Description
The Central Post Office of Arlington, Virginia has on its walls the county’s first public art: seven colorful murals depicting images of what the artist, Auriel Bessemer, believed were historical events that took place in and around the county. The murals were commissioned by the federal government in the Depresssion Era of the 1930s and installed in the post office in the 1940s. They show men and women picking apples, picnickers at Great Falls, US Army polo players competing at Fort Myer, Native Americans roasting deer on Roosevelt Island, John Smith meeting Native American leader Massowomeck, enslaved persons harvesting tobacco, and even Robert E. Lee receiving his commission to lead Virginia’s armies in the Civil War.
Author Toby MacIntosh presents each mural in detail and highlights its characteristics, both in artistic style and some of its historical inaccuracies. This book shows each mural in color and documents these unique Arlington works of art like no other book before or since. Bring the book when you go to see the murals at the Central Post Office in Clarendon at 3118 N. Washington Boulevard!
- Paperback: 44 pages
- Publisher: BookBaby, 2016
Every book you buy here on this website helps support the AHS mission to strengthen our community by improving the understanding of local history.
