{"id":16519,"date":"2019-11-25T11:00:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T16:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=16519"},"modified":"2022-10-26T14:47:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T18:47:12","slug":"who-was-here-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2019\/11\/25\/who-was-here-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Was Here First"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) sits on the southeast corner of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Although it began in 1836, the NLM has only been located in Bethesda since 1961, when a new building<\/a> was built for the library. So, who was there first?<\/p>\n

At the time of the first European explorations, what is now Bethesda was a heavily forested area with a stream. Native Americans were present in the area, traveling and hunting, though no known Native American settlements existed precisely where NLM sits today.<\/p>\n

In the early 18th century, the land was made part of two landgrants<\/a> to Thomas Fletchall in 1715 and by 1783 most of the land had been cleared, probably for tobacco farming.<\/p>\n

The land was then owned by Robert Peter, one of the wealthiest men in Montgomery County and the first mayor of Georgetown. Robert\u2019s son, Thomas<\/a>, married Martha Parke Custis<\/a>, the granddaughter of Martha Washington. Their Georgetown home, Tudor Place<\/a>, still stands.<\/p>\n

In 1873, Thomas and Martha\u2019s granddaughter, Martha Custis Kennon, along with her husband and second cousin, Armistead Peter, inherited the Bethesda land and built a summer home called Winona on this site. Armistead was a physician and oversaw a smallpox hospital during the Civil War.<\/p>\n

\"Armistead <\/a>
Armistead Peter 1840-1902 Portrait, Courtesy of Tudor Place Foundation, Inc., Washington D.C. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Portrait <\/a>
Martha Custis Kennon 1843-1886 Portrait, Courtesy of Tudor Place Foundation, Inc., Washington, D.C. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

After Armistead Peter’s death in 1902, the land was divided among his four surviving children. One son, Beverley Kennon Peter, inherited the house and the surrounding 116 acres. Another son, George Freeland Peter, built a summer home on his part of the inherited land in 1930. That structure is now called the Stone House<\/a> and is a part of NIH, housing the Fogarty International Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From the mid-nineteenth century the families of three brothers, Joseph, Madison, and Henry Gingle (or Gingell) lived near the small brook just south of the NLM site. Madison and his wife Artemesia called their farm, Woodmont, which gave its name to nearby Woodmont Avenue. An 1879 map shows Henry Gingle living in a house near the brook, but by the twentieth century, that house had disappeared.<\/p>\n

Several members of the Gingle family, including Madison and Artemesia, are buried in the small graveyard by the Bethesda Church, just north of the NIH campus.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/a>
G.M. Hopkins. Atlas of Fifteen Miles Around Washington, Including the County of Montgomery Maryland<\/em>. Philadelphia, 1879
Courtesy of Montgomery County Historical Society<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1921, the Town and Country Club, founded by members of Washington’s German\u2013Jewish community, purchased the home called Winona from the children of Armistead and Martha Peter. The club had reached a membership of 250 and started looking for more spacious quarters outside of the District.<\/p>\n

When first purchased, Winona was \u201can old, run-down country house, complete with a tuneless grand piano\u201d in Bethesda, but extensive renovations turned the Georgian brick house into a white columned mansion. The surrounding land was transformed into a nine-hole golf course that could become an eighteen-hole course by playing from a second set of tees.<\/p>\n

In 1930 the club officially became Woodmont Country Club<\/a> and hosted social events such as formal dinners, summer dances, and golf matches.<\/p>\n