District of Columbia – the federal district chosen on the Potomac
The District of Columbia exists because Congress resolved on 6 October 1783, after the Pennsylvania Mutiny had briefly driven it from Philadelphia to Princeton, to look for a permanent home of its own; New York City served as the first capital under the Constitution and Philadelphia from 1790 to 1800 before the government moved to the new district on the Potomac. The name honours Columbia, the female personification of the nation, while Washington recalls the first president. Long before, the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway lived along the Potomac and the Nacotchtank kept settlements on the Anacostia; displaced by conflict, some Piscataway founded a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. Members are invited to share their own memories and photographs.