In a flagstone wall by the sidewalk in front of 810 Janneys Lane in Alexandria, there is a small alcove that reads at the top, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow” with a Maltese cross. On the left a stone reads, “E.A. J.F.A. Easter 1906,” and on the right another stone reads, “Given to the public by J.M.R.” I grew up on Janneys Lane when it had small farms, lots of woods and a gravel quarry but I never learned the alcove’s story. Who was responsible for it?
— Thom Hussey, Alexandria
Before we get to who it was, let’s deal with what it was. There’s a clue chiseled in the uppermost stone: “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” What flows nearly as well as God’s blessings? Why water, of course. The arched alcove and stones mark a spot where water bubbled to the surface.
That Alexandria neighborhood is now known as Clover-College Park and, a few years ago, residents Patsy Rogers and Katherine K. Leon investigated the mystery of the alcove, sharing their findings in a community newsletter. Many plats show a spring in that location. “J.M.R.,” they decided, must refer to James Morehead Rixey, a former Mosby’s Raider who once owned the land with his wife, Rebecca. Patsy and Katherine found deeds stipulating that a bit of Rixey’s property be kept available for public use as a source of water.
It’s unclear how that worked in 1906, when the stones apparently were engraved. Was there a springhouse? Was there a spigot? Was there a trough for horses to sip from as they made their way up what was then known as Old Seminary Road and before that, Stump Hill Road?
William F. Smith grew up on King Street, just a few blocks away. He’s 87 now. “The spring was there long before my time, but I remember it,” he told Answer Man. “I don’t think I ever tried to drink water from it, because you never knew where it was coming from.”
Even to Answer Man’s untrained eye, the engraved stones don’t fit in aesthetically with the surrounding flagstone wall. And, indeed, the wall is more recent. In 1946, the land was purchased by developer Rozier J. Beech and the community of Clover was created. Beech built the retaining wall. Perhaps he ordered that the stones be incorporated into the wall even though water had stopped flowing. (The alcove was dry the day Answer Man visited.)
But what of the other initials: E.A. and J.F.A.? “We couldn’t figure it out,” said Patsy, a former Washington Post reporter who lives about four blocks from the stones and has pored over 100 deeds from the area. She thought perhaps the stone carver messed up the initials A.F.J., which stand for Alexander Fridge Jamieson, who sold the land to the Rixeys in 1904. The Maltese cross resembles one used at the time by Alexandria’s fire department, so perhaps there’s a connection there.
“Nobody knows yet,” Patsy said. “That’s the mystery.”
As at Stonehenge, the stones may be talking but we can’t understand what they’re saying.
A Washington monument
Answer Man’s column last week about the Washington Building at 15th and New York NW brought back memories from people who worked, shopped or ate near it.
Alvin Neuman’s father opened a clothing store next door, at the Evans Building, in 1908. Alvin later ran it. “For a long period of time,” Alvin wrote, “the Washington Building was the only building to have an ‘elevator starter’ for the six or seven elevators: A man on the first floor directed passengers to the next UP car.”
The Washington Building also had the Parker-Bridget clothing store, which moved in the early ’30s from Seventh and Pennsylvania NW. The earlier store appealed mostly to the farmers in the area, Alvin said. The new one sold upgraded merchandise designed to appeal to a “higher class” clientele. “They lasted about a year and closed, bankrupt,” Alvin wrote.
Into that space moved the S&W Cafeteria. “The cafeteria featured ladies who walked around the tables serving free hot biscuits.”
Arlington’s Fred Stokeld Sr. had a story about the Restaurant Madrillon. “A former neighbor, the late Barkev Kurk, worked there in the 1940s,” Fred wrote. Barkev was a Turk who fought at Gallipoli in World War I and retired as maitre d’ at Blackie’s House of Beef.
Fred once asked him what his biggest tip was. “He said it was at the Madrillon during World War II. A group of young army officers had arrived at a very busy time. One assumed he was French for some reason and asked in perfect French if he could help them get a table. Well he did and as they left the French-speaking officer handed him a $100 bill. Turned out he was David Rockefeller!”
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