Maximilian Kern Archives - Lafayette Square Archives

1870: Lafayette Park Rock Garden

What you see today

Near the park gates on the western side of Lafayette Park lies a sunken area hemmed by river birch trees and lined with flagstones. It is lovely in the summer, shady and a bit cooler than the area around it. We call it the rock garden.

It has both history and a little mystery, all its own.

1859: Lafayette Park and Krausnick

Sometimes the research for a historical essay seems linear enough, but then pinballs off at unanticipated angles. I set about to simply find some background on Edward Krausnick, the little-remembered first superintendent of Lafayette Park. What followed is a reminder that real lives seldom follow a linear narrative.