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The stone pillars along Constitution Avenue are not remnants of the canal, but former capitol gateposts. The following is from the District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites: U.S. Capitol, Bulfinch Gatehouses and Gateposts On Constitution Avenue at 7th, 15th, and 17th Streets, NW Former gate structures of the Capitol, built in 1814 at the foot of the west Capitol grounds; part of the reconstruction of the Capitol after the War of 1812; designed to harmonize with the building’s basement story; generally attributed to Charles Bulfinch, architect in charge of the restoration; removed 1874, reconstructed at present locations in 1880; restored 1940; two one-room gatehouses of rusticated Aquia sandstone; classical facades in the style of Roman Triumphal arches with Doric columns, arched doorways, guilloche frieze, and heavily foliated scroll of acanthus leaves and rosettes; four rusticated gateposts similar, topped with acanthus motifs and volutes; DC listing 11/8/64, NR listing 11/30/73; Regarding swamps: enough already! Joe Cannon was a politician making a point, not a purveyor of truth. I knew the swamp myth was out of control when, as a tour guide, I took a group of people to the National Cathedral, where the docent, at some 380 feet above the Potomac, went on about how "Washington was built on a swamp." Let's all agree never to whisper the s-word again and this nasty myth will disappear. Matthew Gilmore H-DC list co-editor, web editor dc-edit@mail.h-net.msu.edu http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~dclist/ [list website] http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/lists/subscribe.cgi?list=H-DC [subscribe to H-DC] Remember to check http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=lm&list=h-dc for past list messages.
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