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Observations
	A walk in Congressional's dog park (Published April 5, 2004) By CARRIE DEVORAH

It appears to be a recent phenomenon to blend God business with dog business.

Two-hundred thirty dog walkers pay $100 annual dues, and $20 per extra pooch, for the privilege of exercising pets on empty-out runs in the District’s historic Congressional Cemetery at 1801 E St. SE. Before sunrise. clanking metal and baying amidst century-old tombstones give way to shadowy figures approaching through the dawn. One. Three. Two. Dogs. And their humans. Late summer evenings, as soft light falls over Congressional’s 60,000 gravestones, four- and two-legged walkers amble weathered paths. Weekends and mornings, Capitol Hill residents and others meet, for bagels and downtime. The cemetery looks like a neighborhood Cosi’s. People chat while their dogs romp, albeit amongst graves. Dog owners are alone in their visits to this cemetery, except for the occasional bereaved. Once, the 191-year-old graveyard, founded in 1807 by parishioners of Christ Church, was as big an attraction as Arlington National Cemetery. Today, the 32-acre grounds, half a mile from the Capitol, is a neglected patch of America’s history.

Congressional Cemetery – aka Congressional Dog Park – is the District’s only fenced-in dog park. The grounds, still owned by nearby Christ Church, have long been haunted by money problems. Congressional Cemetery stewardship, in a long reach, invited dog to bring new life to the dead.

Dog walkers took over the cemetery following its decline in the 1970s. There was no one to stop pet owners from exercising Rover alongside graves. The cemetery was in disrepair. Grass was overgrown. Drug deals were going down. Linda Donavan Harper, chair of the Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery, was quoted saying: "In 10 years since the dog walkers, there has been no vandalism to the cemetery." Pet owner Jack McGrath told one journalist he tends to think the dead like their company. Ann Quarzo told another, "`It’s a beautiful way to start your morning. You can meditate, reflect, get your thoughts together.'"

The Committee For the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery describes dog and dead as a "symbiotic relationship," ensuring grass gets cut and the grounds restored. Years after K-9 Corps was instituted to fundraise for repairs, fallen and broken tombstones still litter the grounds. Branches lie untouched for days at a time. Drivers weave around graveyard roads pockmarked with potholes and broken surface. A quick visual suggests the K-9 club failed to accomplish the board’s goals. Dogs race out of owner’s vision, amongst fallen tombstones, marking where dead lie. No one seems to enforce the K-9 corps’ golden rule: "Clean up after your pets." This rule appears made to be broken.

For people trying to get in tune with history, Congressional Cemetery was considered kind of the government burial ground because of its location. There’s never been an official legal connection. Congress neither owns nor administers the property. The vestry of Christ Church on Capitol Hill bought the original 4-acre site for $400. Congressional used to cut its timber to raise money. Cleared land was rented to farmers. While many churches prioritized serving their own members, Congressional and Rock Creek – two of largest Episcopal graveyards in the District of Columbia – opened their gates to other denominations and faiths. In the mid-1800s the parish decided to expand its small burial ground into a public cemetery. By 1812, land deeded to the church was stipulated to include one quarter of the property be reserved for burial of the poor. The cost of a burial was not to exceed $2. Periodically over the years, Congress appropriated funds to keep up the burial ground. A 1939 military report states that a series of congressional appropriations for the cemetery dating from 1823 established and supported the cemetery as "the first national cemetery created by the government." In 1846, a $500 appropriation was needed for repairs after heavy rains and flooding. Soon, interest waned. Burials take place on occasion. Plots are still being sold, with prices ranging from $2,000 to $4,000.

Over the years, Christ Church expanded the cemetery to the size it is today. The National Register of Historic Places listed Congressional Cemetery on June 23, 1969. On June 16, 1997, the National Trust for Historic Preservation declared Congressional one of America’s 11 most endangered historical sites. The church-owned land is now managed by a private foundation – The Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery. The preservation group, seeking money from donors and support of Congress, wants to fully restore the cemetery by 2007, its 200th anniversary. The House Appropriations Committee fostered the bill, clearing Congress last Sept. 25, providing $1 million in matching funds to clean up the cemetery. The National Trust administers the endowment established by Congress as well as the matching funds raised by the association.

In June 1976, the vestry of Christ Church leased Congressional to the Association for the Preservation of Historic Congressional Cemetery. APHCC is, until 2019, responsible for "operating, developing, maintaining, preserving and enhancing the cemetery grounds." Congress authorized the architect of the Capitol to assist with the cemetery’s care, providing oversight and an ex officio voting member to Congressional’s Board of Directors. Volunteers maintain grounds and buildings. In 1997, the Marine Corps sent a team of 100 to rake, cut trees and remove high brush. Fort McNair sent a crew to upright tombstones and organize cemetery records. In 1939 the Veteran's Administration surveyed Congressional's records and grounds, producing a list of over 1,100 veterans, in most cases provided the name, rank, unit and type of headstone, too. Another project included cataloguing inscriptions from the cemetery's 20,000 headstones. Yet another involved computerizing the names of everyone interred on the grounds, from handwritten logs dating back to the 1820s. The board wants $28 million to repair roads, paths, preserve historic tombs, mausoleums, grave monuments, gatehouse building, chapel and plant hundreds of trees.

From its beginning, Congressional Cemetery was an official burial site for leaders of the new country and members of Congress. The cenotaphs, squat odd-looking empty tombs erected for members of Congress buried elsewhere, commemorate congressmen who died in office. In fact, 80 congressmen are actually interred there. Connecticut Congressman Uriah Tracy was interred at the cemetery in 1807. Between1816 and 1823, government reserved 500 plots, later adding an additional 500 spaces.

Funerals for three presidents, congressmen, war heroes, generals and prominent people were held at Congressional. Luminaries include "Stars and Stripes Forever" composer John Philips Sousa, Capitol designer William Thornton, Vice President Elbridge Gerry, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Archibald Henderson, a Choctaw Indian chief called Push-ma-ta-ha, Civil War photographer Matthew Brady and George Washington’s secretary, Tobias Lear. John Quincy Adams and two other presidents lay for months in the Public Vault, down the walk, before they were removed for burial elsewhere. Dolly Madison was there for a couple of years, too. Silent film star Mary Fuller lies in a pauper's grave.

American military, inscribed on tombstones, include veterans from the Revolutionary War, Tripolitan war, War of 1812, Indian Wars, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World war I, World war II, Korean War, Vietnam War. Also, a secretary of the Navy, admirals of the Navy, West Point graduates stand silent guard for the nation. Forgotten. At Congressional Cemetery, where selfish wants of the living come before respecting the dead. And dog comes before God.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator