The Placenames of Chevy Chase, Maryland is now available for purchase!

CCHS' new, richly illustrated book is as much about the personalities who inhabited the early streetcar suburb as about how its shaded streets got their names.

The Placenames of Chevy Chase: An Anecdotal Stroll Through the Centuries and Neighborhoods of Chevy Chase draws from CCHS' collection of vintage photographs, maps and oral histories to present Chevy Chase, MD as a microcosm of 20th-century America – beginning as a rural retreat from crowded Washington, DC in the late 1800s, and, with the push north after two World Wars, becoming a late-20th-century inner suburb.

Placenames includes little-known facts about Chevy Chase that could make even the daily commute more interesting. For example, who knew songstress Kate Smith began her career performing at an amusement park near where Chevy Chase Market now stands? Or that a World War I training camp for women occupied the east side of Connecticut Avenue at Underwood Street? These fascinating facts and many more await within the pages of The Placenames of Chevy Chase.

To order, please send check made payable to the Chevy Chase Historical Society, P.O. Box 15145, Chevy Chase, MD 20825. Member price per book including tax is $16. Non-member price per book is $20, including tax. If you buy both the DVD and book, the Non-member price is $30 and the Member price is $20.

Dec. 1 History-Go-Round Tour

of Mary Surratt House

In keeping with its theme featuring significant women during the Civil War, CCHS will offer a History-Go-Round tour of the Mary Surratt House in Clinton, Maryland, on Thursday, December 1, 2011.  Surratt was convicted of taking part in the conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. Sentenced to death, she was hanged, becoming the first woman executed by the United States government. 

The Surratt House, built in 1852 as a middle-class plantation home, also served as a tavern and inn, a post office and a polling place during the decade before the Civil War.  During the war, it was a safehouse for the Confederate underground that flourished in Southern Maryland.  Today, the restored house museum presents a variety of programs and events, recapturing the history of mid-19th century life and focusing on the fascinating web of the Lincoln conspiracy.

History-Go-Round participants will receive a guided tour of the Suratt House, beginning at 11:00 am.  The House, located in Clinton, Maryland, is approximately a 40 minute drive from Chevy Chase.  Participants must provide their own transportation, and CCHS will assist in forming carpools if requested.  Directions to the House will be provided to all registrants.  Following the tour, the group will enjoy a delicious buffet lunch at the Wayfarer Restaurant in the nearby Colony South Hotel in Clinton.  The cost for the tour and lunch is $18.00 per person.  To make a reservation, please mail a check, payable to CCHS, to Mary Anne Tuohey, 29 West Kirke Street, Chevy Chase, MD 20815.  If you have questions, please call Mrs. Tuohey at 301-656-1779.