Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:01HE TOLD BENJAMIN RUSH IT WASN'T JUST ABIGAIL. HE WAS WRITING.
00:00:04HE WROTE A BENJAMIN RUSHING CASE WHEN THE STORY THIS GENERATION
00:00:08IS WRITTEN, IT'S GOING TO COME OUT LIKE THIS.
00:00:13THAT DR. FRANKLIN STRUCK THE
00:00:15EARTH WITH HIS LIGHTNING ROD AND
00:00:19UP JABBED GENERAL WASHINGTON AND THE TWO OF THEM, THEY
00:00:23ACCOMPLISHED THE GREAT AFFAIRS OF WAR AND PEACE AND IT WENT
00:00:26WITHOUT SAYING AND THAT I, JOHN
00:00:28ADAMS, WAS NOT GIVEN CREDIT THAT I WAS DUE.
00:00:32SO ADAMS IS IS ONE WHO REALLY WEARS HIS EMOTIONS ON HIS SLEEVE
00:00:36AND, HIS EMOTIONS CHANGE FROM DAY TO DAY. SO THE NEXT DAY HE'S SORT OF
00:00:40LUCID AS FRANKLIN SAID ABOUT JOHN ADAMS.
00:00:43HE IS, AS HONEST AS THE DAY IS LONG.
00:00:47HE IS THE MOST INDUSTRIOUS
00:00:49PERSON AND HE'S ABSOLUTELY CRAZY. ABOUT HALF THE TIME.
00:00:53AND THAT'S THE KIND OF GUY YOU WANT TO QUOTE.
00:00:55SO I'M NOT SURE IF THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN THAT IN THE LETTERS.
00:00:59GEORGE TO MARTHA. WELL, LET'S GIVE HIM A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE.
00:01:03THANK YOU SO MUCH, SANJAY. THANK YOU.
00:01:23MY NAME IS DEVIN DOTSON. I'M SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS
00:01:27SPECIALIST AT THE UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDEN. AND WE ARE HERE IN FRONT OF THE
00:01:30HISTORIC FOUNTAIN OF LIGHT AND WATER, ALSO CALLED THE BARTOLO FOUNTAIN.
00:01:34WE'RE EXCITED TO CELEBRATE THIS FOUNTAIN THIS YEAR AS PART OF AMERICA.
00:01:38250 BECAUSE THIS FOUNTAIN WAS MADE FOR AMERICA'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY AND THE AMERICAN
00:01:44CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION IN PHILADELPHIA.
00:01:48IN 1876. THIS DOWNTOWN WAS DESIGNED BY A
00:01:50SCULPTOR NAMED FREDERIC AUGUSTE BARTHOLDI. AND IF YOU DON'T KNOW HIS NAME,
00:01:54YOU PROBABLY KNOW ONE OF HIS OTHER WORKS THAT HE MADE ABOUT TEN YEARS OR SO AFTER THIS FOUNTAIN.
00:01:57THAT'S THE STATUE OF LIBERTY. AND SO THIS WAS HIS FIRST MONUMENTAL CREATION HERE IN THE
00:02:01UNITED STATES. AND HE MADE IT FOR THIS EXPO 30
00:02:05FEET TALL, MADE OUT OF CAST IRON. HE WAS HOPING TO SELL COPIES OF
00:02:09IT. AND AT THE END OF THE EXPO, HE SOLD EXACTLY ZERO. AND SO FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED,
00:02:12WHO HAD JUST FINISHED DESIGNING THE US CAPITOL GROUNDS, SAID TO
00:02:16CONGRESS, I THINK YOU GUYS SHOULD BUY THIS. IT'S BEFITTING OF A NATION'S CAPITAL. SO THEY DID BUY IT AND THEY
00:02:21MOVED IT HERE TO WASHINGTON, D.C. AT THE END OF THE EXPO IN
00:02:231877, INTO OUR GROUNDS. AND THE US BOTANIC GARDEN HAS
00:02:26BEEN KEEPERS OF THIS HISTORIC FOUNTAIN.
00:02:29NOW FOR 149, ITS.
00:02:32150 YEARS, THIS FOUNTAIN IS MADE OF CAST IRON.
00:02:35IT IS PAINTED TO LOOK LIKE EITHER BRONZE OR COPPER, AND THAT WAS HIS INTENT FROM THE
00:02:40BEGINNING. BUT IT IS CAST IRON AND IT'S 30 FEET TALL, WHICH MEANS IT'S VERY HEAVY.
