When The Maples was built at 630 South Carolina Ave. SE in 1795, its owner, William Mayne Duncanson, a British Army officer, could look from his house down to the Anacostia River to see ships sailing along the river. Francis Scott Key bought the house in 1815. In 1838, it was purchased by Major Augustus A. Nicholson, and in 1856 by Delaware Senator John M. Clayton, who added a ballroom. Emily Edson Briggs (1830-1910), one of the first woman journalists, covered the Civil War in a series of letters from “Olivia,” her pen name. In 1871, she bought the entire square including the house and lived there for 40 years.

During the last years of her life, her son, John Edson Briggs, began selling lots in Square 875 for development. After Friendship House, which had operated a settlement house on the property since 1937, closed in 2010, The Maples was sold and is now part of a condominium, duplex and townhouse development. The original house, early wings and stable were restored and new construction held to the sides of the property.

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For more information on these historic sites, go to the restoration society’s web page for the walking tour at http://chrs.org/historic-sites-tour-2020/

Best to view in "Original" because other versions resized by Pbase are decidedly unsharp.

Another lily spider, posted earlier: