To finish off our week in Kensington we have a picture of the Noyes Library. This one room library, which is the oldest in the DC area, is dedicated to programs and materials for young children. It is thanks to a local foundation of donors that the library was able to survive a round of budget cuts. It would appear as though this is another piece of material proof of the strong community bond that people in Kensington have.
Here is the full Kensington War memorial area, which you’ve possibly seen if you are ever driving through town northbound on Connecticut Ave. With this shot you can see the eagle in it’s context.
This eagle sits in the town of Kensington. I had noticed it while driving up Connecticut ave one day, and like so many other things, I filed it in my mind as something to go back and to investigate. Fortunately, and unlike so many other things, I remembered to go back and see it this weekend.
This eagle sits in in the town’s memorial park, but it was dedicated to the artist’s niece who died in a car accident. You can see the carving and a bit more of the sculpture’s story on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UoQPeeYEcM
Today’s pictures come to us from Silver Spring. Driving through a back road last month I noticed a plaque on a stone near a large tree. I was traveling too fast to stop at the time, but I knew I’d be able to return soon enough to get a picture. As it turned out Sunday was the perfect day to investigate further. It turns out that the plaque signifies this tree as a Bicentennial Tree. In 1975, just before the Nation’s bicentennial, The bicentennial tree program was a statewide initiative to identify trees that were likely alive at the time of the signing of the declaration of independence.
Each county was responsible for submitting it’s own trees and some counties ended up submitting more than others. It was a short lived program and was not related to the current big tree programs designed to discover and measure the largest trees. Many of the bicentennial trees are gone now so to see one is pretty neat.
This tree happens to be a Black Gum and, believe it or not, despite the fact that it is old enough to have been alive in 1776, there are at least two other Black Gums in Montgomery county that are considered to be larger.
Here’s a link to the writeup where I discovered the past of the bicentennial tree program.
Yesterday I set out on a mission to photograph three different things, which I found and I will share here this week. It was a laid back day. So this morning I’m continuing that laid back feeling.
While my mission yesterday took a little bit of time, it didn’t satisfy my desire to be outside. In a move to combine sitting around outside and photography I decided I would hang out at a train station and see what came by. Within 20 minutes I had some action.
You probably knew that MDP has a bit of curiosity towards trains. In the process of checking up on a daily train blog I came across this article about an obscure railroad in West Virginia. Then… in the middle of the article I realized that I had a picture from one of the engines of that railroad as that engine currently sits in front of the Gaithersburg train station. I featured it’s inner workings in this post.
Here’s your Friday cliffhanger post about trains. I actually have a story to tell about this particular engine so that will come on Monday.
Took this shot at sunset at Sligo Creek golf course in Silver Spring. As the course was losing money, the planning commission was considering shutting down the 9 hole course. I believe a shut down is still possible but for now, it’s still operating.
