Looking at this image you’d think I took a quick flight to Rome or maybe Greece, but I didn’t. I visited the National Arboretum. I think I was one of about six people even in the place. It was a lonely, quiet, secluded, serene corner of the world in the middle of a city. I expected to find something like the Dallas Arboretum, with manicured lawns and gardens. Instead, I found DC’s own version of Stonehenge.
These columns used to be part of the Capitol building, but were removed when they expanded the building and brought here, to this fairly wild and unkept portion of DC, to sit as a testament to…what I’m not sure. What I am sure of is it’s pretty cool to visit and absorb the weight of history that flows from these marble stones. If you’re in DC and looking for an awesome place to picnic, this is it. It’s not manicured, it’s not pretty in the winter really, but it’s quiet and a great place to reflect on things.
I wonder, when the next civilization comes along, if these columns will still be standing like Stonehenge. I wonder what those future people will think of them, or us, for leaving them there. They might think we danced around them, naked under the moonlight. Or maybe we used them to hold seances. Or they might think aliens built them as a way to help us communicate with the universe. You never know.