2000©Mary Quattlebaum – all rights reserved
Special to
paved path to Glen Echo Park, another NPS
site, and take a whirl on the historic carousel.
The Washington Post
April 28, 2000
CLARA BARTON HOUSE
by Mary Quattlebaum
Clara Barton was no sanctimonious miss.
Brave, cantankerous, ambitious, this Civil
War "Angel of the Battlefield" founded the
American Red Cross in 1881 and ran it for 23
years, well into her eighties. Extrememly shy
as a child, Barton commanded top fees ($75 to
$100) on the lecture circuit with luminaries
like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Mark Twain.
She also dyed her hair, hung a painting of her
cat Tommy in her dining room and spelled her
first word--"artichoke"--at the age of three.
At the Clara Barton National Historic Site in
Glen Echo, kids get a glimpse of the
personable, sometimes paradoxical woman
often set high on a pedestal. The rambling
three-story yellow house, actually a
remodelled warehouse, served both as ARC
headquarters and Barton's private residence
for the last 15 years of her life. Tomorrow it
celebrates 25 years as a National Park Service
site, the first dedicated to a woman, with
presentations, an afternoon reception and a
lamplit program during extended hours.
Evening visitors can also stroll down a short,
The house itself is full of "cool, old stuff,"
from the 103-year-old muslin tacked to the
ceiling to the high-heeled, high-button
women's shoes positioned primly on a
bedroom floor. The house is also full of
closets.
According to volunteer guide
Dorothy Carns, Barton needed more than 40
of these hidey-holes to store supplies for
ARC's disaster relief efforts. On the Saturday
I visited, Carns pointed out their usual
location behind the dark wood paneling and
opened one to reveal tidy shelves loaded with
unbleached muslin strips (bandages), wool
blankets, tin eating utensils, lanterns and jugs
of wine and spirits (used for medicinal
purposes).
Through doors marked with the familiar red
cross symbol, and next to the cozy dining
room, is ARC's first permanent headquarters.
Kids accustomed to today's home offices will
relate to Barton's mixing of the personal and
professional. ARC's office boasts the turn-ofthe-century equivalent of fax machines and
laptop computers:
a telegraph service,
typewriters, pens and even a voice-recording
graphophone, quite pricey at $125. As part of
her tour, Carns shows enlarged black-andwhite period photos, including one of the
indomitable Barton seated at her large, cubbydotted desk.
Barton's bedroom on the second floor holds
another desk, piled with books and papers.
When not ministering or administrating
Barton seems to have been writing: three
books, numerous letters and reports, and
2000©Mary Quattlebaum – all rights reserved
dozens of poems. She even kept a pen and
paper beside her bed should inspiration strike
at night. "You have never known me without
work and you never will," Barton once said of
herself. She liked to rise at 5 a.m. and begin
running the carpet sweeper at 6, thus noisily
rousing the household of up to 20 volunteers,
who worked 12 to 14 hours a day in the office
or outdoors tending fruit trees and livestock.
In their few leisure hours volunteers read
poetry and played cards in the back parlor,
where a table and overstuffed chairs are now
arranged for a convivial card game.
The attics are a delightful jumble of lateVictorian furniture. Kids will have a good
time discovering the old-fashioned high chair,
wheel chair and sewing machine amongst the
curlicue-rich rockers and couches. ARC
stored this furniture against its time of need by
survivors of disasters such as the 1900
hurricane in Galveston, Texas, which claimed
more than 6,000 lives and destroyed nearly
every home on the island.
Since Barton is a popular subject for school
reports and women's history projects, Carns
ends her tour close to the small bookstore
where young visitors can browse biographies
and histories of the Civil War and late-19thcentury America. Families can then explore
the grounds on their own. The azaleas, fogetme-nots, dogwood and redbud should be in
full bloom this time of year, with swathes of
green lawn just begging for a somersault.
Soothed by birdsong, families may well feel,
as did Barton: "All seems so home-like,
spring-like ... and peaceful that I wonder what
can draw me away again."
SUGGESTED READING
"CLARA BARTON," produced by the
National Park Handbook Series (ages 10 and
up, 1981, $7.50). Period photos, a concise
biography and a history of the house in Glen
Echo make this an excellent resource.
"CLARA BARTON: CIVIL WAR
NURSE," by Nancy Whitelaw (ages 7 to 12,
Enslow, 1997, $19.95). An illuminating,
well-organized biography, with numerous
photos and fascinating sidebars.
"YOUNG
CLARA
BARTON:
BATTLEFIELD NURSE," by Sarah Alcott,
illustrated by Benrei Huang (ages 3 to 7,
Troll, 1996, $3.50). This biography for young
children looks at Barton's childhood and how
it shaped her work as an adult.
CLARA
BARTON
NATIONAL
HISTORIC SITE--5801 Oxford Rd., Glen
Echo.
301/492-6245.
Web site:
www.nps.gov/clba. Open daily 10 to 5 except
Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's
Day. Free. House shown by guided tour
only. Tours start on the hour and last 30 to 45
minutes. Reservations required for groups of
more than 10; call 301/492-6245. Families
can picnic on the grounds at two picnic tables
but the nearest concession stands are located
at Glen Echo Park, on the other side of the
parking lot. The special programs below are
suitable for families; call for times.
Saturday--An open house throughout the
day, with presentations and reception from 3
to 5 p.m. A lamplit program, 7 to 9 p.m.,
features special artifacts highlighting Barton's
achievements. Visitors can also follow the
paved path to Glen Echo Park where the
historic carousel will run from 8 to 10 p.m.
2000©Mary Quattlebaum – all rights reserved
($.50 per ride, all ages) and the Strauss Ball
will be held in the Spanish Ballroom from 9 to
midnight ($10 per person, adults only, formal
attire suggested).
of
100th
June
(TBA)--Celebration
anniversary of incorporation of American Red
Cross.
July (TBA)--Hands-on exhibits allow kids to
experience an early 20th century home and
office.
Aug. 19--Program explores Barton's search
for Civil War missing soldiers and her work at
Andersonville Prison.
Sept. 10--Celebration of 100th anniversary of
ARC relief efforts following the hurricane and
tidal wave in Galveston, Texas.
Oct. 21--Lamplit program, 7 to 9 p.m.
Nov. 25, 26; Dec. 2, 3, 9, 10--Workshops on
making Victorian Christmas decorations.
Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Reservations required; call 301/492-6245.
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