Word: monumental
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Cambridge dedicated ten tons of granite to the maintenance of a myth. The Washington Monument in the Common near Agassiz crowns a century's debate over the Washington Elm legend. It was under this Elm that George Washington supposedly took command of the Continental Army in 1773. This account, however, holds up little better than the Elm itself which rotted away thirty years...
...monument shows Washington on horseback with sword in hand, facing the ranks of the Continental Army. Here under the Elm, he legend asserts, he declared himself Commander-in-Chief. This is borne out by a diary describing that historical day. "Discovered" just in time for Cambridge's centennial, the diary depicts the whole episode, minus a few frills. But historians have since proved this account a forgery, written to document the celebration. Actual accounts paint a different picture of the day. The Continental troops, sick and ragged, were entrenched at the other end of Cambridge, unable to march. Washington himself...
...many Cambridge citizens, this market was not enough. In 1946 they formed the Washington Elm Memorial Committee and began to lobby for a fitting memento. After years of futile effort, they swing official Cambridge to their cause and, in 1950, the monument was built. On July third, after a two hour parade, the monument was dedicated, followed by the annual fireworks. since then, each year on Washington's Birthday, two American Legion posts and a Coast Guard color guard march through the Commons, leaving a wreath on the monument. This year the wreath was stolen a few hours after they...
Official red taps also complicated the expedition's work. The site is a protected national monument and the French Government authorization was required to take the excavated materials out of France. In addition, the site is located only a few feet from a main highway and hordes on curious motorists soon descended on the area to direct the archaeologists, in their work...
Columnist Gordon longs for the old days when embassy staffs were small and Washington's select social group stood out like the monument. Says she: "It really isn't society anymore." Nevertheless. Evie has adjusted herself to the new social bureaucracy, nowadays frequently prints items about such relative newcomers as Hostesses Perle Mesta and Gwen Cafritz. While Evie Gordon travels among the elite, the bulk of her public-and some of her best sources-are such people as doormen and automobile callers at Washington receptions. One denizen of the social world once said to her: "Oh Evie, somebody...