal ever against club rivals Cruzeiro, winning 3–1.
Corinthians.
On 26 September 2020, Cazares agreed to join Corinthians in a free transfer after he rescinded his contract with Atlético. He signed a nine-month contract with the club.
International career.
Cazares represented Ecuador under-20s in 2011 South American U-20 Championship and 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup, scoring a goal against Colombia in the former tournament. On 6 September 2014 he made his debut for the full squad, starting and scoring the second in a 4–0 friendly win against Bolivia.
Cazares continued to appear regularly for the national team in the following years, being called up to 2015 Copa América and Copa América Centenario.


Caroline Chisholm

Caroline Chisholm (30 May 1808 – 25 March 1877) was a 19th-century English humanitarian known mostly for her support of immigrant female and family welfare in Australia. She is commemorated on 16 May in the calendar of saints of the Church of England. Her path to sainthood within the Catholic Church has commenced; she had converted to Catholicism around the time of her marriage and reared her children as Catholic.
Early life.
She was born in 1808 as Caroline Jones in Northampton, England, the last child of at least twelve born to her father, and the last of seven born to her mother, his fourth wife. Her family lived at 11 Mayorhold. Her father, William Jones, had married four times. His first three wives had died in childbirth and from illness. Caroline was a daughter of William's last wife, Sarah. William Jones, who was born in Wootton, Northamptonshire, was a pig dealer, who fattened young pigs for sale. He died in 1814, when Caroline was six. He left his wife £500 and bequeathed several properties to his twelve surviving children.
On 27 December 1830, Caroline, then 22, married Archibald Chisholm, a Roman Catholic ten years her senior. He was an officer serving with the East India Company's Madras Army. Around this time, Caroline converted to his faith, and they reared their children as Catholic. They were married at The Holy Sepulchre, Northampton, a Church of England church. Roman Catholic clergy were still prohibited from performing recognised weddings until the Marriage Act 1836.
Madras, India.
Chisholm's husband returned to his regiment in Madras in January 1832. She joined him there 18 months later. Chisholm became aware that young girls growing up with their families in the barracks were picking up the bad behaviour of the soldiers. In 1834 she founded the Female School of Industry for the Daughters of European Soldiers, which provided a practical education for such girls. They were instructed in reading, writing and religion, cooking, housekeeping, and nursing. Soon soldiers asked if their wives could also attend the school.
While living in India, Chisholm gave birth to two sons, Archibald and William. The family followed her husband on his assignments around the Indian subcontinent.
Sydney, New South Wales.
In 1838 Captain Archibald Chisholm was granted a two-year furlough on the grounds of ill health. Rather than return to England, the family decided the climate in Australia would be better for his health. They set sail for Sydney, New South Wales, aboard the "Emerald Isle", arriving there in October 1838. The family settled at nearby Windsor.
On trips to Sydney, Chisholm and her husband became aware of the difficult conditions that faced immigrants arriving in the colony. They were particularly concerned for the young women who were arriving without any money, friends, or family, or jobs to go to. Many turned to prostitution to survive. Chisholm found placement for these young women in shelters, such as her own, and helped find them permanent places to stay. She started an organisation with the help of the governess for an immigrant women’s shelter. In 1840 Captain Chisholm returned to his regiment in India, but he encouraged his wife to continue her philanthropic efforts. She set up the first home in Sydney for young women and organised other homes in several rural centres. The home was soon extended to help immigrant families and young men.
In March 1842 Chisholm rented two terraced dwellings in East Maitland. She converted them into a single cottage to be used as a hostel for homeless immigrants who had travelled to the Hunter region in search of work. Now called Caroline Chisholm Cottage, it is the only building in NSW so directly associated with Chisholm. Built in the 1830s, the cottage offers a rare example of early working-class housing in New South Wales.
During the seven years when Chisholm was in Australia, she placed over 11,000 people in homes and jobs. She became a well-known woman and much admired. She was requested to give evidence before two Legislative Council committees. Chisholm carried out her work in New South Wales without accepting money from individuals or individual organisations, as she wanted to act independently. She did not want to be dependent upon any religious or political body. The girls and families whom Chisholm helped came from different backgrounds and held different religious beliefs. She raised money for the homes through private subscription. Her husband was invalided out of the Army and returned to Australia in 1845.
Migration reforms and the Family Colonisation Loan Society.
Before Chisholm and her husband returned to England in 1846, they toured New South Wales (NSW), at their own expense, collecting over 600 statements from immigrants who had already settled there. Chisholm believed the only way to encourage emigration from England to Australia was for prospective emigrants to read letters from fellow pioneers already living in the colony. In England the couple published some of these statements in a pamphlet titled "Comfort for the Poor – Meat Three Times a Day". The writer Charles Dickens used some of the statements in his new magazine "Household Words". Their daughter, Caroline Agnes, was born in 1848 during the couple's time in London.
Chisholm gave evidence before two House of Lords select committees and gained support for some of her initiatives. The Committee supported providing free passage to Australia for the wives and children of former convicts, and for the children that, through necessity, emigrants had left behind in England.
In 1849, with the support of Lord Shaftesbury, Sir Sidney Herbert, and Wyndham Harding FRS, Chisholm founded the Family Colonisation Loan Society from her home in Charlton Crescent in Islington. The Society's aim was to support emigration by lending half the cost of the fare (the emigrant to provide the other half). After living two years in Australia, an emigrant would be expected to repay the loan.
Chisholm also held regular meetings at Charlton Crescent to give practical advice to emigrants. The Society initially found accommodation on board private emigrant ships. Later it chartered its own ships to transport emigrants. Chisholm's insistence that the Society's ships improve their accommodations resulted in the upgrading of the Passenger Acts. In 1851 her husband Archibald Chisholm returned to Australia to act as Honorary Colonial Agent, to help newly arrived emigrants and to collect repayment of loans.
By 1854 the Society had assisted more than 3,000 people to emigrate to Australia. Chisholm gave emigration lectures throughout Britain, and also toured France and Italy. She collected their son William from the Propaganda College, where he had been studying to become a Roman Catholic priest. Chisholm had an audience with Pope Pius IX at the Vatican, who gave her a Papal Medal and bust of herself.
Return to Australia and later life.
In 1854 Chisholm returned to Australia aboard the "Ballarat". She toured the Victorian goldfields and was appalled by the conditions en route. She proposed the construction of shelter sheds about a day's walk apart so that prospectors and their families could travel to the work of the goldfields. The project received support from the government. Chisholm continued to work in Melbourne, travelling to and from the home and store which the Chisholms had purchased in Kyneton. She joined her family there three years later. Archibald served as a magistrate during his time in Kyneton, and the two elder sons helped him run the store.
Due to Chisholm's ill health, the family moved back to Sydney in 1858. Her health improved. At the end of 1859 and beginning of 1860, Chisholm gave four political lectures. She called for land to be allocated so that emigrant families could establish small farms. She believed such action would provide greater stability among the new settlers in the colonies. Chisholm also wrote a novella, "Little Joe," that was serialised in the local paper.
Her husband accompanied the younger children back to England in 1865. Archibald Jr. accompanied his mother on her return to England in 1866. Chisholm died in London, England on 25 March 1877, and her husband died in August that year. Five of their eight children survived their parents.
Chisholm's body was taken to her home town, Northampton, where it rested overnight in the Cathedral of Our Lady and St Thomas. She and her husband are buried in the same grave in Billing Road Cemetery.


