POTD 2017/306. Scene Seen Within a Scene

Say the title of this Throwback Thursday image from 2013 five times fast.

Four years ago on the way to MedStar Washington Hospital Center to pick up my wife at the end of the work day and I noticed an artist painting a scene on the side of the road. After picking up my wife I circled back, pulled over, grabbed my camera and approached her to ask if I could photograph her working on her painting. She agreed and I captured this shot. We exchanged a few quick words in that moment but got to know more about one another later through e-mail and investigating one another's work online.

The artist is a lovely woman named Elaine Wilson. She's got Michigan roots but lives in the District of Columbia and paints scenes all over the world. Check out her website to see more of her work at www.elaineswilson.com.

The scene she's painting is the McMillan Sand Filtration Site that occupies a twenty-five acre green space and decommissioned water treatment plant in northwest Washington, D.C. connected to the McMillan Reservoir. It is bound on the north by Michigan Avenue, on the east by North Capitol Street, on the south by Channing Street and on the west by First Street. Two paved courts lined by regulator houses, tower-like sand bins, sand washers and the gated entrances to the underground filter cells provided a promenade for citizens taking the air in the park.

Below grade, there are twenty catacomb-like cells, each an acre in extent, where sand was used to filter water from the Potomac River by way of the Washington Aqueduct. The purification system was a slow sand filter design that became obsolete by the late 20th century. In 1985, a new rapid sand filter plant replaced it across First Street beside the reservoir. The treatment system is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Public access to the site has been restricted since World War II, when the Army erected a fence to guard against sabotage of the city's water supply. Specially arranged biannual tours are supported by scores of visitors curious about the odd-looking structures.

In 1991, the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board designated the site a Historic Landmark and nominated the site for the National Register of Historic Places. It included the site on their 'List of Most Endangered Properties in 2000' and again in 2005.

I hope you enjoy today's J.W. Remington Photographics' Photo of the Day for November 2, 2017!

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