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"Old
Georgetown by
Moonlight" by Paul McGehee. Georgetown, one of the most beautiful and
interesting areas in our nation's capital, Washington, D.C., was also
one of the original ports of our United States, going back to colonial
days. In the early years, it was a major tobacco port, but it was the
coal trade that attracted the big three- and four-masted coastal
schooners in the twilight days of the age of sail a century ago.
Overlooking the old Aqueduct Bridge, close to the location of the
present-day Key Bridge, is Georgetown University (originally Georgetown
College), the oldest Catholic college in the country. The stone towers
of Healy Hall, completed in 1879, are a prominent feature of the
Georgetown skyline to this day. Francis Scott Key, who wrote what would
become our National Anthem, had his residence between Bridge Street
(now M Street) and the C&O Canal...his house is visible in this
striking moonlit 1886 waterfront panorama. "Old Georgetown by
Moonlight" accurately captures a bygone era...the busy wharves along
Water Street, the canal barges that would bring coal from West
Virginia, the waterfront mills and warehouses, and graceful sailing
vessels...now but a memory. This scene is a unique look through a
window to the past...an important moment in our history, and our
heritage, preserved for future generations..
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