Clara Barton House

Last Saturday, we toured the Clara Barton house. The founder of the American Red Cross had a warehouse/office/home built just outside of DC. It was an interesting guided tour through the large building that has been restored to the time period that she made it her home.

The Red Cross stained glass windows at the top of the building could be seen from a long ways away to direct visitors.

The front hallway was lined with supply cabinets that were ready for any natural disaster or emergency.

Clara Barton was very frugal and used some creative building materials (like lining walls and ceilings with fabric instead of plaster). However, the woodwork railings were very beautiful.

The view from the outside as you walk up to the building. The basement was only used for storage.

The office was restored and over 3000 original items remain in the house from Clara Barton's time period. The rest of the items were antiques that were similar to items found in photographs.

A guest bedroom that would have been used by volunteers and Red Cross workers.

The front parlor for receiving visitors. The piano was an unusual square shape.

The front of the building. The instructions for the tour were to wait on the porch. We did, and a few other people showed up and then exactly at the scheduled time the park ranger opened the door and invited us in out of the cold weather.

The dining room just off the offices.

Clara Barton's desk.

Clara Barton's bedroom. The crazy quilt was impressive.

It was a very informative tour about the life of a famous American. We were glad to go on it.