00:02:44THIS THING WEIGHS.
00:02:48OVER 30,000 POUNDS. AND WE JUST FOUND OUT I JUST FOUND OUT IN DOING SOME DEEP
00:02:51DIVE RESEARCH AND CELEBRATING ITS HISTORY THIS YEAR.
00:02:55GREAT BREAKING NEWS. FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, THERE ACTUALLY WAS A SECOND COPY OF
00:02:58THE FOUNTAIN MADE NOT DURING THE EXPO.
00:03:00HE DID NOT SUCCESSFULLY SELL ANY COPIES TO ANYONE DURING THE
00:03:05EXPO, BUT ABOUT TEN YEARS LATER, HE ACTUALLY DID CAST A SECOND
00:03:07COPY OF THE FOUNTAIN WITHOUT THE LAMP, SO IT WAS NOT LIT UP AT
00:03:11NIGHT AND NEVER HAD THE GASWORKS INSIDE LIKE OURS DID. BUT THE EXACT COPY WAS CAST IN
00:03:16FRANCE FOR A DIFFERENT CITY IN FRANCE, BUT IT ONLY STOOD FOR
00:03:20ABOUT 20 YEARS AND IT ACTUALLY WAS HIT DURING WORLD WAR ONE.
00:03:24AND SO BY EARLY 1900S IT WAS GONE AND HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN
00:03:28AGAIN. BUT THERE WAS FOR A SHORT TIME A SECOND COPY OF THIS FOUNTAIN,
00:03:32ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME, JUST MISSING THE LAMPS.
00:03:34SO THE FOUNTAIN, AS I SAID, IS
00:03:36ABOUT 30 FEET TALL AND THE WHOLE CONCEPT FROM THE BEGINNING, HE
00:03:40CALLED IT THE FOUNTAIN OF LIGHT AND WATER AND THAT WAS REALLY
00:03:42UNIQUE BECAUSE HE INTEGRATED GASWORKS INTO IT.
00:03:45SO YOU SEE THE LARGEST BASIN THERE HAS THESE FOUNTAIN LAMPS
00:03:48WHERE THEY'RE ALL THE WAY AROUND THE OUTSIDE. AND FROM THE BEGINNING THEY WERE
00:03:51LIT UP WITH GAS AT NIGHT. AND THIS WAS A REALLY INTEGRAL
00:03:54PART OF THE FOUNTAIN BECAUSE HE WANTED THIS TO BE A FEATURE AT
00:03:57NIGHT IN ADDITION TO THE DAYTIME. AND EVEN WHEN IT MOVED HERE TO
00:04:01WASHINGTON IN 1877, WE CONTINUED LIGHTING IT UP WITH GAS THERE AT NIGHT AND IT BECAME A SOCIAL
00:04:05GATHERING SPOT IN THE LATE 1800S IN WASHINGTON, DC BECAUSE EVERYTHING WASN'T ELECTRIFIED YET.
00:04:09AND THIS BECAME ONE OF THE FIRST PLACES IN WASHINGTON THAT PEOPLE
00:04:12COULD GATHER TO SEE AND BE SEEN. MANY NEWSPAPERS REPORTED ON ALL
00:04:14OF THE GATHERINGS AND HAPPENINGS AT THE BARTHOLDI FOUNTAIN AT THE
00:04:18UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDEN IN THE LATE 1800S.
