Divided by Lore, United by History
Georgetown Is Two Villages in One Community With Countless Stories to Tell

By Sarah Abruzzese
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, January 6, 2007

There is one Georgetown, but a lot of people talk about it as if there were two halves: one to the east of Wisconsin Avenue NW and the other to the west.

There is a long-standing perception that there is a social difference between what are called the East Village and West Village, the two parts of one of Washington's most storied neighborhoods. Today, though, differences seem to come down to geography and traffic.

"I always thought when we moved here in the Ford administration that it was a joke that the rich people lived on the east side and the poorer people lived on the west side. That has been a bit of a myth, because we have Ambassador Bruce on our side," said Cherie Cannon, a 30-year West Village resident.

By that, she means Ambassador David K.E. Bruce, who represented the United States in a number of capitals before his death in 1977. His wife Evangeline was one of the best known of the Georgetown hostesses whose grand parties gave the neighborhood its socialite reputation. She died in 1995.

The joking continues about how the east side has grander houses filled with richer people. "I got flack from my west-side friends for moving to the east side. I don't know if east-siders give their friends a hard time for moving to the other side," said Alison Jia, 39, who has lived in Georgetown since 1994. She and her family moved from west to east in July.

"Both sides have their mix," said Frida Burling, 91, an east-side resident for more than 50 years. "We have Sen. [John] Kerry, Sen. [John] Edwards and Sen. [Max] Baucus on the west side." (Edwards recently sold his Georgetown house.) "We have Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn and Bob Woodward and people like that on the east side."

Two real estate agents, one who lives in the east and another in the west, said there is a distinction in people's minds when they shop for houses.

Nancy Taylor Bubes, an agent with Coldwell Banker, is an East Village resident who has been selling homes in the area for 20 years. She pointed out that the east side of Georgetown is within walking distance of Dupont Circle and Foggy Bottom, giving residents easy access to the Metro. The west side is filled with students; the presence of Georgetown University is inescapable. (Georgetown residents generally don't classify the area south of M Street NW, which has fewer houses, as being either east or west.)

Jamie Peva, a West Village resident who will soon be moving east, has been selling real estate for 12 years and works with Washington Fine Properties. He said he has had clients who are interested only in the east.

But he said the perception that the east side has only large houses is simply wrong. There are a fair number of smaller houses that were built for free blacks and for slaves on the east side, a reminder of the years when Georgetown was largely African American.

While the East Village does have large estates, including Evermay, Dumbarton Oaks and Tudor Place, there are also grand houses in the West Village, such as Halcyon House and Prospect House. There's also the house on 34th Street NW where the Bruces threw their parties.

"The west side, on the blocks between 33rd and 34th streets, has some of the most historical homes in Georgetown -- some of the Federal period homes," Bubes said of houses on N, O, and P streets NW. Those include the grand Marbury and Bodisco houses.

And on either side of Georgetown, a house for less than a half-million dollars is a thing of the past.

Georgetown's history predates that of the capital city. Founded as a tobacco port by two men named George during the reign of George II, the city of George Town evolved over time and was incorporated into the District of Columbia after Maryland ceded the territory to make the capital. In 1967, the neighborhood was declared a National Historic Landmark.

Cannon said she doesn't know any historical reason for the divide between east and west -- "other than that I think it is mostly a myth."

Still, she was able to cite at least one incident from neighborhood lore: "The only thing I do know is that St. John's Church on the west side was the original Episcopal church founded by . . . Francis Scott Key, among others. And when they had a disagreement, the rich moved over and founded Christ Church on the east side." St. John's was founded in 1796, Christ Church in 1817.

West-side resident Michal Mainwaring said in an e-mail, "15 years ago, when I started house hunting in G-town, I was told that the east side was more 'elite.' Never understood why -- all I wanted was a place to park."

Mainwaring found her place to park and still doesn't understand why anyone would perceive the east side as better. The west side is a neighborhood in the best sense of the word, she said, with neighbors dropping by for an impromptu meal, walking each others' dogs and generally looking out for one another.

Mainwaring's friend Joseph C. Goulden, a writer who has lived on the east side since 1979, sees differences. "I think it is much more genteel on the east side. . . . On the east side, it is a lot quieter. If you get on the west side, it is just Mardi Gras all the time."

Goulden said students can be potentially bad neighbors because they "aren't so keen" about keeping up their property.

But Mimsy Lindner, who has lived on the west side of Georgetown since 1984, sees students as a plus because they provide babysitting, as well as a vibrant younger dimension.

Anthony Lanier, a real estate developer and east-side resident, has lived in Georgetown for about 20 years. He said the big differences between the two sides are the university's presence and the traffic. "The west side is more traffic-intensive," he said.

But Soraya Chemaly, another east-side resident who has lived on both sides of Wisconsin Avenue, swears the east side has more traffic because of commuters going across Georgetown to Dupont Circle and downtown.

Jia and her children made a list of the differences between the east and west and found that a lot of them had to do with where they can walk. When the family lived on the west side, they walked to Volta Park and Georgetown University. From their east-side home, they now walk to Rose Park and as far away as Dupont Circle.

"Between West Village residents and East Village residents, each one has some point as to why he lives on a better side of Georgetown," Lanier said.

Usually the discussions are lighthearted. Because whichever side of Georgetown residents inhabit, they tend to agree that the two sides are a community. "We are a village here, we know each others' children," Burling said. "We are very friendly together whatever side they live on."