Cedar Hill

Cedar Hill, home of Frederick Douglass, freed slave, abolitionist and statesman

This beautiful home in the Anacostia neighborhood in Southeast Washington belonged by Frederick Douglass, a freed slave and abolitionist. Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey in February 1818 near Easton, Maryland, he was separated from his mother shortly after his birth. Until the age of seven, he lived with his grandmother. After her death, he was sent as a slave to the plantation of Hugh Auld of Baltimore. It was there that Auld's wife, Sophia, began teaching young Frederick the alphabet--a practice discouraged among slave owners because they feared the ability to read would lead to discontent and slaves would then demand rights or attempt to run away. Frederick was taken from Hugh Auld and given to a ruthless man named Edward Covey, who continually whipped the young man almost to the point of breaking him. But Frederick rebelled and fought Covey, who, defeated, never whipped him again.

The Growlery--Douglass' backyard respite where he would contemplate and write.

In September 1838, with a few failed escape attempts under his belt, Frederick finally succeeded in running to freedom and escaping Covey's servitude. Armed with false identification papers from a freed black sailor and dressed in a sailor's uniform, he boarded a train to Havre de Grace, Maryland. From there, he traveled to the Susquehanna River and crossed over to Delaware by ferry, then caught a train to Wilmington, a steamboat to Philadelphia, and eventually made it to New York. And all in less than 24 hours! He was now a free man and changed his name to Douglass. Eventually, he arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he settled with his wife, Anna Murray.

The view from the front of Cedar Hill.
On a clear day, one can see all the way to the Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception in northeast Washington. (Click on the image to enlarge
and see the Capitol and the Library of Congress.)

Douglass became a fiery orator and spoke out against slavery, advocated for suffrage and rights for women, and was a trusted adviser to President Abraham Lincoln. In 1872, Douglass was a candidate for vice president on the Equal Rights Party ticket with Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president. In 1877, Douglass and his wife purchased a home in Washington, D.C., in the Anacostia community not far from the Anacostia River. He named it Cedar Hill and from here not only did he continue to work for the rights of African-Americans in post-Civil War America, but Douglass believed in equality for all and worked tirelessly for the rights not only of his own people, but for Native Americans, women, and immigrants.

Magnolia in bloom on the grounds of Cedar Hill.

Douglass and his wife, Anna, had five children. In 1882, she passed away leaving Douglass bewildered and depressed. In 1884, Douglass married a white feminist named Helen Pitts, the daughter of a fellow abolitionist. The marriage was controversial and resulted in Pitts' family not speaking to her and Douglass' children feeling hurt. On February 20, 1895, after attending a meeting of the National Council of Women in downtown Washington, Douglass returned home where he had a massive heart attack and died. Frederick Douglass is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York. He was believed to be 77 years old at the time he died.

*** Note: This entry has been edited to correct an error. Victoria Woodhull died and is buried in England, not in Congressional Cemetery here in Washington as was previously stated. Her contemporary, and the second woman to run for president in the U.S., Ann Lockwood, is buried in Congressional Cemetery. My thanks to an anonymous commenter for bringing this error to light. ***

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 6/08