The Paving Stone Archaeological Site / The L'Enfant Plan

The Paving Stone Archaeological Site, also, The L'Enfant Plan. Virginia Avenue, SE. Diagonal Virginia Avenue, SE and rectangular Virginia Avenue Park are two of the many features that characterize the L'Enfant Plan. Eventually, cut granite block paving stones were installed on Virginia Avenue, SE and most likely due to the post-Civil War roadway improvements (1870s) implemented by DC Governor Alexander Robey "Boss" Shepherd., In 2009, intact segments of the cut granite block-paved Virginia Avenue, SE were encountered east of 11th Street, SE beneath two feet of fill. The cut granite block paving stones were dry laid and averaged 4 inches by 12 inches in size and 6 inches in height. A segment of smaller blue scoria brick was found on the south side of the stone-paved roadwday. The blue scoria brick were made from slag, a by-product of the iron melting process, in Middlesbrough, England in 1872. The first shimpement of scoria brick arrived in Washington, DC, in 1910., In 2015, more extensive intact segments of the granite paving stones were uncovered at depths down to 5 feet below grade. Some segments were underlain with large wood beams in the wetter areas to prevent the paving stones from sinking into the mud. Recorded as the Virginia Avenue Paving Site (archaeological site 51SE062), the segments extended about 650 feet cast from 11th STreet, SE along the original road alignment established by L'Enfant., Although Virginia Avenue, SE did not extend through Virginia Avenue Park, a segment of the 1870s granite paving has been reconstructed here to provide both past and present perspectives on road alignment and vista originally conceived by L'Enfant., [Reverse] , The L'Enfant Plan , Virginia Avenue, SE, The design for the street grid for the City of Washington, DC was based upon the baroque L'Enfant Plan, developed and drafted by Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant (1754-1825), a French engineer who served in the Revolutionary War. After the war, President George Washington granted a request by L'Enfant to develop a plan for the new capital city. Inspired by the gardens at the Palace of Versailles, L'Enfant proposed an orthogonal grid of north-south streets (with numbers as their names) and east-west streets (with letters as their names). A series of diagonal avenues (named after states of the union such as Virginia Avenue) were superimposed over the grid., The diagonal avenues were aligned with monuments and landmark buildings creating important vistas. The middle portion of the plan contained ceremonial parks and green spaces with the United States Capitol Building at the center point. The major meeting points of the orthogonal and diagonal streets contain monumental circles. Numerous small triangular-shaped parks and reservations occur at other intersections., The L'Enfant Plan was completed gradually over a period of more than one hundred years. In 1901-1902, the McMillan Commission Plan proposed changes to the Mall while respecting the L'Enfant Plan. Together these two plans are referred to collectively as "The Plan of the City of Washington."