Anonymous Guest 08 Mar 2006

LIKE VERY MUCH--OPENED A BIG CAN OF IN THE KNOW..K

Homayra Amirzada 08 Mar 2006

wow another form of puzzles that is incredible

K L Marsala 08 Mar 2006

the strength and mystery that surrounds these sacred grounds is something to behold... imagery worked well in your artistic showing of such

Analua 08 Mar 2006

Gorgeous work Elton!!!!

Patty Day 08 Mar 2006

Great job, Elton!!!

Reba McDonald 08 Mar 2006

Interesting work.

thea walstra 08 Mar 2006

Great combo of colors and composition

Joke Schotting 08 Mar 2006

Wonderful work,Elton!!

Alberto D'Assumpcao 08 Mar 2006

Wonderful work, Elton! I had no time to read Hendrik's comment (Hehehehe!)

hendrik arie baartman 08 Mar 2006

On a rainy June morning last year, Fort Washington resident Dawn Davit watched in horror from Riverview Road as a developer's bulldozer unearthed five graves in a family cemetery undisturbed since the 1820s. "I was really just heartbroken," Davit said. A resident of the neighborhood for 33 years, she is president of Potomac Valley Citizens Association and is opposed to residential development of the Potomac River tract that spans about 23 acres. There the remains of prominent Prince George's County landowner Dennis Lyles and his four young children were buried. "I just visualize their mother burying four of them in six months and putting them in that beautiful spot and them being so crudely extracted with no dignity," Davit said. "It still bothers me." With no physical remains evident after the excavation, some earth from each grave was soon ceremonially reburied in a local churchyard. But the dispute persists between neighbors and developer Leo Bruso of Upper Marlboro, who wants to build "executive style" homes on the rolling grassy pasture with sweeping river views. The neighbors also insist that slave graves may have been on the property and that it had been the site of a historically significant Native American settlement. Even the National Park Service has weighed in, expressing skepticism about Bruso's plans. Bruso, who since 1974 has developed commercial and residential property in Maryland -- such as Clinton's New England Estates -- is unimpressed and said he will persevere. "She's just trying to drag this out to the point where I'm saying that I'm going away," said Bruso, who recently attended an Upper Marlboro hearing to seek a zoning change to build four waterfront homes and a dock on about 10 acres of the land. "Well, I'm not going away." Nor, apparently, are opponents of Bruso's planned "Rivers Edge" subdivision. They include the National Park Service, which manages several historic sites in the area and objected at the hearing to Bruso's plans. "We believe there are multiple strong reasons that this property should not be subject to further modification of its current zoning and Chesapeake Bay Critical Area status," wrote John Hale, National Capital Parks-East superintendent, in a letter read at the hearing by a Park Service official. Bruso wants a zoning change because about 13 waterfront acres of the property are categorized as a critical area "resource conservation" zone, which allows only one house per 20 acres. Bruso hopes to have about 10 acres of the protected section recategorized as "limited development," which would enable him to build one house per acre, which is allowed on the rest of the tract. Hale's letter expressed concern about the project's environmental impact. "Multiple known and suspected historic and archaeological resources on this property" could be at "grave risk" if the development goes forward, the letter said. Bruso disputes the notion that his land is historically or archaeologically significant, and he objects to Park Service involvement. "Show me where [the Park Service] came in on other projects and sent a staff person [or] weighed in on any other case," he said after the hearing. A decision on the Critical Area status by zoning hearing examiner Maurene Epps Webb is expected in a few months. The issue then goes to the Prince George's County Council, sitting as a zoning body, for a decision. In a separate opinion last February about the entire parcel's possible historic status, Epps Webb suggested that the issue be returned to the Prince George's County Historic Preservation Commission for a second look. That came after a commission ruling in December 2001 -- sought by Bruso -- said the entire site had been mistakenly classified by the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission as a historic resource. The error was made because a port known as "Tent Landing" was thought to have been there but wasn't. For Bruso, this ruling eased the path to development. After a subsequent court fight with then-Prince George's State's Attorney Jack B. Johnson, now the county executive, Bruso also won the right to move the Lyles family graves. But neighbors, who still refer to the property as Tent Landing, contended that the parcel's possible Native American and African American history, which the commission declined to consider, should have been discussed at the hearing. Moe Thomas Jr., who lives in the county's Chapel Hill neighborhood