Free Republic

In 1791, before Washington DC became the capital of the United States, surveyors placed a series of 40 boundary stones to mark the original 100-square-mile District of Columbia. Today, many of those historic markers still survive -- hidden in neighborhoods, parks, and along roads around the capital. Join me as I drive around Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC searching for these forgotten pieces of American history and visit several of the original boundary markers placed between 1791 and 1792. These stones witnessed the birth of the nation's capital and are some of the oldest surviving monuments connected to the creation...

Before he was Vice President, Elbridge Gerry was a rising leader from Massachusetts, who partook in some of the earliest and most important phases of the American Revolution. He signed the Declaration of Independence and he went on to play an interesting role in the Constitutional Convention in 1787. When he died in 1814, he was serving as the Vice President and the War of 1812 was in full swing. Today, he is the only signer of the declaration who is laid to rest in the District of Columbia. Buried nearby is Tobias Lear, a patriot who had a tragic...