A Tour Of Georgetown With Images Of America
When I moved to Washington, D.C. more than forty years, ago, one of the places I most enjoyed was Georgetown. I walked the streets, browsed the book stores. and sampled the restaurants, and looked at the pretty girls passing by. To be young!. I have never lived in Georgetown but have visited many times over the years. With all the changes to Georgetown and to Washington, D.C. in the years since I moved here, Georgetown still has an unmistakable feeling of life and a mystique.
Canden Scwantes' "Georgetown" (2014) is an annotated book of historical photographs that offers a tour of Georgetown through time. Schwantes is a Washignton D.C. tour guide who has written about lesser-known aspects of the city in her books "Wicked Georgetown" and "Wild Women of Washington". The book is part of the Images of America series of pictorial histories of local communities. The photographs in the book are drawn from the files of the Washington, D.C. Historical Society, the Library of Congress, and other sources.
Schwantes offers her readers an informed, entertaining tour of Georgetown in 128 pages of photographs and texts. The book opens with a brief history summarizing Georgetown's status until it officially became part of Washington, D.C. in 1871. Schwantes offers rare photographs and drawings of Civil War Georgetown when the community included many Southern sympathizers. She offers a chapter on the famed Georgetown University which plays a large role in community and national life. A lengthy chapter in the book offers photographs of many historic Georgetown homes with discussions of the famous people who lived in them over the years. The book includes photographs of the waterfront, the C&O Canal, and the commercial streets with views of still active places and shops and industries that are no more. Schwantes shows Georgetown as a trendy community for the wealthy and upper middle class, but she also reminds the reader that the area has a rich African American history and was once home to many of the poor. The final chapter of the book shows many of the churches, cemeteries, and social organizations that have graced Georgetown over the years.
This book has a great deal of detail. I saw many landmarks such as the waterfront and the Old Stone House, and many places that I knew little or nothing about. Over the years I have walked the streets and visited but have never studied the area. Thus, I learned much about Georgetown that I didn't know. I knew something of the history, but Schwantes' book tied my knowledge in with specific places and people. Schwantes must be an enthusiastic, highly informed guide when she leads tour groups in person, and her knowledge and enthusiasm come through in this book. Readers who love Georgetown or the local aspects of life in Washington, D.C. will enjoy having Schwantes as their guide to Georgetown in this pictorial history.
