When Washington became the nation s capital in 1790, the surrounding area to the northwest the communities known today as Bethesda and Chevy Chase was devoted almost entirely to agriculture.
The transition of the region.
Harriet Beecher Stowe based her novel Uncle Tom s Cabin on Henson s life, and the model for that famous dwelling still stands in Bethesda today.
Many farms were worked by slaves, and one of them, Josiah Henson, escaped to Canada and wrote his life story in 1849.
When Washington became the nation s capital in 1790, the surrounding area to the northwest the communities known today as Bethesda and Chevy Chase was devoted almost entirely to agriculture