From Frank Finamore (Executive Director, Cleveland & Woodley Park Village)...
On Friday, August 30th, we’ve arranged an excursion to the National Capital Trolley Museum in Colesville, Maryland. I try to go to one session of an activity each year and so I’m excited to join this this particular tour. What draws me to see the trolleys are some great family stories. My father was a third-generation Washingtonian who grew up on Pennsylvania Avenue, SE just a few steps from what was then Barney Circle.
The street cars ran along the avenue in what is now the oversized, grassy median strip. A favorite story is one where my father, aged 11, was standing outside of the Penn Theatre, between 6th and 7th Streets on Pennsylvania Avenue, smoking a cigarette! What he didn’t see was his mother was passing by on the street car. When he got home, she made him immediately empty his pockets, from which loose tobacco fell to the floor. It would be years before his mother would say how she knew of his shenanigans. She figured she needed him to think she was all-knowing, given is devilish behaviors!
Then, there was the time that my mother, in her young twenties, was taking my two oldest sisters, likely 4 and 2, to her in-laws’ home, and the driver wouldn’t let them on because he thought my mother, at just 4 foot 10 inches tall, was a kid too!
So, for me, seeing the old trolleys is a bit like being a part of a world I’ve never experienced, but have heard so much about. Let’s hope I meet any height requirement at the museum!
I hope you’ll consider joining us on Friday and share some of your own family or trolley stories with the group. Other opportunities for a fun time this coming week are the Americana concert on Saturday at 4pm at Rosedale Conservancy, Coffee & Conversation on Monday at 11 at Dolan in Cleveland Park, and of course, our Ice Cream Social on Wednesday at 2pm at All Souls Episcopal.
— Frank Finamore, Executive Director
PS You’ve already heard this from me or already knew it, but here’s a brief article from Harvard Medical School that says that “older adults who interacted with people beyond their usual social circle of family and close friends were more likely to have higher levels of physical activity, greater positive moods, and fewer negative feelings.” See the article here to find out why this is so! And then commit to joining us for an activity soon – like this coming week!
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