Neighborhood in the News: UDC’s graduation, home seller profits, and a statue’s mistaken identity

Mayor Muriel Bowser was the keynote speaker Saturday the University of the District of Columbia’s 49th commencement ceremony. She also spoke at the Howard University commencement that day, and WUSA9’s report compared the two:

At UDC — the city’s only public university — Bowser struck a markedly warmer and more reflective tone, emphasizing her long‑standing relationship with the institution and her administration’s support for student services, facilities, and workforce pathways for District residents.

At both ceremonies, Bowser said she too would be “graduating” when her third term as mayor ends this year, “drawing a parallel between the uncertainty facing graduates and her own next chapter,” WUSA9 reported.

A profitable Zip code for home sellers: 2025 was the third straight year of declining profits for home sellers across the U.S., but in this corner of the District, profits remained near record levels.

Do you know this woman? (2013 Forest Hills Connection photo)

A case of mistaken identity: The last time we mentioned the lady above was in 2013, and we treated it as a puzzle for readers to solve: Where – and who – is she?

We revealed the answer a few days later. But recently we learned we never really knew her at all.

The statue has stood for years in a small park between the former Intelsat and the current Chinese embassy. A plaque at its base identifies her as Melpomene, the Greek Muse of tragedy and song.

But who is she, really? According to WTOP’s Matt Kaufax, “historians realized the statue wasn’t actually Melpomene, but someone even more significant in the classical Greek pantheon.”

The story behind another semi-obscure neighborhood feature: An apple tree in the same park is also marked by a plaque. It’s grown from a cutting from the tree that was said to inspire physicist Sir Isaac’s theory of gravity. But WTOP reports there’s more to that story, too.