What We Do
In the Mary Desha Chapter we aim to find creative and fun ways to experience the history and culture of Washington D.C. while steadfastly serving our local area.
Our emphasis is on variety and finding ways to keep all of our members involved. If you’re looking for friends to visit local sites with and ways to give back to your community, we hope you’ll join us!
See the best of DC and the surrounding region with fellow history nerds
Some of the local sites we’ve seen in the past:
Lincoln’s Cottage | Frederick Douglas Home | National Museum of the U.S. Navy | African-American Civil War Museum | Lorton Workhouse & Museum | National Portrait Gallery | Octogon House | Kennedy Center
And some of the places we’ve gone in the region:
Valley Forge | Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Historic Park | George Washington’s Ferry Fam | Harper’s Ferry | Winterthur Estate
Get involved, help others, and build life-long friendships in the process
We’re involved in many projects around the three pillars of DAR, Patriotism, Education, and Historic Preservation, including the following organizations:
DC VA Hospital | City Wildlife Rescue | Washington English Center | Rock Creek Conservancy | Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
The District of Columbia Boundary Stones
In 1791 and 1792, a series of 40 boundary stones were placed along the border of the newly-created District of Columbia. Today, 36 of these stones survive and are the oldest federally placed monuments in the United States.
A unique feature of the D.C. State Society of the DAR is that we are fortunate to be the caretakers of these unique monuments. The DAR began putting fences around the monument in 1915, and today each chapter is assigned a boundary stone. Our chapter was assigned Northwest No. 6, located on Western Avenue near Friendship Heights. We keep the area looking nice, replanting and weeding when needed, and also work with the local parks department and professional conservators to keep our boundary stone in good shape.
