Eastern Market

On weekends, Capitol Hill's Eastern Market is a riotous sensory celebration: scarves and canvases cling to the stalls of outdoor vendors; South Hall flings the feisty scents of fish and flowers at the hoards in the aisle; and live music winds persistently into the crevices of each scene. Eastern Market's indoor merchants fill South Hall with an array of provisions to tempt any forager or food lover every day except for Monday, and weekends see the addition of local farmers loading tables with the morning's harvest. Artists and dealers in vintage goods decorate the surrounding lots on Saturday and Sunday, and residents of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, along with much of Washington, DC, mill convivially among the stalls.

Although Eastern Market is now a defining element of Capitol Hill's identity, its role in the community has not always been so prominent, nor so secure. The first Eastern Market was designed by Pierre L'Enfant, Washington DC's original city planner, and approved by President Thomas Jefferson in 1805. During the War of 1812, the British Army occupied the city and, in 1814, their fires devastated not only the Capitol Building and the White House, but Eastern Market as well. The scorched public market continued to operate until the Civil War interfered, but by 1871 it had dwindled into irrelevance.

In 1873, Architect Adolf Cluss restructured Eastern Market in an effort to urbanize the city that too many viewed as a quiet Southern town. Cluss moved Eastern Market to its current location nearer the Capitol, and built South Hall, which is now a National Historic Landmark. The rejuvenated market was allotted the responsibility of anchoring the post-war community by providing a town center where necessary goods were supplied. While initially popular, Eastern Market's significance again began to decline in the 1920s in the face of chain grocery stores, and many of its vendors began to stray. City government officials wanted to shut the market down, but its neighbors united in opposition. For the next several decades, community members defended their decaying landmark. After a fire ravaged the building in 2007, South Hall was renovated and its role in Washington was reaffirmed.

The city center envisioned over a century ago is now thriving. Spend a weekend afternoon picking your way among the stalls, searching through antique maps, hand-made ceramics, or African art. Farmers' stands entice you with soft peaches and rich greens, and delicately marbled meats and cheeses nestle behind glass counters. Market Lunch offers its swarm of devotees a satisfying meal at the end of South Hall: many patrons stand in line merely for a taste of the stand's renowned sweet tea or fried green tomatoes.

Eastern Market has evolved into a neighborhood that transcends the market itself. Eclectic shops and a range of restaurants hover on the market's perimeter and disperse along side streets. The marble monoliths of the federal government do not permeate this town center, yet the area is one of the definitive facets of Capitol Hill. Despite its erratic history, Eastern Market has become an axis on which much of DC's community life revolves, just as its designers intended.

- Tess Hart