Life on the Park ,
bears the name of Francis Marion, the celebrated South Carolina state senator ( - ) who earned the moniker “Swamp Fox” for his brilliant stealth tactics against the British dur- ing the Revolutionary War. Dorothy Hawkins grew up beside the park in E Street, next door to her grandfather William Owens,a policeman who lived in and was sta- tioned at the Fifth Precinct across the park (now Substation -D- ).William also served at the White House.As a child in the s,Dorothy would take a table and chairs to the park for tea parties under the trees. On the corner at Sixth Street is the former James Carbery House.Carbery served as a Navy Yard architect and engineer,and as an elected city Common Councilman ( - ).He purchased the Federal style house in and lived there until his death.After Carbery’s heirs sold the house in ,the tower was added and the roof- line was altered.Before Carbery purchased the house, it was owned by Robert Alexander, architect of Christ Church,who lived there and later rented it to his friend and colleague,architect Benjamin H. Latrobe. The church and parsonage across the park were designed in for Mt.Jezreel Baptist Church by Calvin T.S. Brent, the first African American archi- tect to practice in Washington. Built by freed slaves,the church is one of seven he designed,of which only three remain.It now houses Pleasant Lane Baptist Missionary Church.
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