Tag Archives: 20910

The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Silver Spring

Photo courtesy of
‘Downtown Silver Spring’
courtesy of ‘METROgrl’

Most Where We Live features focus on neighborhoods of a couple thousand people, but this week we’re tackling the third most populous place in Maryland: Silver Spring, a community of over 76,000 people. So while half of Montgomery County seems to have Silver Spring mailing addresses (making the city larger than any other city in the state except for Baltimore), we’ll just focus on the urban area of Silver Spring around the Metro station. But that being said there are lots of cool other areas in Silver Spring, from the park-like residential neighborhood of Woodside Park to the urban-suburban blend in Wheaton.  As Dan, author of just up the pike and life-long Silver Spring resident, says, “In Silver Spring, you can go from a busy urban center to pick-your-own farms in just a few miles, all with the same address.”

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The Daily Feed, We Green DC
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Warm Fuzzies and a Party for New Orleans

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On Saturday, a fun fundraising event combines a film and a New Orleans-style party, all to help rebuild a neighborhood damaged by Hurricane Katrina as the nation’s first zero carbon community.

The film is MINE, a powerful story of the essential bond between human and beast set against the backdrop of Katrina. An award winner at the SXSW film festival, it’s at AFI Silver Theatre at 5:45 p.m. A short talk from the producer and a first-responder animal rescuer follows.

At 8 p.m., the party moves to Jackie’s Restaurant, also in Silver Spring, with music, a silent auction, and an optional $10 buffet. A $5 donation is requested at the door.

All proceeds go directly to Historic Green. For two weeks this March in New Orleans, Historic Green will gather hundreds of students and young professionals, who’ll bring energy and ideas to help the people of the Lower Ninth Ward revitalize their community. They’ll meld preservation with sustainability, creating healthier, safer, more livable communities.

Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: Takoma or Takoma Park?

Photo courtesy of
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courtesy of ‘Hoffmann’

Welcome to another edition of DC Mythbusting.  This week we’ll be tackling a myth about nomenclature– is the town on the other edge of the boundary with DC called Takoma or Takoma Park?  If it is Takoma Park (which is the name you hear more often), why on earth is the Metro station just called Takoma?

Because there are two different places– Takoma Park is a city in Maryland, while Takoma is a neighborhood in NW Washington DC.  They’re right next to each other, and they used to both be part of a suburb called Takoma Park, until the District of Columbia grew up to its current boundary.  Takoma Park was founded back in 1883 as a Washington garden suburb with “clean air, pure water, and no mosquitoes.”  The area grew as an attractive estate-filled suburb with streetcar service connecting it to Downtown DC.  In 1890 Takoma Park was incorporated as a town by the Maryland General Assembly. However, the northeast boundary line of Washington DC ran right through what was formerly known as Takoma Park. Pierre L’Enfant probably wouldn’t have been too happy with someone messing with the boundaries of his orderly 10-mile square, so the part of the suburb that was within DC remained under District control.

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