Tudor Place

In Georgetown, "Tudor Place" is another Peter family house. With money bequeathed by George Washington to his step-granddaughter, Martha Peter, the Peter family purchased an entire eight-acre city block in 1805.

The house was designed by Dr. William Thornton, the first architect of the Capitol. Many items owned by George and Martha Washington (his chest and camp stool, her tea table), Francis Scott Key's personal desk, and other items reside now in Tudor Place.

A Trust established by the last Mr. Peter (who died in 1983) manages the house and its surrounding five acres of beautiful gardens. All rooms remain complete with their original furniture, carpets, pictures and other items. Also present are the bed where Robert R. Lee spent his night in Washington (on his return to settle affairs after the Civil War), and the portrait presented to the family by General Lafayette when he visited America in 1824, many years after the revolution.

It was said in decades past, while the house was still inhabited, that unusual sounds would sometimes awaken family members and visitors. There are also unconfirmed reports of partial apparitions. Possible reasons for the reported hauntings remain unknown as of 2006.

Tudor Place, open to the public every day except Monday, is located at 31st Street and Q Street in Georgetown.

Over two centuries ago, the Peter family of crop farmers also built a house near Riley's Lock on the C&O Canal (#24) in the Seneca region of Maryland. Family members are buried there with clearly marked graves. The Peter boys and their cousins had fought in the Civil War, sometimes on different sides, as was common in Maryland, a pivotal border state throughout the conflict.

Three Sisters

There are three large rocks known as the three sisters on the Potomac River near Georgetown. The rocks are part of a submerged reef that sits in the water. The rocks got their insidious name over a hundred years ago, when a boat carrying three sisters who had set out was wrecked against the rocks. The three sisters drowned.

People who live near the shore where the accident happened have reportedly heard the moans of the ghostly women. This is an area that many accidents happen, much more so than at any other spot on the river. Numerous boats have wrecked and many swimmers have drowned. Moaning is often reported above the sound of wind and rushing water.

Some of the few survivors report that the last thing seen is the dark form of the "sisters rocks."

Back in 1889 the sound of the moaning awoke some people living near the rocks. The sound started at midnight, and the people woke up and prayed for the inevitable next victims. Just twelve-hours later a boat came down the Potomac river with a young man pulling the oars. Unpexected current pulled it off course and, in the tumult, bashed it against one fht rocks, shattering the wooden boat and pummeling the man, who ultimately drowned. (Reportedly, his body was not reclaimed from the river for over one week.)

People not experienced with the particularly insidious nature of the Potomac River's strong, capricious flows and often wildly erratic currents with large stone outcroppings often simply do not understand how treacherous it really is. It is a dangerous and merciless killer.