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streets and a domeless Capitol.
"I've always loved combining history and
theater," says Zanin, who founded the performing tour troupe last year
after extensive experience leading children's programs at Washington's historic Heurich House
(now closed).
With Historic Strolls, the facts are never
ponderous. Zanin spices her five 90-minute themed tours with scavenger
hunts, historic games, period illustrations and humorous details about
our nation's capital. Kid-intriguing themes include Washington ghosts, old-fashioned
theater, the Civil War, novelist Charles Dickens and 19th-century
crime. Each tour is led by a costumed interpretive guide and features
mini-performances at key spots. Kids might meet Walt Whitman or Clara
Barton. Even miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge of "A Christmas Carol"
appears during holiday tours in honor of his English creator, Dickens,
who twice visited Washington.
On a recent muggy Saturday, Zanin donned hoopskirt and hair snood for
"Courage! The Civil War in Washington." In her role as the
garrulous Demetria Parish, she apologized for the chilly wind and
welcomed our group of eight, including local history buff Ellen
MacDonald and her daughters Sara, 13, and Lora, 16. It is 1861,
Demetria told us, and the city is abuzz with news of Southern
secession.
Through Demetria, we learn of important changes in women's lives. With
so many men fighting, women entered the workforce in unprecedented
numbers during the war. Demetria herself tried a variety of jobs before
deciding to sort dead letters at the Postal Office at 700 F St. NW (now the Monaco Hotel).
The tour was organized so that all of the Civil War years passed by as
we progressed along 10th and E streets NW, down Pennsylvania Avenue to
Judiciary Square (to view the old City Hall) and then up Seventh
Street. We met Clara Barton (played this day by Mariel Buhler) close to
her home office and listened to her stories of ministering to the
wounded on nearby battlefields. Newspaper reporter Jane Swisshelm
(Aliceanne English) addressed us passionately about women's physical
and intellectual abilities. And a Confederate spy (Cate Feeser) slipped
us a secret missive about President Lincoln's whereabouts, which
Demetria pounced upon and read aloud.
In her chatty way, Demetria gave us the flavor of the times. A theater
lover, she praised the popular John Wilkes Booth for his flamboyant
acting style. She gossiped about mischievous Tad Lincoln, the
President's son, and showed us a period advertisement for corsets,
easily purchased on Seventh Street. One minute Demetria was
complaining about Union soldiers stationed in the city, and the next
she was extolling their courage in quelling a fire close to the Willard Hotel.
Our tour ended at the Peterson House, across from Ford's Theater.
Demetria mentioned her relief at the war's end and Union victory. But
she soon received terrible news from two weeping women: President
Lincoln had been shot the night before. In the absence of today's
instant news sources, Demetria doesn't yet know that the President is
dead, shot by an actor -- John Wilkes Booth.
When asked their favorite part of the tour, Sara and Lora replied
almost in unison: "The women!" The two especially enjoyed
Demetria's accounts of Clara Barton and Dorothea Dix, who was appointed
the Union's Superintendent of Female
Nurses in 1861.
Did funny, flighty Demetria really exist? "No," explained
Zanin in a recent phone interview. "I didn't want to re-create
someone famous but wanted to present the experiences of an ordinary
person. I read a lot of women's journals -- and Demetria is kind of a
composite of several women." To research each of her tours, Zanin
often peruses 20 to 40 books and makes extensive use of local sources
such as the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., and the
Washingtoniana Division at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.
Historic Strolls are offered twice a month from April through December
and by special appointment at other times. On Saturday, the Washington streets become a stage as
Zanin leads a tour related to 19th-century theater. And next month, a
few shivery spirits promise to trot along for the popular Washington ghost tour.
NATALIE
ZANIN'S HISTORIC STROLLS -- 301-588-9255. www.historicstrolls.com.
Ninety-minute tours offered two Saturdays a month from April through
December and by special appointment at other times. $10 adults, $5
children under 16.
© 2003
The Washington Post Company
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