WETA TV 26 Presents More Unusual Attractions – The WETA Guide

• New Local Documentary Premieres October 7 at 9 p.m. on WETA TV 26 and WETA HD and Repeats October 10 at 9 p.m. —
  

Washington, D.C. — A new local documentary from WETA TV 26, More Unusual Attractions —The WETA Guide, uncovers more of Greater Washington’s lesser-known landmarks and destinations.  A companion piece to 2007’s Unusual Attractions, the latest production inThe WETA Guide series explores 18 local hidden wonders. This half-hour WETA production premieres Friday, October 7 at 9 p.m. on WETA TV 26 and WETA HD and repeats Monday, October 10 at 9 p.m.

“More Unusual Attractions provides viewers with more exciting places to explore locally,” commented Kevin Harris, vice president and television station manager of WETA. “We are proud to premiere this entertaining showcase of one-of-a-kind attractions in our region.”

The program will introduce new sites to even longtime residents of the region, spotlights intriguing locations in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., and revealing places of interest for all ages. Among others, the documentary divulges where visitors can walk alongside giant dinosaurs, pay tribute to the chivalrous men who died on the Titanic, and climb a bearded giant breaking free from the earth.

The film includes the following quirky places of interest, beautiful escapes and off-the-beaten-path landmarks:

• Acorn Gazebo
• Awakening Statue at National Harbor
• Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia
• Boy Scout Memorial
• Dinosaur Land
• Fireman Monument in Glenwood Cemetery
• Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America
• Globe Water Tank, AKA "earthoid"
• House of the Temple
• Movie Sites Tour of Washington
• National Firearms Museum
• National Museum of Crime and Punishment
• National Pinball Museum
• President Lincoln’s Cottage
• The Maine Lobsterman Statue
• Theodore Roosevelt Island
• Titanic Memorial
• Zero Milestone

More Unusual Attractions follows the tradition of previous programs in The WETA Guide series such as The WETA Guide to Montgomery County and The WETA Guide to Christmas (available for streaming at weta.org) by spotlighting special places and happenings in the region.

The complete WETA television schedule is available at weta.org. Viewers can watch WETA TV 26 over the air on channel 26.4, and on Comcast 26 and 267, Cox 26 and 802, Dish 8076, FiOS 26 and 471, and RCN 164. WETA HD is available over the air on channel 26.1, and on Comcast 220, Cox 1026, FiOS 526, Direct TV 26 and 26-1, and RCN 613.

WETA Television and Classical WETA 90.9 FM are public broadcasting stations serving the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia with high-quality programming. Classical WETA 90.9 FM brings classical music, concerts and specials to Greater Washington. As the leading PBS station in the nation’s capital, WETA Television broadcasts on four channels: WETA TV 26, WETA HD, WETA Kids and WETA Create. WETA Television celebrates the people and history of this region through programs such as WETA All Access, WETA Around Town and WETA Extras. For national PBS audiences, WETA produces PBS NewsHour; Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal; history films by Ken Burns such as Prohibition, premiering this October; and performance specials from the White House, the U.S. Capitol and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Embracing the educational mission of public broadcasting, WETA creates leading public service websites such as www.ReadingRockets.org, www.LDOnline.org, www.ColorinColorado.org,www.AdLit.org and www.Brainline.org; and develops community outreach programs to engage people of all ages in the joy of lifelong learning. WETA’s headquarters is located in Arlington, Virginia. Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO. More information on WETA and its programs and services is available at www.weta.org.

National Capital Trolley Museum Rises Out Of Ashes - Larger and More Engaging

If you have never been to the National Capital Trolley Museum, either because you thought it went up in smoke years ago from a devasting fire (it did), or you've never visited it because you weren't aware of it - now is an  opportune time to visit one of the countries premiere trolley museums. 

It's a great way to entertain children as well as older adults who recall the trolleys that operated in their home towns. Full trolley operations have resumed at the recently opened National Capital Trolley Museum's new and enlarged facilities in Northwest Branch Park near its previous location. Permanent displays, video presentations, a model of the Chevy Chase trolley line, Street Car Hall, a gift shop and unlimited trolley rides through the park await the visitor.

I was really impressed at the size and new features of the museum, for example, in the lobby, there is a model of the Chevy Chase trolley line.  It is a scale working model that kids can operate, and the adult can enjoy the evocative scenes of this primary route, Dupont Circle, the Woodley Park Bridge and other landmarks from this bygone trolley artery.  My 4 year old son delighted in setting the trolley in motion with an easy to operate lever and followed the car as it made it's round trip.  The bookstore is larger and filled with models, books, and other trolley ephemera.  The addition of a small movie theater is also a great way to wait prior to going on actual ride.

Each half hour or so, the conductor makes the announcement in the lobby letting everyone milling about know that they can get ready to board.  Getting my son pried away from the model railroad was a chore at this point.  Finally, our ride on the street car was the living interpretation of bygone days - a ride into the woods as Maryland and Virginia would have looked more than 100 years ago when the first electrical street cars went out beyond Washington DC city limits.

