Visualizing Early Washington DC

This post represents the conclusion of our pilot phase of visualizing Notley Young’s plantation in 1790.   If you are new to this site, you can follow our progress by reading back through the posts.  To immediately see our tests, you can start with this “then and now” panorama of the Plantation as seen from the […]

This would be the view of the Plantation as a 1790 traveler came up the Potomac to Georgetown.  Currently the camera is on Ohio Drive in Potomac Park, but in 1790, it would have been on a boat in the river.   Notley Young’s Mansion has been described as “painted white,” “yellow brick,” and “red brick.”   […]

Today the camera is on the SE Freeway Bridge, but in 1790 it would have been located at the top of trees surrounding one of Young’s graveyards.  (Note: all locations are approximate.  The graveyard, as indicated on a King Plat survey, may not be exactly on the sidewalk below, but it was probably within 120 […]

This map is of Notley Young’s Plantation in 1794 overlaid and registered on top of a Google Street Map.  It shows the camera locations (magenta) where the contemporary panoramas were taken and where the virtual cameras were located to render out views of the 1790 Plantation.  Click the image or here to see a high […]

This combination of the two views is perhaps a bit over-dramatic, but it’s accurate.  Young’s mansion was on a bluff that sat approximately 25’ above the river.  Banneker Park is now much higher.  Currently, part of the mansion would be underground.  It is positioned correctly, but if anything, it could be even lower into the […]

The 9th Street Bridge over the SE Freeway offers a possible view of the plantation as a traveler approached it.  This view again highlights how much earth has been moved over the years.  Click the image or here to see the panorama. Take full advantage of the mapping and linking that the host site, 360cities.net, offers for […]

This is a rendered view of the model for the 1790 Notley Young Plantation that we used for our tests.  It is far from complete, but it’s a good representation of how the plantation may have looked.  More importantly, it provides a range of possibilities and challenges for how best to present this data in […]

SouthWest Freeway and 9th Street We were down in SW Washington DC at Benjamin Banneker Park and L’Enfant Plaza last week and positioned the camera where there would be a good contrast between 1790 and 2011 views.  The above one will hopefully work well.  The driveway and entrance to Notley Young’s mansion went diagonally directly […]

We’ve been working on refining the layout to Notley Young’s Plantation and the two available King Plats are indicating that there may have been a classic straight tree-lined driveway up to the mansion.  The layout of the fences and the position of the “Coach House” are the strongest indicators.  We would like to move ahead […]

To keep his sanity while helping to merge more than 300 square miles of polygonal terrain, IRC 3D Animator Phillip Thomas took breaks (though he doesn’t drink coffee) and modeled David Burnes’ house from 1790. David Burnes’ farmhouse sat at what is now 17th  and B Street, NW.  Much of Burnes’ pre-revolutionary war plantation became […]