August 20, 2021
We walked across the border and into Maryland, ending up in Bethesda, the suburb where Mal spent a number of his childhood years. It takes its name from Jerusalem’s Pool of Bethesda where Jesus miraculously healed a paralyzed man, according to the Gospel of John. Lauren remembers its downtown area from her teenage years as consisting mainly of small buildings containing shops, restaurants and dive bars. Things have certainly changed. Although there are still some of the original storefronts.
The area is becoming more and more dominated by modern high rise buildings.
One Bethesda institution that has remained is the Farm Woman’s Market which was established in 1932 and still has a thriving market on weekends.
The market appeared to be closed as we passed by so we headed across the street to the newly opened Tatte for a lemonade, a coffee and some cooling air conditioning.
We then walked up Wisconsin Avenue toward the older part of Bethesda, passing the old post office, which in a sign of the times had become a fitness center at one stage. We don’t know if the center has survived Covid but there didn’t seem to be anything going on inside.
Next to the Post Office building is what appeared to be a random memorial for downtown Bethesda, until we did some post-walk googling. The Memorial to the Pioneer Mothers of the Covered Wagon Days is a recurring piece of public statuary that stands in twelve locations from Maryland to California, tracing a historic travel route from covered wagon days. The statue is of the Madonna of the Trail, clutching a rifle with one hand, and infant with the other, with another child grasping at her skirt. The statues were erected in 1928-29 and are strung along the National Old Trails Road (now mostly US 40). The sites were chosen with the help of the president of the National Old Trails Road Association, a then-little-known Missouri Justice of the Peace named Harry S. Truman. The Bethesda statue is the first in the line with the others strung westward through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
Walking through the older section of Bethesda we noticed a number of restaurants had closed their doors, including one of Lauren’s grandfather’s favorites, Positano. We were sad to see it go, having eaten many enjoyable dinners there with Oscar. Particularly memorable was the time when Ben, who was about four at the time, pulled the fire alarm, much to the dismay of the restaurant’s staff and patrons.
One dining establishment that continues to go strong is the Tastee Diner which has been serving breakfast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, since 1935.
We then walked over to the Bethesda Row development. It is an excellent example of a new development that actually works, creating a a mixed-use walkable district. Even on a hot weekday afternoon, the area was bustling, far different than the virtually empty old part of town where we had just walked.
Mal and Lauren 