Ming Ancestors Mausoleum

The Ming Ancestors Mausoleum () is the first imperial mausoleum complex of the Ming dynasty, and a cenotaph located north of the former Sizhou City, Yangjiadun, in present-day Xuyi County, Huaian City, by Hongze Lake, north of Huai River Jiangsu Province, China. It was built by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty, in 1385, for his great-great-grandfather (posthumously styled Emperor Xuan), great-grandfather (posthumously styled Emperor Heng) and grandfather (posthumously styled Emperor Yu). It is also the actual burial site of Zhu Chuyi, Zhu Yuanzhang's grandfather.
In 1680 during the Qing dynasty, the Yellow River changed its course and merged with the Huai River. The quickly accumulated river sediment blocked the flow of the Huai, creating the large Hongze Lake, which submerged the mausoleum complex, along with the nearby city of Sizhou.
Not until the dry season of 1966 (or, according to other sources, 1963 or 1964) did the mausoleum surface. It was initially excavated in 1976. In 1980, State Administration of Cultural Heritage and Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture allocated funds to repair it. The original Xiang Hall and Pei Hall had been destroyed and had no remains. They surfaced because of drought in May 2011.
In front of the mausoleum there are several gravestones and ornamental columns which are preserved. Today, the total area of the mausoleum is 351,000 square meters. It contains over 9700 trees, including pines, cypresses, poplars and willows on the banks. An arch bridge and five exhibition rooms have been newly built. The region of Yangze river and Huai river has been affected by serious drought since May 2011, making the water level of Hongze Lake decline almost to the dead water level. The nine arches of the Ming Ancestors Mausoleum, beams under the arches, and most of the top of the paved path leading to the mausoleum are buried deep under the silt in the pond, only showing an outline. In order to protect the cultural relics after being unearthed, the site was submerged.


