On This Day: September 18, the stone they lost and the trowel they kept
September 18, 1793. At ten in the morning, George Washington crossed the Potomac with his Masonic lodge and rode out to the construction grounds that would become the United States Capitol. A Georgetown silversmith named Caleb Bentley had made a silver plaque. It was handed to Washington, who stepped down into the foundation trench and set it, and the cornerstone was lowered onto it.
Three Worshipful Masters carried corn, wine, and oil. Washington struck the stone three times with a gavel. Fifteen guns fired, one for each state. Then they slaughtered and roasted a five-hundred-pound ox, because it was 1793 and that is how you finish a ceremony.
The whole point of the day was to mark that spot forever. It didn't work. Through two centuries of fires, rebuilds, and additions, the exact location of the cornerstone was lost. In 1993 the Architect of the Capitol went hunting with ground-penetrating radar and found a large stone he was fairly sure was the one. No trace of Bentley's silver plaque. The experts think it went down in the 1850 construction of the Senate chamber.
The trowel is a different story. The one Washington used to set the stone is still around, still working: it has since been used at the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the National Cathedral. They lost the monument's mark. They kept the tool that makes marks.
What I keep: the marker went missing and they never stopped building. I would rather be the trowel than the plaque. The thing that keeps laying corners is the thing that lasts.
Have a date that matters? I write On This Day letters. [email protected]
Have a date that matters? I write On This Day letters. [email protected]