y Foxall, though, of course, he never lived there.

On the southwest corner of Gay (N) and Greene (29th) Streets stands the
house that was originally the property of John Davidson. Then Mrs.
Williamson, a daughter of old Dr. Balch made her home here, followed by
her daughter, Mrs. Hasle. Next door, on the west, lived the son, Joseph
Williamson, whose wife was Marian Woods. Then the Howell family lived
there, and from them, Colonel Harrison Howell Dodge, who was
superintendent of Mount Vernon for over forty years, got his name. Later
the house was rented to Mr. and Mrs. John Worthington, whose daughter,
Lilah, married Mr. Henry Philip in April, 1865. She went to live at 3406
R Street.

A few years ago a gentleman who was an artist bought the house and
changed the windows on the first floor front--to give more light for his
studio, I was told.

The picturesque house on the northeast corner is always called "Admiral
Weaver's house." The back portion is very old, and "they say" there is a
ghost somewhere about. In the spring the hedge of Japanese quince here
is a thing of beauty with its flaming color.

On the next block eastward at number 2812 is the house with a very
beautiful doorway and a very interesting association. It was built in
1779, and was at one time the home of Judge Morsell, but it was called
the Decatur house. There is the Decatur house on Lafayette Square in
Washington, but we know that Admiral Decatur's widow left it after he
was killed in the duel with Commodore James Barron, near Bladensburg, on
March 22, 1820, and came to live in Georgetown. Tradition has persisted
that this was the house she lived in. These parts of two letters written
by Mrs. Basil Hall, in 1827, are from a volume called _The Aristocratic
Journey_, being her letters home to her sister in Edinburgh:

January 4: ... I had a note to-night from a lady whom I had
considerable curiosity to see, Mrs. Decatur, the widow of Commodore
Decatur. I brought a letter to her from Mrs. MacTavish at Baltimore
and sent it yesterday along with our cards. In this note she
acknowledged the receipt of it, but excuses herself from calling
upon me, "as peculiar circumstances attending a domestic affliction
she has suffered makes it impossible for her to come to Washington."
She asked us to spend the evening of the tenth with her, or any
other evening that suits us better, a very kind note, in short, and
we have pro