Washington Monument

William Boulton "Bo" Kelly Jr., the Baltimore architect, preservationist and raconteur, led a study in the late 1970s of the Washington Monument, the first civic monument erected to the nation's first president, and perhaps the most emblematic symbol of the city. Kelly died this month at the age of 84 and didn't see the completion of the latest overhaul of the monument, which is currently closed. Kelly had developed a solid reputation as a preservationist when he helped establish Baltimore Heritage in 1960 and, four years later, the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, serving as its first chairman.

Roads at Mount Vernon Place in and around this weekend's FlowerMart event will be closed from Thursday at 3 p.m. to Saturday at 11 p.m., FlowerMart officials said on their website. The event is held at Mount Vernon Place, at the Washington Monument, and at the four adjoining blocks in each direction. Traffic will be closed on all four sides of the Washington Monument. Madison Street and Monument Street (both westbound) will be closed where they intersect St. Paul Street and Cathedral Street (both southbound)

Tracy Marcotte scanned a hand-held metal detector across various spots on the base of the Washington Monument as if she were searching for gold. But it was iron she was after. Specifically, she was searching for iron cramps that hold together stones that make up the monument. Marcotte was part of a team from Pennsylvania-based CVM engineers at the monument Saturday assessing the historic structure in preparation for a restoration to begin next spring. The $3 million restoration is the first project in a plan by the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy to make improvements to Mount Vernon Square, which is made up of the monument and four public squares surrounding it. The conservancy was formed to raise money to improve and manage the site.

The Havre de Grace High School Warrior Pride Marching Band was chosen to perform in the prestigious Cherry Blossom Parade in Washington, D.C., Saturday, April 13. The marching band auditioned for the parade for the first time and was selected to be a part of a special All-Star Maryland marching band. The Warriors band will be combined with the Westminster High School marching band and the two will have the privilege of leading off the parade, band director Rick Hauf said. The parade travels down Constitution Avenue from the Washington Monument to the White House and is televised live in the D.C. market.

After seven years of repairs, Baltimore's Washingto Monument is reopening -- and not a day too soon. When the 178-foot tower was built between 1815 and 1829, using local Cockeysville marble, it was considered to be an architectural achievement for its time. It was and it is.Baltimore's Washington Monument was the first formal tribute to the nation's first president. When it was built, it stood on a hill in an area known as Howard's Woods, far away from what was then the center of town. The ornate column caused quite an overrun for its day; it cost twice the budgeted $100,000.

Tonight, the lights are coming up at the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon. A Monumental Occasion kicks off at 5:30 p.m. with performances by the Handel Choir, Baltimore City College Choir, Sounds of Downtown and other singers, strolling entertainment, a holiday village of vendors offering food, holiday crafts and knick knacks. Then at 6:25 p.m., the lighting ceremony begins with Mayor Martin O'Malley and director John Waters flipping the switch to light the monument. Afterward, there will be a fire works show choreographed to music.

ANNOUNCEMENT that the Washington Monument, after hiatus of seven years for repairs, was reopening its doors Dec. 4, started me on a long trail of memories.It led back to a luncheon meeting in the Park Plaza restaurant with Richard Tucker, then an assistant city editor of The Evening Sun. The meeting had been arranged by the late Dr. Edgar Berman in a friendly attempt to help me switch from selling insurance, which I hated, to writing for a daily paper, which I hoped would be better.A man whose years in various byways of journalism had soured him on the whole profession, Tucker (no relation to the operatic tenor)

BOONSBORO -- Two dramatic elements of American and Maryland history, including one of the nation's darkest hours, will be illuminated tonight in the mountains and valleys of Western Maryland.Atop South Mountain, citizens, community and business leaders will gather to light up -- after a darkness of 15 years -- the Washington Monument, a Mason-jar-shaped structure that is the nation's oldest monument to the first president.In the valley below, 23,110 candles are scheduled to flicker -- depending on the weather -- across the Antietam National Battlefield in a now-annual ceremony honoring Union and Confederate soldiers killed, wounded and missing during the bloodiest day of the Civil War.The illumination of the monument, a 34-foot-high stone tower built in 1827 by Boonsboro residents to mark Independence Day and honor the first president, is a source of pride for many in this Washington County town who have donated time and money for the project.

I PUT A question to the Flower Mart's Fred Bierer, president of the nonprofit board that runs that annual May festival around Charles Street's Washington Monument. What were his priorities when he took over running the event five years ago? His answer: Add more flowers and shorten the lines for food. My response: He got the flowers right, but, at the noon hour when I arrive hungry, the food lines are long. I interrogated nonstop talker and attorney Fred in the grand second-floor front room of his St. Paul Street law chambers, once the home of Moses C. Mordecai, shipping baron from the South who settled in Baltimore after the Civil War and later the offices of surgeon Dr. Harry Bowie.

