Our neighborhood’s history has more than its fair share of notable residents, including two U.S. presidents, a Cold War defector, and a college president who broke racial barriers. And there […]
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The Forest Hills freeway and other never-built development plans
If mid-century traffic planners had their way, Northwest DC would have been the land of the freeway. In a 1946 book, an influential architect predicted that upper Connecticut Avenue would […]
They paid $19,000 for their 4-bedroom Forest Hills home. The year? 1942. The buyers? LBJ and his future First Lady.
by Ann Kessler Around this time 80 years ago, Forest Hills got new neighbors: a congressman from Texas and his wife. That congressman would go on to serve in the […]
A quarter-century ago, a letter to the Post launched efforts to restore the 200-year-old Peirce Mill
by Steve Dryden Reading a letter in The Washington Post about Peirce Mill led to a new chapter in my life that I could have hardly predicted. As a native […]
From Piggly Wiggly to the Van Ness Safeway to Wegmans: Holiday food shopping past and present
Where are you buying the food for your holiday table? Bread Furst, I’m Eddie Cano, Muchas Gracias and Little Red Fox were among the local businesses taking pre-orders for heat-and-eat […]
In memory: Ann Kessler, a longtime chronicler of the people and places of old Forest Hills
It was always a delight to be notified of an email from Ann Kessler, who died on August 19th after a long battle with leukemia. It meant that that this […]
The queen, the heiress, and the lost treasure
We don’t know of any royal visits to this neighborhood, by Queen Elizabeth II or any other monarch (and we hope you will tell us if you do). But Forest […]
Elvis was here. So was Marilyn Monroe.
We reshare this 2019 article by resident historian Ann Kessler in memory, and in tribute. We learn from her family that Kessler died on August 19th, after a long and […]
How Cleveland Dennard built a school – and changed Van Ness
The 2022-2023 school year began this week at the University of the District of Columbia, so we thought this was a good time to rerun this 2016 article on the […]
Restoring Linnean Avenue’s tree-lined splendor took door-to-door fundraising and a lot of digging
by David Falk When we moved to Forest Hills in 1964, Linnean Avenue was shaded on both sides by stately elms, creating a beautiful and cool thoroughfare for spring, summer […]