(Back yard of the lovely home at 5600 Western Avenue in placid Chevy Chase, MD. The real estate brochure does not mention the presence of a national monument in the front yard).

For me, Western Avenue was better known that bright September day as Easy Street. It was a marvelous day to venture up to the nicer parts of Northwest DC. I thought it would be simple- I could get to the North Stone, and perhaps take another plunge into the still verdant greenery at NW5 on the way back to Virginia.

I was starting to have a compulsion about the Stone in the Dalecarlia Reservation, and one that I knew could get me in trouble with the new Department of Homeland Security, since the Reservoir was the source of the water supply to the Capital, and at work we often talked about how the Bad Guys were thinking about poisoning us all, just as the Nazis had considered landing saboteurs to do the same thing in World War Two.

I followed the straight path of Western Avenue northwest, looking at the street addresses to identify 5600, the street address of NW7. It is a pleasant drive with the homes of Maryland on the left and the District on the right. Technically, the road is all in the District, though practically the Avenue is the boundary, just as the Potomac is all District right up to the high water mark on the western side of the river.

Once, Chevy Chase was home to many of the military officers assigned to the capital, and who labored at the Department of War, State and the Navy next to the White House, and later at the vast Munitions Building and Main Navy, thrown up in the frenzy of building that went along with the nation’s entry into The Great War. In those days, a requirement for advancement was to have family money behind you to entertain, and the Chevy Chase Country Club featured many Admirals and Generals on the membership rolls.

Now, not so much, though the Army-Navy Club on Farragut Square holds some of the old stately grandeur, as do the pleasant neighborhoods in Chevy Chase, where the military can no longer afford to live on an active duty paycheck.

5600 Western Avenue is a case in point. It has been dramatically upgraded since I first saw it a decade ago. Built in 1928, it was solid upper crust West Chevy Chase Village Georgian architecture. I understand it sold this year after a complete upgrade- the sales brochure is still around, and it went for a cool 1.5 million. So, that would probably have been my only chance to actually own one of the Boundary Stones.

The advertising does not mention the national monument on the lawn. According to the folks at BoundaryStone.org, the owners removed the DAR cage back in the 1940s, and in the mid-1960s, the stone was repositioned and a plaque was affixed directly to it.

It also might be the best in terms of its condition, the inscription crisp and almost pristine. The shrubbery and security fence around the property can obscure the Stone. The place is listed as unoccupied now, so I suppose you could hop the fence, or just knock on the door and see if anyone is home. NW7 is worth it. It is in the front yard of 5600 Western Avenue, the near intersection with Cedar Parkway, McKinley Street, and 41st Street.

The ease of finding this one was restoring my confidence, and I drove back up Western Ave to find NW8, located at 6422 Western Avenue, southwest of Pinehurst Circle. It is in the front yard of home, within circular driveway. This stone likewise does not have a protective fence, a sign that the residents of Chevy Chase feel that they are adequately protected as things are.

You might want to ask Mr. Neil about a closer inspection, but it is perfectly visible from the sidewalk. It is a little bedraggled and held together with a bolt. It might have been useful to keep the cage.

I had a full head of confidence by this time, and got back in the Sebring to drive up past Chevy Chase Circle to knock off the last of the Northwest Stones full of piss and vinegar, but finding NW9 had some challenges.

NW9 was supposed to be at 2701 Daniel Road, still in Chevy Chase. It was not apparent, since it is located behind the traffic barricade, about a hundred and fifty feet northwest of Daniel Road, and a couple feet southeast of the edge of the driveway of the Magney family’s modern house near the intersection of Western and Oregon Avenues. It is on the edge of the magnificent urban wilderness of Rock Creek Park, which precludes direct transit along the boundary.

Unlike the Dalecarlia reservoir, people actually use this park.

I was beginning to think that having national monuments in your side yard might get a little old. I had to walk around a bit to get a look at the cage. But it was worth it, I suppose.

I was thinking of forging on, but decided the best course of action would be to defer the start of the Northeast quadrant search by returning another day, and approaching from the north by taking the Beltway to Georgia Avenue, where the cardinal Stone of the North welcomes visitors to the Nation’s Capital from the edge of the traffic circle where 16th Street, Eastern and Colesville Road intersect.

But I would have been wrong about that, just as I was when I thought I could close out the Northwest quadrant by stopping on the way home and finding NW5 this time. But no one said this was easy, and I hadn’t seen nothing yet.

Copyright 2015 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303