(By DCist contributor Kanishka Gangopadhyay)
Planning is underway for the first of nine memorial tree groves to be planted around the city in commemoration of the victims of 9/11. The memorial groves project is D.C.’s participation in the U.S. Forest Services Living Memorials Project. D.C. officials are planning to plant commemorative trees in each of the city’s wards, with a central site on Kingman Island in the Anacostia River.
The first grove will be at the Congressional Cemetery in Ward 6, which the neighborhood group the Barracks Row Main Street envisions as a “cathedral-like walkway that uses the power of nature to provide visitors a contemplative space to mourn and to heal, and to reflect beyond the losses of September 11th.” The project is accepting tax deductible donations to install and endow the trees — suggested donations range from $300 for a Princeton Elm to $50 for a Spartan Juniper.
The memorials first site, the Congressional Cemetery, located at 1801 E St. SE, is a little known gem of Southeast. Founded in 1807, in 1816 the cemetery set aside 100 burial plots for use by members of Congress – later increased to 924 plots. The plots are generally reserved for members of Congress who die in office and sometimes their families. Also interred at the cemetery are former employees of the executive branch; Librarians of Congress; D.C. mayors, police officers and firemen; and over 1,000 veterans of dating back to the Revolutionary War. When U.S. Senators pass away in office, they are sometimes interred temporarily in the Congressional Cemetery before being transported to their home states. The cemetery can be reached by taking the Blue and Orange lines to the Potomac Avenue stop.
