The 23rd Annual "Welcome, Pierre!" Reception & New Dumbarton House Acquisition Unveiling

Join Dumbarton House for the 220th Anniversary of L'Enfant's Arrival in Georgetown!

In 1791, Pierre-Charles L'Enfant arrived in Georgetown on Wednesday evening, March 9.

L'Enfant's initial arrival had been botched by a bureaucratic breakdown! Thus, reparations to that oversight, and slight, have been made annually since 1989, by a civic celebration on the anniversary date of his first arrival.

In the late 1980s, city planners, architects, designers and historians were charged with celebrating the 1991 bicentennial of the 1791 L'Enfant Plan for the new Federal City. Among official exhibits and publication plans, the tradition of a festive annual event to honor L'Enfant's planning contributions to our Nation's Capital began!

The Dumbarton House is pleased to co-host this traditional celebration,  and to unveil at this year's event, a "sample" of early 19th-century patriotic handiwork -- an exciting new collections acquisition related to the early "mapping" of the City of Washington!