Palisades Museum of Prehistory

Mr. Johnson,
Thank you for getting back to me. I have four basic requests for a FOIA on the development of Palisades Park.
1) How much fill (earth, dirt) was brought to the site during the redevelopment of the park. I would like either the number of truckloads, or cubic feet.
2) Where did the fill come from?
3) I am trying to determine if the park's archaeological value was ever considered. Can you do a search on "archeology" or "archaeology" in conjunction with Palisades Park?
4) I would like to know what the budget was for the park's development.

This letter is in response to your FOIA request received by the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) on January 22, 2008 regarding the construction at Palisades Park. Given the fact that this work was
completed through a general construction contract with Jair Lynch/Alpha (JLC/Alpha) DPR was unable to provide documentation or answers to the following questions: 1) How much fill (earth, dirt) was brought to the site during the redevelopment of the park; 2) Where did the fill come from. While DPR has requested the answers to these inquiries from the general contractor, at present no responsive answers or documentation have been provided. In response to your question concerning whether the park's archaeological value was considered, DPR does know that prior to the construction, an archaeological study was performed on the site by JLC/Alpha or its subcontractor, however, DPR does not have the data from this study and must also be provided by the general contractor. DPR reserves the right to amend this information if responsive documents become available in the future.

Pursuant to your final request regarding the budget for the Palisades project, the budget for Palisades Design Project was nine hundred twenty-two thousand, nine hundred seventeen dollars ($922,917.00.) The Palisades Construction Project budget was two million, two thousand, four hundred seventy-three dollars ($2,002,473.00.)

Palisades Museum of Prehistory Inquires Use of The Neglected Sears House at Palisades Park

Letter to Mayor Fenty's office inquiring into the use of the Sears House for a local museum

No Archaeology at the House of Sweden - The Harborside Development in Georgetown

Within the District of Columbia, one of the more significant locations of prehistoric (and historic) activity occured at the mouth of Rock Creek. Well-known centers of indian activity are found throughout Rock Creek Park, with notable examples in Soapstone Valley and Piney Branch. It is obvious that the confluence of the creek and the Potomac River would have been an attractive spot for camps and settlements. In fact, during the construction of ramps to Whitehurst Freeway, the archaeology turned up some fascinating prehistoric artifacts. The curious “penis effigy” is just one of the amazing finds. The new Georgetown Harborside development spans the west bank of Rock Creek from the Potomac River to the Whitehurst Freeway. There was no archaeology conducted at the site. The nearby Ritz-Carlton Hotel prominently displays prehistoric artifacts recovered during its construction. It's unfortunate that the "rumored" Mayoral fast-track for the Harborside development presumes history a nuisance.

In 2004, Scott Silsby discovered a striking petroglyph on Pimmit Run in Virginia. Silsby, who grew up petroglyphpimmit

along the Potomac River in Virginia and worked as a Naturalist for Arlington County, made the discovery known to the National Park Service. With the threat that the stone might be damaged by stream erosion, the Park Service managed to remove and transport it to park headquarters at Turkey Run. The rock is now locked-up and not available for public display. The Park Service says their intention is to exhibit the petroglyph in a new visitor’s center at Great Falls National Park. The Palisades Museum of Prehistory hopes this occurs in the near future. In the meantime, we believe it is important to publicize such findings.

In December of 2005, the Palisades Community Association along with the State Historic Office and National Park Service organized an event where neighbors could bring in artifacts found on their property and have them identified. The organizers photographed and collected information of the various artifacts brought in by neighbors. Attempts to find out what happened to the data however have gone unanswered. This was an excellent opportunity to bridge the gap between artifacts found on private land and those found on federal land. Since this is a primary goal of the Palisades Museum of Prehistory, we hope this information is made public.