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Before the Jefferson Memorial stood there, the Tidal Basin had a beach. A real one — sand hauled in by the ton, a bathho...
08/31/2026

Before the Jefferson Memorial stood there, the Tidal Basin had a beach. A real one — sand hauled in by the ton, a bathhouse, lifeguards, high-diving boards, umbrellas and lounge chairs, right in the middle of downtown D.C.

The Tidal Basin Bathing Beach opened in August 1918 with a water carnival: diving contests, tug of war, sandcastles, and about two thousand spectators. It was an immediate hit.

It was also whites-only, and in 1925 the politics of that decision shut the whole thing down for good.

WETA’s Boundary Stones has the full story at the link in the comments below.

08/30/2026

As the world mourns the passing of country music legend, actress, and philanthropist Dolly Parton, join us for a moving, musical journey through the people and places that shaped her iconic career. "Dolly Parton: Here I Am" features career-spanning footage of the undisputed queen of country music, the film reveals the spirit, soul and hard work of an artist who has inspired countless others.

Watch TODAY at 4:30pm on WETA PBS, or stream any time on WETA+ with PBS Passport.

08/29/2026

Shortly after dawn on December 21, 1970, Elvis Presley showed up at the White House gates unannounced, carrying a six-page handwritten letter addressed to President Nixon. The Oval Office meeting that followed produced one of the most iconic photographs in American history — and an amazing backstory.

Learn more in the latest video from our Boundary Stones local history series.

Sixty-three years ago today, a quarter of a million people gathered on the National Mall for the March on Washington. Cu...
08/28/2026

Sixty-three years ago today, a quarter of a million people gathered on the National Mall for the March on Washington. Culie Vick Kilimanjaro and her husband John Marshall were among them, having ridden up overnight from Greensboro, North Carolina, on a bus chartered by their church and the NAACP. They found a babysitter for their three children and paid their own way.

The ride was not a celebration. People on the bus were afraid, John Marshall remembered, because there was no precedent for what they were about to do and no way to know what was waiting for them at the other end.

Then, before dawn, the bus stopped for gas in Virginia, and what a few of them saw as the sun came up told them everything they needed to know about the day ahead.

WETA's Boundary Stones has their first-hand account at the link in the comments below.

08/27/2026

250 years ago today, on August 27, 1776, a few hundred Marylanders saved the Continental Army.

Cut off and surrounded at the Battle of Brooklyn, the First Maryland Regiment charged an old stone farmhouse held by more than 2,000 British troops. Then they charged it again. Some 256 were killed, wounded or captured.

It bought the time the rest of the army needed to escape to Manhattan. Most of those men had never seen combat before that morning; they averaged about 24 years old. George Washington is said to have called them his "old line" — which is where Maryland got its nickname.

Learn more in this video from Boundary Stones.

On the night of August 26, 1814, with the capital still burning behind him after an attack by British troops, President ...
08/26/2026

On the night of August 26, 1814, with the capital still burning behind him after an attack by British troops, President James Madison’s carriage rolled into Brookeville, Maryland, looking for a place to sleep.

The first man he asked would not get out of bed for the President. The second, a Federalist, said he had no use for anyone waging a war he found distasteful. The third door, at the home of Caleb Bentley, opened.

Madison never slept anyway. He sat up all night in an armchair writing orders while his guard marched around the house and trampled the family garden. For one night, a tiny Montgomery County town was the capital of the United States.

WETA’s Boundary Stones has the full story at the link in the comments below.

We are heartbroken by the loss of Dolly Parton, who died today at 80. There will never be another like her. "Remembering...
08/25/2026

We are heartbroken by the loss of Dolly Parton, who died today at 80. There will never be another like her.

"Remembering Dolly Parton" is now streaming on WETA+ — a collection of documentaries and interviews that let her tell her own story, in her own words.

Watch the collection and read more about her remarkable life from PBS News at the links in the comments below.

Featuring archival footage and previously unheard songs, "The Essence of Eva" paints a vivid portrait of Washington-area...
08/25/2026

Featuring archival footage and previously unheard songs, "The Essence of Eva" paints a vivid portrait of Washington-area vocalist Eva Cassidy from the perspective of her family, friends and fellow musicians. Cassidy possessed a soulful voice that transcended genres and captivated audiences with its purity and emotional resonance, and her interpretations of songs such as “Over the Rainbow” and “Fields of Gold” are spotlighted in the film. At the time of her death at age 33, Cassidy was largely unknown outside the regional music scene, but her music would go on to achieve worldwide recognition.

The Essence of Eva airs TONIGHT at 8pm on WETA PBS or stream on WETA+.

On August 24, 1814, for the first and only time in American history, an invading army overran Washington. British troops...
08/24/2026

On August 24, 1814, for the first and only time in American history, an invading army overran Washington. British troops set fire to the Capitol and the White House. The next day the fires were still burning, in temperatures reported above one hundred degrees. President Madison had fled north into Maryland, and most residents who could get out had gone with him.

That afternoon, American reinforcements finally massed a few miles from the city and began moving in for a counterattack. Before they arrived, the sky darkened until it looked like night, and a storm came down on both armies. Accounts still disagree over whether it was a tornado or a hurricane. Houses collapsed or were lifted off their foundations, chimneys and roofs went through the air, and even light cannons were blown several yards across the ground. British soldiers broke ranks and threw themselves flat to keep from being carried off.

Two hours later it stopped. The battle never happened. Most of the fires the British had set were out, and under cover of darkness the British slipped away, leaving their campfires burning so nobody would notice they had gone.

WETA’s Boundary Stones has the full story at the link in the comments below.

On August 23, 1933, the fiercest storm Washington had seen in decades pushed a wall of water up the Chesapeake Bay and t...
08/23/2026

On August 23, 1933, the fiercest storm Washington had seen in decades pushed a wall of water up the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. More than six inches of rain fell on the District in a matter of hours. Winds of fifty-one miles per hour brought down trees, floodwaters swallowed highways, roofs came off buildings, and a train crossing the Anacostia River was swept off its tracks.

Ocean City had it worse. The boardwalk broke apart and washed into town, buildings flooded, communication lines went down, and at the south end of the island near 1st Street the bay finally burst through the barrier island and poured into the ocean.

And then the story takes an unlikely turn. Ocean City businessmen had spent years pleading with Congress to dig a channel in exactly that spot so their fishing boats could reach the Atlantic without being dragged across the sand by teams of mules. They had been turned down again just months earlier. The storm did the work for them.

WETA’s Boundary Stones has the full story at the link in the comments below.

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