199 years ago — Peter Charles L’Enfant died

“Plagued by financial troubles his entire life, L’Enfant died a poor man at the age of 71 on June 14, 1825.“

Peter Charles L’Enfant died June 14, 1825 at William Dudley Digges’ farm, Green Hill, near what is now West Hyattsville. The site is now Chillum Castle Manor. L’Enfant was buried at the farm. Digges’ grandson James Dudley Morgan gave a poetic description of the gravesite:

“It was a lonely and unmarked grave more than six feet in length. A graceful, red cedar, drawing its vigorous life from the very earth which enveloped the ashes of the neglected Frenchman, his sole monument for eighty-four years, swaying and whispering with every breeze, carried the inspiration of his genius into never-ending requiem, while its pungent odor served as perpetual incense. “Nature, more generous than man, had drawn over the lonely mound a mantle of myrtle, like a pall of perennial green.”

James Dudley Morgan. “The Reinterment of Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant.” Records of the Columbia Historical Society. 1910, Vol. 13, (1910), pp. 119-125.

Eighty four years later, April 28, 1909, the remains were disinterred. It was placed in the vault at Mount Olivet Cemetery, then lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda, followed by services at Arlington Cemetery. Two years later President William Howard Taft presided over the dedication of the memorial. Monument and marble dealer Michael J. Falvey erected the memorial.

A rarely-mentioned cenotaph has been erected at Green Hill. Green Hill is now the events facility for the Catholic Apostolate Center and home to the Pallottine Fathers and Brothers. Green Hill is located at 2009 Van Buren St., West Hyattsville MD, 20782.

http://allenbrowne.blogspot.com/2013/12/lenfant-was-buried-here.html

References:

https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/pierre-lenfant/

https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Explore/Notable-Graves/Science-Technology-Engineering/Pierre-Charles-LEnfant

Then & Now: Digging up the dead at Dudley Digges’ farm

https://www.amrevmuseum.org/virtualexhibits/among-his-troops/pages/green-hill

https://www.catholicapostolatecenter.org/green-hill.html