I found myself near Glen Echo at the end of a work day that went longer than expected, so I could not take on Annapolis, which had been my original plan that day. I had learned at the Civil War Medicine Museum in Frederick that after the Civil War, Clara Barton moved first to Washington, DC to aid families looking for missing soldiers, then got involved with the International Committee of the Red Cross. She finally moved to Glen Echo and turned a warehouse there into her home and the headquarters of the American Red Cross, and lived there until she died. For me, Glen Echo is the site of a late 19th century amusement park that includes the Spanish Ballroom, which regularly hosts a Saturday night swing dance featuring an excellent Big Band. I knew nothing about Barton’s history there, so I decided to explore the grounds a little. I stopped off at Clara Barton’s huge house on the property and had a million questions about how she came to live there, but I could not get them answered because the site was closed due to Covid.
Rather than give up, I decided to learn a bit more about the Glen Echo site itself, which is the only amusement park that is also a national historic landmark. I tried to glean information from the tourist signs, but learned very little. According to a website, Glen Echo began as a National Chautauqua Assembly before becoming an amusement park and, later a national park. Ironically, swing dancing there was one of the last things I did before Covid shut everything down. I remember dancing with a gentleman who explained to me why China’s economy was slowing due to this virus; I had no idea what was to come.
I had skipped lunch, so I was starving. I headed to the Irish Inn adjacent to Glen Echo for an excellent meal outside, then headed home, tired from an exhausting week.