What We Do
Explore Washington, D.C. with us!
Clockwise from top right: Laying wreaths at the Soldiers’ Home Cemetery, Helping with Ladies’ Night at the Washington VA Medical Center, Carrying the flag in the Independence Day Parade, Touring the Frederick Douglas National Historic Home, Honoring veterans at the Vietnam Women’s Memorial, Helping with the DAR Headquarters Holiday open house, Touring Anderson House, Celebrating a member’s 50th year of service at our holiday tea at Hillwood House
Bringing History to Life
Mary Desha Daughters are distinguished by their curiosity about history and culture. Many of our meetings involve experiencing the rich history of the Washington, D.C. region. Previously we have visited Lincoln’s Cottage, the Frederick Douglas Home, the National Museum of the U.S. Navy, the African-American Civil War Museum, and many other sites, museums, and historic homes.
Friendship through Service
Service is at the heart of everything we do. We participate in a variety of projects each year to help throughout the area. Many of our service activities involve education, conservation, and assisting veterans and active duty military. That is just a partial list, however. We’re always looking for new projects we could be involved in!
Write you own DAR Story
The truly great thing about our chapter is that you can be involved in any way you want. There are plenty of leadership opportunities if that’s your thing, but you’re also welcome to simply come to a meeting or two every year.
DAR also features dozens of committees for you to participate in, covering everything from genealogical research to conservation, service to veterans to helping DAR members with technology.
Join us and find out how you can make your DAR experience unique to you!
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.