Last weekend was the start of peak Fall colors along the eastern seaboard of the mid-Atlantic coast, and I tried to maximize the occasion with back-to-back hikes on Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday’s outing was to Riverbend Park in Great Falls, Virginia. Like its adjacent cousin, Great Falls National Park, it offers splendid views of the Potomac River rapids, but unlike the national park, entrance to Riverbend Park is free. To make the visit easy and manageable, it was divided into two out-and-back hikes. We started with a hike north to Mary Hollow and back, about 1.6 miles along the Potomac Heritage Trail.
For the second half we headed south to the three overlooks of Great Falls and back, about 3.8 miles. The overlooks are inside the national park, but since you’re walking along the Potomac Heritage Trail, you’re “just passing through,” so no fees are levied. Some hikers wanted to head back immediately while others wanted to linger and enjoy the spectacular views. I didn’t want to discourage either option (hence the out-and-back route), so I gathered those who wanted to return and arrived back at the Visitor Center after a few of the faster hikers, but still wound up waiting there about an hour for the rest to return. The total hike was 5.4 miles along fairly flat dirt surfaces, and a map of our route is here.
Sunday’s outing mixed it up a little with a visit to Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC. The last time we visited was back in November 2012, so I used pretty much the same route. Starting from the Cleveland Park Metro Station on Connecticut Avenue, we walked north a couple of blocks to enter the park along Melvin Hazen Trail. The minute you turn off the sidewalk, it’s hard to believe you’re in the middle of the Nation’s Capital! Seems like I underestimated the distance last time around, because this time the total distance was about 5.5 miles. A map of our route is here.
After descending to the streambed along Melvin Hazen Trail, our route took us north through the park about 2.5 miles, crossing over Rock Creek at one point along Boulder Bridge. The bridge, constructed in 1902, is a Melan reinforced concrete arch bridge with a unique boulder facing that blends into the bridge’s surroundings.
Another landmark along our route was Peirce Mill, built in the 1820s. The mill was productively grinding wheat for local farmers until the 1890s, when the US Government purchased it as part of Rock Creek Park. It has hardly produced an honest bag of flour since. Hard economic times seem to always be good news for the mill, though: it was renovated twice under public works projects auspices, first at a cost of $26,000 as part of the Public Works Administration in 1936, which enabled it to produce flour for government cafeterias until 1958, when a lack of flowing water and trained millers idled it. Most recently it was rebuilt again at a cost of around $1.5 million as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2011, but since it is artificially powered by pumped water, it isn’t practical to produce flour except for demonstration purposes.
There’s about one more week of fall colors remaining, so I already have two hikes scheduled over the three-day holiday weekend, one to Burke Lake on Saturday and a second to Forts Foote and Washington on Veterans Day. I’d like to do a third, but I’m a little under the weather at the moment so I’ll have to leave it at two and see if I feel up to a third after taking it easy for a couple of days.
Here’s something cool. In 
4. Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, 4925 MacArthur Blvd NW. This house, designed by Richard Ough, is one of the first five houses built for the Palisades of the Potomac development. The homes all featured a fieldstone wall along the sidewalks.
10. Washington & Great Falls Electric Railway. A trestle of this defunct railway stands in Foundry Branch Valley Park. The line was completed in 1895 and ran from Aqueduct Bridge to Cabin John Creek. During the late 1890s Congress authorized streetcar consolidations in the District of Columbia and in 1902, Washington & Great Falls changed its named to the Washington Railway & Electric Company, reincorporated as a holding company. The route was abandoned in 1960. 
1. DuPont Circle, at 19th and P Street NW in Washington DC,was built in 1871 and named for Rear Admiral 
3. Second Empire Rowhouses. The north side of the 2000 block of N Street features some of the finest Second Empire rowhouses in the district, built during 1879-81 by Christopher Thom. The style was most popular during 1865-80, and usually features a rectangular tower or similar element with a steep mansard roof, reflecting the style’s French roots.
6. The Cosmos Club, at 2121 Massachusetts Ave NW, is a private social club founded by 
7. Dumbarton Bridge, AKA Q Street Bridge or Buffalo Bridge, is a masonry arch bridge designed by architect 
8. The Ellis House, a Beaux-Arts style mansion at 1607 23rd St NW, was built in 1907 by the prominent architecture firm Carrère and Hastings of New York. It was originally the home of Manhattan attorney Frank Ellis and became home of the Embassy of Romania in 1921.
