From Tohoga to Georgetown

The Georgetowner - Real Estate
by Donna Evers

The first documented references to Georgetown are found in a fur trader’s 1632 journal, and tell how he was captured by Native Americans and taken to their village, called Tohoga, situated in the same place as modern day Georgetown. The next big historic event in Georgetown was in 1751, when the British colony of Maryland set up tobacco inspection houses, warehouses, wharves and a port. Gradually, a commercial and residential village grew up around the port. In 1789, the place was named Georgetown, either after King George II, or as some historians say, after the two Georges who sold the land to Maryland.

This ideal locale for a port was the farthest point inland on the Potomac where sea-going ships could dock, and soon rich entrepreneurs began building townhouses there in the style of English port cities. However, there are plenty of negative comments in written records to suggest that the trip from downtown to Georgetown was long and unpleasant. Abigail Adams referred to Georgetown as "that dirty little hole.” This was undoubtedly due to the lack of street lighting and the rough roads which were perpetually ankle-deep in mud.

George Washington liked to socialize and do business at Sutter’s tavern, one of Georgetown’s earliest hangouts. Thomas Jefferson lived in Georgetown when he was Secretary of State. And, when lawyer Francis Scott Key left his home in Georgetown in 1814 to bargain for the release of a friend in British captivity, he spent a harrowing night in the Baltimore harbor watching a major firefight, which became the inspiration for his composition, "The Star Spangled Banner.”

Sadly, the life of Georgetown as a thriving port city came to an end in the late 1800s, when silt filled the harbor and ships couldn’t navigate through the shallow waters. Business died and the village became a depressed slum. At the turn of the last century, while many of the old families stayed in Georgetown, the Gilded Age millionaires preferred to build their mansions above Dupont Circle and on Massachusetts Avenue. Ironically, because Georgetown was bypassed and overlooked for decades, most of the townhouses were kept intact.

In the 1930s, FDR’s administration gave the neighborhood a big boost when he moved in. When John F. Kennedy moved into Georgetown, its popularity as a stylish liberal enclave was firmly established and the rest was history. Georgetown ranks among the most beautiful and pricey neighborhoods of any city in the world and has one more attribute: it is ours to enjoy!