#anacostia

Landscapes of Literature: Frederick Douglass at Cedar Hill 

At the Washington, D.C. home where Frederick Douglass lived from 1877 until his death in 1895, his relationships to language and to the landscape continue to come alive.  

In the home known as Cedar Hill, bookcases line several walls of thelibraryaround the heavy wooden desk where Douglass read and wrote. 

What books and booklets were in Frederick Douglass’s collection? Find a list of items in the NPS collection.  

A walkway from the back of the house leads to a cozy windowless retreat, where Douglass kept a second desk filled with books and paper to write, read, and quietly contemplate. He called the structure the “Growlery,” a title used by characters of several Dickens novels to describe “a retreat for times of ill humour.” In the comfortable sanctuary of his Growlery, Douglass was able to study and write in peace. Once draped in vines and surrounded by fragrant shrubs, the structure is also thought to have fulfilled Douglass’s desire to work in a natural setting. 

Photograph taken in the 1930s looking south from the historic house. Frederick Douglass’s Growlery (left) and barn (right) are visible, and a clothesline stretches between two trees over the backyard (NPS / Frederick Douglass National Historic Site). 

Every year, the NPS hosts an oratorical contest in the auditorium at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site for students in grades 1-12. The goal of the contest is for students to experience the same transformative power of language that Frederick Douglass experienced as a young man. 

This year’s contest will be held on December 6-7, 2019, and students from across the country are invited to apply. 

The house and surroundings of Cedar Hill, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (NPS).

Discover More

• Frederick Douglass National Historic Site website
• Cedar Hill: Frederick Douglass’s Rustic Sanctuary
• Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Cultural Landscape Inventory
• Frederick Douglass National Historic Site Landscape Preservation Maintenance Plan

Additional image information can be found in NPGallery.

This month, we are exploring a few of the NPS cultural landscapes associated with writers and writing. Catch any you missed or add your own favorites with #literarylandscapes

Mae’s Bus Driver

N.A.S. Anacostia

circa 1940’s-50’s

[Breckenridge Family Album]

©WaheedPhotoArchive, 2013