00:04:20AND IF YOU'RE LOOKING SORT OF AT THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE
00:04:23FOUNTAIN, YOU START SORT OF WITH THE CASTLE NATIONS AT THE VERY
00:04:26TOP AS THE WATER SPILLS DOWN, YOU HAVE SOME LITTLE YOUNG
00:04:30MERMAN THERE THAT ARE HOLDING UP SOME SEAWEED. SO EVERYTHING BECOMES VERY
00:04:33AQUATIC FROM THAT POINT DOWN. IT'S A LOT OF SEA PLANTS AND
00:04:36THEN YOU MOVE DOWN TO THE THREE CARYATIDS THERE, THE LADIES WITH
00:04:40THEIR BEAUTIFUL FLOWING DRESSES AND EVEN AT THE CENTER OF THEIR
00:04:43DRESSES, THEIR SEASHELL DECORATIONS AND YOU CONTINUE
00:04:46DOWN FURTHER AND YOU GET THESE BEAUTIFUL FISH SPITTING OUT
00:04:50WATER, MORE SEA, SEA PLANT LIFE
00:04:52AS YOU MOVE DOWN AND THEN AT THE LOWEST LEVEL HERE, YOU HAVE SOME
00:04:56AQUATIC TORTOISES AND THEY'RE SPITTING OUT SOME WATER AS WELL
00:04:58WITH SOME REPEATED SEASHELL MOTIFS, A LOT OF SEA THEMES
00:05:02MIXED IN WITH THIS. AND WE HAD AN ART HISTORIAN HERE
00:05:05SEVERAL YEARS AGO LOOKING AT THINGS BECAUSE THIS WAS SORT OF
00:05:08A PREDECESSOR TO THE STATUE OF LIBERTY THAT HE WORKED ON. LATER AFTER THIS, AND SHE SORT
00:05:11OF WAS COMMENTING ON THE THE FLOWING MOVEMENT OF THE DRESSES
00:05:15AS AS HE WAS STARTING TO WORK OUT HOW TO MAKE THAT LOOK REALLY
00:05:18NICE AND SORT OF WAS REPRESENTED AGAIN IN THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
00:05:21THAT HE WORKED ON AFTER THIS PROJECT.
00:05:24SO THE LAMPS, THE LANTERN SHAPES AND THE LAMPS HAVE CHANGED.
00:05:27WHAT'S THROUGH THEIR HISTORY.
00:05:29AND SO SEVERAL DECADES AGO, AS PART OF THE PROCESS, WHEN THEY
00:05:33WERE WORKING ON A RESTORATION, THEY HAD UPDATED THE LAMPS TO A
00:05:36GLOBE SHAPE. AND SO A FEW DID COME AS MAYBE
00:05:39AS A YOUNG CHILD MANY YEARS AGO, YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN SORT OF A WHITE GLOBE SHAPE ON THE LAMPS.
00:05:42AND WE DID A FULL RESTORATION ON
00:05:46THIS FOUNTAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ITS HUNDRED AND 50 YEARS, JUST ABOUT TWO DECADES AGO,
00:05:50FULLY TOOK IT APART, RESTORED ALL OF THE WATER AND ELECTRICAL
00:05:53WORKS ON THE INSIDE TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING WAS REALLY SOLID. AS WE HEAD INTO ITS NEXT 150
00:05:57YEARS. AND THEY RESTORED THE THE
00:06:00LANTERNS MADE RECREATIONS THAT WERE BACK TO THE ORIGINAL. SO WHAT WE'RE SEEING TODAY,
00:06:04THESE ARE RECREATIONS OF THE ORIGINAL LANTERNS THAT ARE TOLD
00:06:08HE HIMSELF DESIGNED FOR THIS FOUNTAIN. SO EVERYTHING YOU SEE TODAY IS
00:06:11EXACTLY AS HE INTENDED FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, 150 YEARS AGO.
00:06:15SO WE'RE HERE AT THE FOUNTAIN OF LIGHT AND WATER, ALSO CALLED THE
00:06:18BARTHOLDI FOUNTAIN, AND WE'RE IN A GARDEN NAMED AFTER THAT FOR
00:06:21SEVERAL DECADES NOW AT THE UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDEN, WE
00:06:24WE HAVE THIS FOUNTAIN AREA THAT'S CALLED BARTHOLDI FOUNTAIN
00:06:27AND GARDENS TO HONOR THE MAN WHO MADE THIS MONUMENTAL FOUNTAIN.
00:06:30AND IT'S HERE AT THE UNITED STATES BOTANIC GARDEN ON THE EDGE OF THE UNITED STATES
00:06:34CAPITOL. WE HAVE BEEN HERE SINCE 1824,
00:06:38205 YEARS OLD, AND WE'VE BEEN CARETAKING FOR THIS PIECE OF AMERICAN HISTORY. NOW, FOR 150 YEARS.
00:06:42AND WE'RE SO EXCITED TO CELEBRATE IT THIS YEAR AS PART
00:06:45OF AMERICA 250, ALONG WITH OUR CELEBRATION OF ALL OF THE
00:06:48OFFICIAL STATE FLOWERS AND MANY OTHER PIECES. AND WE HOPE PEOPLE WILL COME
00:06:52OVER AND SEE THIS