The street car ride itself circles through Northwest Branch Park right next to the new ICC which you can see soaring over the old site of the museum.  While you won't get a full "urban" experience, the ride covers interesting terrain and as the conductor will note, this mode of transportation allowed people outside of the city limits to make their way into town.

The museum's mission is to collect and preserve objects related to the electric railway systems of the region and to use these objects to interpret the role of these transportation systems in the growth and development of the region and the impact of this technology on people's everyday lives.  That's the other neat new feature, an actual tour of the collection of cars, from those in working condition to others that need extensive renovation.

Although brand new in 2009, the Visitor Center evokes street car history in some of the design features of the building and the car houses, taking the visitor back into the times when the building, operation, and maintenance of street car systems occupied a substantial portion of the nation's workforce. Some of our oldest communities, such as my home, Takoma Park, were actually the first suburbs - cool oases far away from the center of the hot humid city (when transportation was by foot or horseback) - developed by entrepreneurs who not only sold the land for the homes but built the street car lines to get people and goods back and forth.


The Main Hall provides several glimpses back into history, about the street car's influence on various local communities, about the ubiquity of the street car in urban environments as portrayed in early movies, and a working model of street cars, automobiles, and pedestrians in Chevy Chase during the 1930's.

Check the museum website for complete information: www.dctrolley.org

The National Capital Trolley Museum

1313 Bonifant Road

Colesville,, MD 20905

(facility is accessible to the disabled)

Fees for Museum Entry and Street Car Rides are collected by the cashier at the entrance to the Vistor Center.
Phone: 301-384-8066
Price: $5.00 to $7.00
Open Saturdays & Sundays
12 N - 5 pm

A Mountain For Any Season - Sugarloaf

Sugerloaf Mountain is a unique treasure which sits alone among the unspoiled landscape of Western Montgomery Co., roughly between Washington and Frederick Maryland.  It's unique in several ways, the first being geologic. Sugarloaf is a monadnock, a mountain that remains after the erosion of the surrounding land, in this case a 14 million year process. The stony cliffs on the summit are composed primarily of quartzite, the predominant type of rock on the mountain.


This natural treasure offers something for the avid hiking enthusiast who can start at the base and make the nearly thousand foot ascent to the top via a series of trail options or by those who either through inability or lets face it, laziness, can drive up to several parking areas near the summit which afford some of the best views anyway.  I've been up in all seasons and depending on the time of year there can be a fair amount of traffic but never at levels that dimish the enchanting qualities of the place. 

It's at it's best in late spring when there's a hint of warm air and the wild flowers are in bloom but my best hike took place years ago with my buddy Greg.  For some crazed reason we decided on a winter hike and made it to the summit just in time for a snow squall, moderate but giving us a rare sense of intermingling fully with the environment.  We had enough room for a beer in each pocket (I discovered while researching this that alcohol is not permitted - ooops) when we reached the top and toasted our efforts the beer tasted like ambrosia (Warsteiner endorsement).  We must have been just loopy enough (reason for no alcohol) to manage to get lost for awhile on the descent, the sun was rapidly setting and we were way off course.  We were lost and while not at the point of panic, we did have some concern of becoming two Darwin Award winners.  Needless to say we found our way out just as an inky gloaming extinguised the final rays of light. 

I still keep finding my way back to this nearby treasure.  The whole surrounding area is filled with enough points of interest to make up several of my next postings on their own merit.  This is the part of Montgomery County that is the rally cry of all who want to preserve this area in it's bucolic state.

History

Sugarloaf came by its name because its shape reminded early hunters and pioneers of the sugar loaves common in those days. A Swiss explorer, in 1707, sketched the earliest known map of the mountain. A written account, penned five years later, described a plain atop the mountain and the delicious chestnuts grown by the trees on its flanks. General Braddock, commander of Brittish troops during the French and Indian War, marched his men past the mountain in 1755. Northern and Southern forces alternated in posting lookouts at its summit during the Civil War. Brave wounded and dying soldiers were hospitalized in a log cabin that still stands at the mountain's foot.

Another unique aspect is the fact that it's a privatly run entitiy and not part of the State or National Park System. This was made possible by the vision and persistance of a remarkable couple, Gordon and Louise Strong. For years prior to their deaths, they purposefully gained ownership of the many tracts making up the present property. They created a private organization, Stronghold, Incorporated, in 1946, to ensure that the mountain would continue to serve their purpose of making natural beauty available to all.

Gordon Strong believed that "... those who appreciate natural beauty will be better people, people who treat each other better." I certainly get that feeling standing at the summit and savor the view of the Monocacy Valley and the mountains to the West.

Directions from Washington -

Go North on Route I-270 to the Hyattstown exit, circle under I-270 and continue on Route 109 to Comus, then right on Comus Road to the Sugarloaf Mountain entrance.