A Fine House In the Woods

A Fine House In the Woods. Tour of Duty. , Since 1936 Friendship House, across the street, has operated an array of social service programs from this grand Federal style house, also known as "The Maples." Friendship House is the city's oldest such agency. It was founded in 1904 by Adelaide Rochefort and Ida Green in rented rooms at Tenth and M Streets, SE.

The Maples was built in 1795 to showcase Captain William Mayne Duncanson, a wealthy trader who invested heavily in Washington real estate and entertained lavishly. When he built this house, stables, and slave quarters, the area was undeveloped. After a visit, George Washington wrote of the Maples as a "fine house in the woods."

By 1800, however, Duncanson's high life had ended with the failure of his businesses, and he was forced to move. The property stood vacant until 1814, when the U.S. Army made it a hospital during the Battle of Bladensburg. In 1815 Francis Scott Key, author of The Star Spangled Banner, purchased and restored the property.

Later owners included Major Augustus A. Nicholson, quartermaster general of the Marines, who purchased the Maples in 1838 and made it an unofficial Marine headquarters and social center until 1846. In 1872 Emily Edson Briggs, a pioneering woman journalist, purchased the Maples. Briggs wrote a gossipy Washington column signed "Olivia" and was the first woman to receive White House press credentials. In 1936, Briggs's heirs sold the Maples to an anonymous buyer who donated it to Friendship House.