WASHINGTON -- It is the most recognizable structure in Washington, a 555-foot high obelisk almost devoid of decoration.The Washington Monument is about to become even more easily distinguished: Beginning sometime this winter, it will become a 555-foot high obelisk surrounded by scaffolding.Winter is when the National Park Service is scheduled to begin a three-year, $5 million repair effort that will be the most comprehensive overhaul of the monument since it opened to the public in 1888.And think of it not as the Washington Monument, but the Washington Monument-sponsored-by-Target, the department store chain.

Can Denver Mayor Michael Hancock bust a move?  After tomorrow night, he might be forced to.  In a bet with Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Hancock promised to perform star Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis' famous pre-game dance in the event of a Baltimore playoff victory Saturday night.  For her part, Rawlings-Blake said she will light Baltimore's historic Washington Monument in blue and orange Broncos colors should the Peyton Manning-led...

A car that crashed near the Washington Monument onl Thursday morning overturned, injuring a passenger and damaging a wall at the historic Mount Vernon park. The flipped-over four-door gray sedan blocked traffic on Washington Place just south of the 178-foot column to West Centre Street for at least an hour while police investigated and roped off a damaged stone wall in the park's South Garden. Two men were in the car, which was a rental vehicle licensed in Connecticut, when the driver fell asleep and crashed into the wall, causing the car to flip over, police spokesman Detective Vernon Davis said.

The food offerings at the 41st annual lighting of Mount Vernon's Washington Monument on Thursday will be more diverse than ever, according to Michael Evitts of the Downtown Partnership, one of the event's organizers. Clustered in a holiday village in the west park of Mount Vernon Square, the vendors will be selling items that include sunchoke soup, fried Oreos, short ribs, tacos, sliders, scallops, falafel, crepes, gumbo and "more cider than you can shake a stick at," Evitts said.

Dear God, Americans have it all wrong. We work too hard, so much so that when we do speak about pleasure - "élan," "gourmand," "joie de vivre" - our own language is not always up to the task. Even the productivity-crazed Germans have a special term for a stroll in the open air: " Spaziergang . " Bless them. They have a long word for everything. But we, too, slow down for the holidays. Driving home through North Baltimore, I remember that the pine trees have been there all this time - months, millennia - after outlasting the fall leaves.

Tracy Marcotte scanned a hand-held metal detector across various spots on the base of the Washington Monument as if she were searching for gold. But it was iron she was after. Specifically, she was searching for iron cramps that hold together stones that make up the monument. Marcotte was part of a team from Pennsylvania-based CVM engineers at the monument Saturday assessing the historic structure in preparation for a restoration to begin next spring. The $3 million restoration is the first project in a plan by the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy to make improvements to Mount Vernon Square, which is made up of the monument and four public squares surrounding it. The conservancy was formed to raise money to improve and manage the site.

William Boulton "Bo" Kelly Jr., the Baltimore architect, preservationist and raconteur, led a study in the late 1970s of the Washington Monument, the first civic monument erected to the nation's first president, and perhaps the most emblematic symbol of the city. Kelly died this month at the age of 84 and didn't see the completion of the latest overhaul of the monument, which is currently closed. Kelly had developed a solid reputation as a preservationist when he helped establish Baltimore Heritage in 1960 and, four years later, the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, serving as its first chairman.

WASHINGTON - After months of being closed to the public, the United States' tribute to its first president is about to put out the welcome mat again. The Washington Monument will reopen tomorrow, ending 1 1/2 years of restoration necessitated by aging, an old operating system, and the wear and tear imposed by thousands of visitors each day. The monument - an obelisk 555 feet, 5 1/8 inches tall - attracts 1.2 million visitors annually. The National Park Foundation, a nonprofit partner of the National Park Service, worked with contractors to complete the restoration.

The Mount Vernon Place Conservancy (MVPC) plans to restore and maintain the area generally referred to as "Mount Vernon Place" ("Restoring Mount Vernon," May 14). The restoration work envisioned is naturally divided into two projects. One, the "hardscape" is to repair and maintain the Washington monument, the fencing around the monument, the circular road surrounding the monument, and the balustrades which provide a framework for the monument area. We support the MVPC in their efforts to restore the "hardscape" and wish them success.

Lady Baltimore has withstood much in 189 years perched overlooking Courthouse Square. She has lost both of her arms over the decades — one of them, holding high a wreath that signifies service to the republic, was sheared off by a gust of wind in January 1938, shattering on the pavement. And though it may be hard to tell from the street 52 feet below, wind, rain, snow, hail and pollution have dissolved much of the marble statue's eyes, nose and ears. But a new effort will finally give Lady Baltimore a new home — for her own good.