National Park Seminary

In July, I visited Washington, DC and saw an astonishing range of historic sites. On the first day in the area, I visited Museum of the Bible, which took an entire day of exploring. The next day, I traveled to Silver Spring, MD, which has many hidden history gems. My first stop was National Park Seminary, a historic district in the village of Forest Glen, to see unique architecture. Despite its name, the site is not associated with the National Park System and has instead been transformed from a resort to a women’s college to an army medical facility to residential housing. With plenty of informational signage and easy walking, this was a pleasant visit.

In 1887, what became known as National Park Seminary opened as a resort called The Forest Inn. Leading the project was Seymour Wilcox Tulloch and the Forest Glen Improvement Company. Tulloch evidently enjoyed whimsical building styles, as his gravestone is shaped like a gingerbread house. Tulloch would have been better off staying in planned community development, but he apparently became a cashier at the Washington Post Office and was then involved in a postal service scandal from 1903 to 1904 during the Theodore Roosevelt administration. Tulloch moved his family to San Diego, CA in 1907, perhaps to escape fallout from the scandal. In 1919, his daughter Ethel Esselstyn Tulloch Banks became the first female vice president of the National Federation of Post Office Clerks, perhaps redeeming the family.

Back to Silver Spring, the inn folded by 1893 and was purchased by a young couple, John Andrew Cassedy and Vesta Harvey Cassedy. They started a finishing school, where they wanted the young women to have a global perspective. With guidance from architect Emily Elizabeth Smith Holman, who often went by E.E. Holman to avoid sexism, the couple constructed additional buildings in the style of houses from around the world. Still standing are an English castle, a neoclassical temple, a Dutch windmill, an Italian villa, and a Japanese pagoda. Along with these fancy buildings, the Cassedy family put art on the grounds. The most common figures are concrete statues of young Greek women wearing the peplos and Phrygian caps. (I previously talked about this outfit and have strong opinions on the use of these caps as mascots, which I need not repeat.) A pair of lion statues guarded a stairwell, a youth mourned the demise of a pet mini-donkey, and a working fountain boasted a herd of spitting horses.

The seminary became more progressive over time, turning from a finishing school to prestigious college. Only women from the richest families could attend, not so different than modern elite universities in the United States. Around 1930, the Ireland Trail was constructed in neighboring Forest Glen Annex to provide an appropriate exercise area for the students. In 1936, the new name of the school was National Park College. However, the institution did not last line due in part to the outbreak of World War II. Forest Glen Annex became Fort Detrick, and the school property was commandeered by Walter Reed Army Hospital, now Walter Reed Army Medical Center with its headquarters in Bethesda, MD. The hospital was named in honor of Major Walter Reed, who died in 1902 at age 51 from inflammation in his abdomen after an emergency operation on his appendix performed by his friend and fellow military officer, Major William C. Borden. Reed is buried in Arlington National Cemetery and has a special plaque for his work leading the medical team who confirmed that mosquitoes are the origin of yellow fever. Borden led the movement to name the hospital after Reed, and it opened five years later in 1907.

Over on the seminary campus, the military turned the buildings as ugly as possible. What started as a rehabilitation facility for injured soldiers became a holding center for those suffering from severe psychological conditions and later a place for military scientists to test chemical weapons on its own soldiers. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and the last patient was removed five years later in 1977. As typical of the U.S. Army, the buildings were left to rot. The non-profit Save Our Seminary began in 1989 but made little headway with the Army until 2001, and Montgomery County, MD did not receive the property until 2004.

The county worked with two developers, Alexander Company and EYA, to restore the buildings and turn them into residential housing. According to statics from Alexander Company, the project cost $110 million but resulted in 66 apartments, 90 townhomes, 13 single family homes, and 50 condominiums, a total of 219 living units averaging half a million a piece, which is typical for the area. The other interesting fact about the work done by this company is that while it typically concentrates on buildings in Wisconsin, it did renovate Paragon Mill in Olneyville, Providence, RI. Work continues to be done on the National Park Seminary property, as construction was in progress during my visit.

National Park Seminary is a residential neighborhood with inviting signage, so the public is welcome to visit at any time from dawn to dusk. Parking is not available in the community, but the National Museum of Health and Medicine has a large, free parking lot across the street from the houses on the southeast side. The sidewalks are well-maintained and accessible to those with limited mobility or using a wheelchair. The highest point of the seminary campus with the fountain is accessible by a somewhat steep road or by steps. If you would like to have a picnic in this area, the locals would not mind. I only saw one family out for a walk on a Sunday morning, and all members were friendly. If you are in the Washington, DC area and need a break from the busyness of the capital, this is an ideal destination.