A Wall with a View

Ever since I saw the house five years ago for the very first time, I fell in love with it.

It all started in Feb 2003, After a horrendous snow storm, Old Man Winter was started to pack his bags and head up north to hibernate.

For five days, a record breaking snow storm blanketed DC resulting in over 20 inches of snow.

I was exploring the area in our minivan, just excited that we could finally drive around now that the streets had cleared up.

I stopped at an intersection. What seemed to be quiet a neighborhood turned hectic all of a sudden.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a bunch of kids came up behind me. Within seconds they were all around me, all eight of them -- there was no where I could go.

The kids looked no older than 12. But at this point and time, they were bullies, thugs, and they had held me hostage.

Then they came up in front and started pelting my windshield with twigs and rocks. The branches pelted snapped against my windshield, and there was not much I could do but to keep the door locked and to shift up the moment they would let me go.

Because of the freak incident, I took a turn up a hill, unsure of where it would lead, but for now I was running away from these thugs.

That's when I headed up the hill into a dead end street.

The street offered a beautiful view of a heavily-wooded and secluded park.

When I looked down, I could see the panoramic view of the Capitol, the Washington Monument and the Union Center.

The beautiful view of the US Capitol from the front yard

The view of the museum ship USS Barry (DD-933). Barry was laid down on 1954. During her illustrious almost 30 year career, she participated in the Cuban Missile Crisis as well as operations off the coast of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Barry has deployed with numerous aircraft carriers including Coral Sea and Enterprise.

Since I am by trade a surface warfare officer, with a longing to return back to the Fleet -- perhaps this was the real reason that drew me to this house.

USS Barry's underway replenishment in the Atlantic Ocean, mid-1960's.

Here is the beautiful red-brick house with the lovely, secluded woods in the background.

I had Milton remove the atrocious awnings from the windows -- makes the house open up more and also brings in more light inside.

I also installed a plastic white-picket fence around the front. This served to remedy a DC Housing Authority inspection. But it was a great idea since it not only provided safety, but also improved the cosmetics.

I used Long's Fence as the supplier and Milton Daley as the contractor.

Green Street has a brilliant view. So with the beautiful view from up on the hill and the collapsing side yard that was making it more difficult to walk across, I decided that it would be ideal to build a brick retainer wall, 40 feet long and 4 foot at the highest

The wall became a smash idea. It would cost $5,000, but it would make the yard more retro and more aesthetically appealing.

Milton Daley would do the work -- For four days, he worked hard and the wall looked immaculate.

If you walk alongside this wall, you are offered a splendid view of the Capitol and downtown DC.

** All pictures of the properties were taken by Chito Peppler