In an otherwise empty field at the National Arboretum in Washington, DC, there are twenty-two massive Corinthian sandstone columns that were a part of the US Capitol’s east portico from 1828 to 1958.
When the Capitol dome, familiar to us all, was completed decades earlier in the 1860s, it made the original columns appear too slender and inadequately supported the enlarged construction. To fix this, an addition was built on the east side, requiring the removal and replacement of the columns.
During the 1980s, Arboretum benefactor Ethel Garrett took up the cause of establishing a permanent home for the columns. Her close friend and landscape designer, Russell Page, visited the Arboretum in September 1984, deciding that the east side of the Ellipse Meadow would be an ideal location, as the columns would be in scale with the more than 20 acres of open field.
The columns were relocated to this site and set on a foundation of steps that were initially on the Capitol’s east side. Although drained when I was there in December, a reflecting pool, when filled, mirrors the columns.
Sometimes referred to as the American Acropolis, the original Acropolis in Athens dates back 2,500 years, while these columns are a mere 197 years young. Yet at first sight, the twenty-two pillars evoke an immediate sense of history.
Structures like the Athens Acropolis are often called “ruins.” The same might be said for the Capitol Columns. I thought they were beautiful. They may not stand under the Capitol dome but they still stand for something.
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