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Images of America: Maryland
Forest Glen
Forest Glen, Maryland, a sleepy suburb of Washington, D.C., has weathered the arrival of the railroad, construction of a summer resort, development of a fashionable girl's finishing school, and the establishment of a U.S. Army base. Throughout these times there has always been a close-knit community of homes and people that were often overshadowed by the many diverse events and changes that prevailed here. The focal point of the community--one of only a few extant eclectic architectural follies in the United States and consisting of many international styles--is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the National Park Seminary Historic District.
128 pages, Paperback
First published November 22, 2004
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March 19, 2026
Enchanted Space In A Washington, D.C. Suburb
When I read this photographic history about Forest Glen in the Images of America Series, I was both puzzled and intrigued. I was puzzled because this was not the Forest Glen I knew -- a small tree-lined suburb in Montgomery County, Maryland just north of Silver Spring that I had had substantial contact with over the years -- my daughter had gone to a school in Forest Glen for a considerable time. I was intrigued because the photgraphs of buildings and scenes in the book looked nothing like the Forest Glen I knew. They were flamboyant and outlandish and I could not place them. Fortunately, the authors of the book, Rich Schaffer and Ric Nelson, long-time community residents of Forest Glen, made reference to a community organization called "Save our Seminary" whose purpose was to preserve and educate about the places the book described. As luck would have it, the group was presenting its monthly tour today. I couldn't resist taking the tour and visiting the familiar community that had become strange.
I had to take a subway and a bus to a part of Forest Glen I hadn't seen before and then walk uphill for about one-half mile. It was a damp, chilly spring day. I came to a remote location on a hilltop overlooking a wooded area and the infamous beltway which surrounds Washington, D.C. There I joined about 35 other people for a two-hour tour of a place called the National Park Seminary given by several well-informed guides from the group called "Save our Seminary." I saw for myself and learned about the area that had so confused me in this book.
The story begins in 1887 when an entrepeneur opened a large, ornate Victorian Hotel called "Ye Forest Inn." We stood in front of the building at the beginning of the tour, and the old inscription could still be read through covered glass. The Inn was intended to give well-to-do city dwellers a respite from city life, just a short distance from the city, and to stimulate development of the surrounding woods and fields. Alas, the Inn was not a success. In 1897, the buildings and grounds were sold to an ambitious husband and wife team of educators, John and Vesta Cassedy. The Cassedy's developed the property into a finishing school for young women and called it the National Park Seminary (NPS)(no relation to the National Park Service). The Seminary's motto was "Cum Natura Non Contra" or, "with nature, not against."
The Seminary catered to young women between 13--21 of great means and wealth. The attraction was the remote, rural location which yet was within easy distance of the cultural attractions of the city. "Ye Forest Inn" became the centerpiece of the Seminary, but the grounds were developed in astounding ways over the next 40 years. No expense was spared, as a music school, a large gymnasium, a theatre known as the Odeon, sorority houses, a chapel, an enormous dance hall, and other buildings were constructed on the woodsy hill. Statues, fountains,riding stables and trails, gardens, and classical karyatids -- in the form of girls -- graced the area. A series of bridges connected the campus to the nearby railway station and over the adjacent valley. The buildings were mostly interconnected by covered walkways so that the young ladies would be spared walking outside in inclement weather of the sort we encountered on the tour.
The buildings were of every architectural style and were constructed over the years by presidents of the school with differening architectural tastes and philosophies. Thus it presented the welter of confusing sights I first encountered in the book. There was a Chinese pagoda, a Dutch windmill, an Italian Villa, Japanese Bungalows, large neo-classical structures, Swiss Chalets, Spanish Villas, among much else all thrown up helter-skelter in close proximity to one another. It was a close-knit, elaborate community for the pampered young women. When the seminary opened, there were 40 students. At its height, the school had over 400 young women, together with a substantial waiting list.
Over the years the school had three administrations, Cassedey's, James Ament's, who purchased the Seminary in 1917, and Roy Davis's, who acquired the school in 1937. Davis somewhat liberalized the school, making it more vocationally-oriented, allowing the young ladies to smoke, and providing for co-ed dances (but never for coeducation.) Davis also changed the school's name to the National Park College. In 1942, with the exegencies of WW II, the Army acquired the property by condemnation for about $850,000. That was the end of the Seminary and school.
From 1942 through the late 1970s, the Army used the property as a hospital. Most of the patients were amputees who used new prosthetic devices developed for the military and who used the peace and space of the former seminary for rehabilitation purposes. In the 1980s the property fell into disrepair when the Army no longer needed it. Ultimately, with the work of the "Save our Seminary" group, serious efforts were made to preserve and restore this historic site.
