Hank Silverberg, wtop.com
ARLINGTON, Va. – It’s a busy intersection that thousands of motorists drive by every day. But a spot near the Chain Bridge in Arlington also played a key role in American history.
On Aug. 24, 1814, with the British invading the young country’s new capital at Washington, key documents of the United States were in danger.
That’s when a State Department clerk named Stephen Pleasonton suggested that the Declaration of Independence, correspondence from George Washington and other documents be spirited out of Washington.
“His superiors and the military officials that he was dealing with were saying, ‘They’re not coming to Washington, don’t worry about it,'” says local history buff Steve Dryden.
But Dryden says Pleasonton was not convinced and took the documents to an old grist mill in Arlington, where Chain Bridge Road and Glebe Road now meet right under a George Washington Memorial Parkway overpass.
“This has not been memorialized in the past just because it was not exactly a glorious moment in American history,” says Dryden.
An historical marker noting the site’s significance has now been unveiled at the beginning of the Pimmit Run Trail.
Dryden says the Declaration of Independence and other documents were only there overnight, but were safe as the British burned Washington. The papers were moved to Leesburg the next day to secure their survival.
Historical sites like this are getting more attention as the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 approaches next year.
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