martin house -- very old martin house

[John Miller]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationa ... 2955490794

A bud sent me a link to a collection of Mathew Brady photos from the Civil War...of course I looked and looked -- until I found a purple martin house.

[Louise Chambers]

That's really great, John - I have seen a few Civil War martin house photos, but never this one!

[apundt-TX]

Thats neat....I like old black and white pictures.

[avesrun]

cool! Looks like an 18 holer.

[taxidermy lady]

Yeah back then it was probably full house!!

[Matt F.]

Great photo John!
Can you imagine - no house sparrows or starlings to deal with!

[John Miller]

Matt...I wish I could figure out where the photo was taken. The description seems unclear to me...hoped you'd be able to pull up the actual view today with your mapping skills. John

[kehunter]

It is possible that the image is "flipped"....notice the hand-scrawled "343" is mirror-image at the top of the photo. So, if a bridge right-of-way and the large smokestack still exist, try searching for them with the reverse orientation as well.

If the orientation is correct, could this now be the Ethel Kennedy Bridge on Benning Rd, looking east across the Anacostia?

EDIT: Further research by others proved this to be the Navy Yard Bridge, now the "11th Street Bridges"

[John Miller]

Ken

That's a fascinating perspective on it...I have no idea how to research this, but it probably could be done. I'd love to see it used as a tool to convince a park or other public space with an open area in the Washington DC area to try and establish a purple martin colony. Martins soaring over the nation's capitol for the first time in 100 years!" Well...we can dream.

John M

[Dave Reynolds]

John --- Thanks for the link.... I started looking at the photos and could not stop... Many great Photos... Thanks again

Dave

[Matt F.]

Very interesting stuff John!
Turns out, the caption that says "Bridge across the "Eastern Branch", Washington, D.C., 1862", was a great starting point.
The "Eastern Branch" (which was referring to the eastern branch tributary of the Potomac), is now called the Anacostia River.
That bridge, was also known as the "Navy Yard Bridge".
If you Google "Navy Yard Bridge", you'll see the same photos as well.
That was in fact the same bridge John Wilkes Booth blew town on, after assassinating Lincoln.
Fast forward to today, that bridge (which is now obviously a massive, modern, concrete and steel structure) is the 11th Street Bridge.
If you click on the link below, you'll see a pushpin where that Martin house was
Click here for modern day location

[John Miller]

Matt

You're so cool. That's wonderful. I had put the photo on the PMCA's FB page, and will put a link to your findings as well.

Hey..I see some green space still...maybe I'll contact that high school there to the right and make inquiries about historical restoration. "Purple what?" ha. Or maybe there's a Washington DC Audubon chapter or something.

John Miller

[threelilkids]

Matt, I love History, and to hear stories about things like this, thank you for your time in looking this up it was a very nice treat

[rrmartins]

That is so neat, great history. Have relatives coming to town, the man was in Vietnam and loves to tell stories.

[kehunter]

Looks a little different these days......

http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u49 ... _today.jpg

[Matt F.]

Very cool Kevin!
The photo you posted does a great job showing the site as it is today, from the same vantage point as the old photo John posted.

[rrmartins]

Wow, nothing but concrete. I'll take the horse and buggy days.

[John Miller]

I dunno. the map matt pulled up shows a lot of parks, a high school, even an arboretum out a few miles. All seem like might have potential for martin houses to me!

John M

[rrmartins]

I just saw all the roadways on the first pic. Are all the pics the same area?
I guess you are talking about out on the left side?

[kehunter]

The exact location of the 1862 martin house is now Interstate 695. But, if you look at an overhead satellite photo of the general area, there is open green space and a high school about 1/4 mile to the east northeast.