and is a former Tuskegee Airman and expert in local African American history, said Ed Contee, an African American and former neighborhood resident who was 109 at his death in 1971, told him that slaves were buried on the property. "Ed Contee told me specifically that unmarked slave gravesites were adjacent to the white Lyles graves," said Thomas, who sad he believes that these slave remains were part of a "second cemetery" shown by some maps as being on the land. The second cemetery has been hotly contested. After Bruso complained, an official of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which shows two cemeteries on a map of the area, agreed that the "second cemetery" was put on the map erroneously and would be deleted. Neighbors have asked the USGS to reconsider, saying other resources such as a 1982 historic site survey and map published by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission have shown two cemeteries. Thomas, who said two cemeteries also appear on local aeronautical maps, noted that because of the importance of oral tradition in preserving African American history, he has no doubt that Contee knew what he was talking about. "Ed Contee was known, especially in southern Prince George's, as a gravedigger," Thomas said. "He dug graves for all of these black churches. There'd be no reason for him to dissemble about what he knew, about the second cemetery. He was familiar with it. He'd say, 'Some people are buried here, some over there, and they don't even have the gravestones.' " Fort Washington resident Dave Turner, who lives close to the site in the Broad Creek Historic District and serves on the district's Advisory Council, said he would not be surprised if slave graves were on the property. Colonial families associated with the property were large slaveholders, and though some small cemeteries in the area may contain slave graves, large numbers of local slaves remain unaccounted for, he said. "We know that the Lyles and Magruder families had 80 slaves and more from the time they settled there in 1660 to the time Mr. Lyles died in the 1820s," Turner said. "There were a lot of slaves. But there's no African American slave cemetery of any size in the Broad Creek Historic District. Where were they being buried? "Our contention is it was probably here, and that would explain why that one little grouping of Lyleses were buried there." Bruso disagreed, saying that arguments about slave graves "are based on a government mistake of identifying a second cemetery where one never existed" and that slaves are buried elsewhere in the neighborhood. Turner has also worked closely with members of the Piscataway-Conoy Indian tribe, who are based in Charles County and believe that the land is also the location of a Native American site called "Tessamatuck," which appears on a 1640s map. They suspect that, like other Indian settlements along the Potomac, the property might contain a community grave or ossuary. About 1990, the then-owners of the tract and adjoining land were contemplating a property sale to the Marriott Corp. for construction of a military officers' retirement home. Sizable numbers of Indian artifacts were uncovered. In her February opinion, Epps Webb noted that an archaeological survey commissioned for the Marriott project uncovered about 12,000 artifacts in the vicinity. The Prince George's County Planning Board, which reviews plans for residential subdivisions, has said it is "cognizant of the potential archaeological importance of the site based on the testimony of area residents, oral tradition and prior reports" and will consider those issues in any reviews of the site. Bruso insisted that his land was not the site of Tessamatuck. "Only [an] artist's rendering shows it in the vicinity of my property," he said. "Three other [maps] show it [to the] south." Meanwhile, Davit said she is hopeful about the larger dispute with Bruso. "People would like to see Tent Landing purchased as open space," she said. "That would be my number one choice. The Indians would like to see that happen. Most everybody would. I think that would be a wonderful thing for that to happen. I'm optimistic because I do believe we're right." Bruso is equally resolute. "Absolutely I feel that Rivers Edge is going to get built," said Bruso, who believes that his four planned waterfront homes could command almost $1 million apiece. He is not averse to the idea of selling his property, though. In fact, he said it's for sale -- for $3 million. That would be about twice what his company paid for 43-plus acres in 2001. That tract also included about 20 acres now being developed by Mid-Atlantic on the other side of Riverview Road. According to state records, 11207 Riverview Rd. -- the official address of Bruso's riverfront land -- is valued at about $735,000. Bruso said that is less than the land is worth. Putting pricey homes on the property, he said, will be good for county tax coffers. Also, he warned, "Every day the citizens extend this case, the price is going up." © 2003 The Washington Post Company

José Fortunato 08 Mar 2006

Great composition

Loredana 08 Mar 2006

Very cool Elton :)