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U.S. National Arboretum
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The National Capitol Columns originally supported the old East Portico of the United States Capitol (1828). The columns were removed during expansion of the Capitol in 1958.
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| Location: | 24th and R Sts., NE. Washington, D.C. |
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| NRHP Reference#: | 73002122 |
| Added to NRHP: | April 11, 1973 |
The United States National Arboretum is an arboretum in Washington, D.C., operated by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service as a division of the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. It was established in 1927 by an act of Congress after a campaign by USDA Chief Botanist Frederick Vernon Coville.
It is 446 acres (1.80 km2) in size, and is located 2.2 miles (3.5 km) northeast of the Capitol building, with entrances on New York Avenue and R Street, Northeast. Nine miles of roadways wind through and connect the numerous gardens and collections on the campus.
The arboretum functions as a major center of botanical research. It conducts wide-ranging basic and developmental research on trees, shrubs, turf, and floral plants. It has a library with 10,000 volumes and approximately 90 publications concentrating in botanical literature.
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The Arboretum features a small group of public artworks including "Split Ritual" by American sculptor Beverly Pepper. The piece is made of ductile iron and stands at H. 10 ft (3.0 m) x W. 44 in (110 cm) x D. 100 in (250 cm). It consists of four vertical pieces that look like large tools. They are placed in a circle on top of a doughnut shaped flat foundation and each tool is unique. The sculpture was dedicated in 1993 and in the same year was surveyed by the Smithsonian's Save Outdoor Sculpture! program and its condition was declared as well maintained.[1]
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