10. The Sheridan Statue, in Sheridan Circle, is an equestrian statue of 
11. The Joseph Beale House, at 2301 Massachusetts Ave NW, is a Romanesque Revival built during 1907-9 for Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Beale. The architect, Glenn Brown, designed several buildings along Massachusetts Avenue and Dumbarton Bridge, at stop 7 on this tour. The house is now the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt.
12. The Francis B. Moran House, at 2315 Massachusetts Ave NW, was built for Mrs. F. B. Moran in 1909 by architect 
13. Saint Jerome is best known as the first translator of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. His edition of the Bible, the Vulgate, is still an important text of the Roman Catholic Church. He was born c. 347 at Strido, in modern day Croatia.
14. Spanish Steps. A pedestrian connector from S Street to Decatur Place, formally named Decatur Terrace Steps and Fountain in 1911, but known today as the Spanish Steps.
15. The Wilson House, at 2340 S St NW, was designed by architect Waddy Butler Wood and completed in 1915. It is a Georgian Revival House with Adamesque interiors, and was occupied by President and Mrs. Wilson after his presidency. The Wilson House website is 
16. The Emmet Statue, at Massachusetts Avenue and 24th St NW, is a bronze statue of 
17. The Perry Lions guard Taft Bridge, two on each end, and were sculpted by 
18. William Howard Taft Bridge, AKA Connecticut Avenue Bridge, is a Classical Revival bridge built between 1897–1907. It is a 274.5 meter long arch bridge with unreinforced concrete arches and a reinforced concrete deck, the largest unreinforced concrete structure in the world. In 1931, the bridge was renamed in honor of US President William Howard Taft.
19. The Bairstow Eagles, a series of 24 lampposts, are equally spaced along both sides of Taft Bridge and were created in 1906 by sculptor Ernest Bairstow, who also carved many of the sculptures on the Lincoln Memorial.
20. Woodward Condominiums, at 2311 Connecticut Ave NW, are a block of condos built in 1910 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style and was designed by architects Harding and Upman.
21. The Fuller House, at 2317 Ashmead Place NW, was the first house constructed on the newly subdivided Kalorama District in 1893. It was designed by its owner, Thomas Fuller, and is an early and important representation of the influence of the English Arts and Crafts Movement on residential architecture in the US.
22. The 2101 Connecticut Avenue Condominiums, at 2101 Connecticut Ave NW, is a housing co-op built in 1928 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The style, mostly found in California and Florida, was highlighted during the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 in San Diego, and was popular from then until about 1931.
23. The Lothrop Mansion, at 2001 Connecticut Ave NW, is a Beaux-Arts style home designed by local architects Hornblower and Marshall for Alvin Mason Lothrop, one of the founders of the now-defunct 
25. The Churchill Hotel, at 1914 Connecticut Ave NW, was built in 1906 as an apartment building in the Beaux-Arts style, and later renovated into a hotel.
26. The McClellan Statue, an equestrian statue of Civil War 
27. Wyoming Apartments, at 2022 Columbia Rd NW, is a Beaux-Arts style luxury apartment building designed by B. Stanley Simmons for Lester A. Barr. The building has two wings, one built in 1905, and the second in 1911. In 1982, Barr’s grandson sold the building for $6.3 million to developers, who converted it to condos. Notables such as Betty Friedan, Christopher Hitchens and Dwight D. Eisenhower have lived here.
28. The Fraser Mansion, at 1701 20th St NW, was designed by Hornblower and Marshall in an early eclectic Beaux-Arts style for New York merchant George S. Fraser in 1890 at a cost of $75,000, more than ten times the cost of a typical Washington home at that time. The building is currently the Church of Scientology’s National Affairs office.
29. The International Temple/Perry Belmont House, at 1618 New Hampshire Ave NW, is a Beaux-Arts style house built in 1906-9 for Perry Belmont, son of August Belmont and grandson of 
30. Richardsonian Rowhouses. This block of rowhouses on the 1700 block of Q Street was designed in the late 1880s by 
31. The Clarence Moore House, at 1746 Massachusetts Ave NW, was built in 1909, in the Beaux-Arts style with a Louis XV-style exterior. 
32. The Sulgrave Club, at 1801 Massachusetts Ave NW, was designed in 1900 by Frederick H. Brooke and is one of Washington’s first mansions in the Beaux-Arts style. Built for 
Life with John 