Danny Carvajal

Danny Gabriel Carvajal Rodríguez (; born 8 January 1989) is a Costa Rican footballer who plays for Japanese club FC Ryukyu as a goalkeeper. He was a Costa Rica national player for many championships.
Club career.
Born in San Ramón, Carvajal was a Deportivo Saprissa youth graduate. He made his first team debut for Brujas F.C. on 6 December 2009 by coming on as a second-half substitute in a 0–0 away draw against A.D. Ramonense.
Carvajal started to appear more regularly during the 2010–11 season, contributing with 12 appearances. In July 2011, after leaving the club after the end of the campaign due to economic problems, he joined fellow league team A.D. San Carlos.
Carvajal was an undisputed starter for San Carlos during his two-year spell, and on 15 May 2013 he returned to Saprissa, now assigned to the first team. Initially a backup to Donny Grant and Luis Ernesto Michel in his first campaign, he subsequently became first-choice and featured regularly in the following three years.
On 29 June 2017, Carvajal moved abroad for the first time in his career, signing for Segunda División side Albacete Balompié and becoming the third Costa Rican goalkeeper to represent the club (after Luis Conejo and Keylor Navas). The following 16 January, however, he was loaned to Tokushima Vortis until the end of the year.
International career.
Carvajal was called up to Costa Rica under-20s ahead of the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup, but was only a backup to Esteban Alvarado during the tournament. In June 2011 he was included in the main side's squad ahead of 2011 Copa América, but again remained a second-choice to Alvarado.
Carvajal was also called up to 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Copa América Centenario, 2017 Copa Centroamericana and 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup, mainly behind Alvarado and Navas. He only made his full international debut on 18 January 2017, starting in a 0–0 draw against Nicaragua.


Hotel Captain Cook


Royal Naval Cemetery

Royal Naval Cemetery (once known as Naval and Military Cemetery) is a cemetery on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. The site overlooks Portland Harbour, and is found below the main entrance to the Verne Citadel (HM Prison The Verne). As the name suggests, the graveyard holds deceased servicemen and officers of Portland's Royal Navy which was stationed at the island until 1995. The cemetery holds 140 identified casualties in total to date, and is owned by the Ministry of Defence.
The cemetery was first laid out during the 19th century. With the establishment of a naval base at Portland Harbour, and the Verne Citadel fortification, a number of fatalities began to occur. Burials of the World War I (1914-1918) total 65, where 5 remain unidentified. The majority of World War II (1939-1945) graves are together in the Church of England section, near the Cross of Sacrifice. Of the buried, 10 are unidentified, whilst there are burials for 1 Norwegian Merchant Navy seaman and 12 German airmen. The cemetery remains well looked after to date and features a small amount of newer burials of recently deceased servicemen.
Burials and memorials.
Seaman Jack Foreman Mantle is buried at the cemetery, a Leading Seaman who was killed on 4 July 1940 during a German air raid on "HMS Foylebank" which was berthed in Portland's harbour at the time. Although mortally wounded, Mantle manned the starboard 20mm pom-pom gun until he died which earned himself a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions. This was only the second occasion that the Victoria Cross has been awarded for action in the United Kingdom.
The victims of the 1957 HMS Sidon torpedo explosion are found in the cemetery. The event occurred in Portland's harbour with the loss of 13 lives after a faulty torpedo sank the submarine.


State funeral of Carla Zampatti