Although many of the old buildings and bridges have disappeared and others are in disrepair, the property is being restored at substantial expense by a private developer. The old buildings are, together with new construction, being restored as condominiums or as private homes in the style of the old Seminary. Much of the property remains in disrepair, but one can get a sense of the College and the Army facility from exploring the grounds. We were shown many of the buildings on the tour, but we couldn't see some of the valley areas because of the mud of a rainy day and because of the ongoing construction. Our little group was the first allowed in the "Main" as "Ye Forest Inn" became known in the Seminary. We visited the old dining room which once held 400 Chippendale Chairs, the largest collection of its kind in the world.
After the tour, I was able to revisit and appreciate Schaffer's and Nelson's little book. It covers the history of the property that became the Seminary from very early days -- well before the failed Resort. There are many photographs of the Seminary grounds and of the girls during the years of the institution and photos as well of the facility during the Army days. The book shows the property during the years of neglect, together with the restoration efforts that we saw on the tour. Photographs of parts of the Forest Glen suburb that I knew were also included in the book for good measure.
The "Save our Seminary" group publishes its own book documenting the history of the property called "Enchanted Forest Glen", from which I took the title of this review. But Schaffer's and Nelson's book gives a good picture of the area. I was pleased to have seen this site and to have learned something about a place I thought I knew. There is much to be gained by taking a fresh look at the seemingly familiar and obvious.
Robin Friedman
When I read this photographic history about Forest Glen in the Images of America Series, I was both puzzled and intrigued. I was puzzled because this was not the Forest Glen I knew -- a small tree-lined suburb in Montgomery County, Maryland just north of Silver Spring that I had had substantial contact with over the years -- my daughter had gone to a school in Forest Glen for a considerable time. I was intrigued because the photgraphs of buildings and scenes in the book looked nothing like the Forest Glen I knew. They were flamboyant and outlandish and I could not place them. Fortunately, the authors of the book, Rich Schaffer and Ric Nelson, long-time community residents of Forest Glen, made reference to a community organization called "Save our Seminary" whose purpose was to preserve and educate about the places the book described. As luck would have it, the group was presenting its monthly tour today. I couldn't resist taking the tour and visiting the familiar community that had become strange.
I had to take a subway and a bus to a part of Forest Glen I hadn't seen before and then walk uphill for about one-half mile. It was a damp, chilly spring day. I came to a remote location on a hilltop overlooking a wooded area and the infamous beltway which surrounds Washington, D.C. There I joined about 35 other people for a two-hour tour of a place called the National Park Seminary given by several well-informed guides from the group called "Save our Seminary." I saw for myself and learned about the area that had so confused me in this book.
The story begins in 1887 when an entrepeneur opened a large, ornate Victorian Hotel called "Ye Forest Inn." We stood in front of the building at the beginning of the tour, and the old inscription could still be read through covered glass. The Inn was intended to give well-to-do city dwellers a respite from city life, just a short distance from the city, and to stimulate development of the surrounding woods and fields. Alas, the Inn was not a success. In 1897, the buildings and grounds were sold to an ambitious husband and wife team of educators, John and Vesta Cassedy. The Cassedy's developed the property into a finishing school for young women and called it the National Park Seminary (NPS)(no relation to the National Park Service). The Seminary's motto was "Cum Natura Non Contra" or, "with nature, not against."
The Seminary catered to young women between 13--21 of great means and wealth. The attraction was the remote, rural location which yet was within easy distance of the cultural attractions of the city. "Ye Forest Inn" became the centerpiece of the Seminary, but the grounds were developed in astounding ways over the next 40 years. No expense was spared, as a music school, a large gymnasium, a theatre known as the Odeon, sorority houses, a chapel, an enormous dance hall, and other buildings were constructed on the woodsy hill. Statues, fountains,riding stables and trails, gardens, and classical karyatids -- in the form of girls -- graced the area. A series of bridges connected the campus to the nearby railway station and over the adjacent valley. The buildings were mostly interconnected by covered walkways so that the young ladies would be spared walking outside in inclement weather of the sort we encountered on the tour.
The buildings were of every architectural style and were constructed over the years by presidents of the school with differening architectural tastes and philosophies. Thus it presented the welter of confusing sights I first encountered in the book. There was a Chinese pagoda, a Dutch windmill, an Italian Villa, Japanese Bungalows, large neo-classical structures, Swiss Chalets, Spanish Villas, among much else all thrown up helter-skelter in close proximity to one another. It was a close-knit, elaborate community for the pampered young women. When the seminary opened, there were 40 students. At its height, the school had over 400 young women, together with a substantial waiting list.
Over the years the school had three administrations, Cassedey's, James Ament's, who purchased the Seminary in 1917, and Roy Davis's, who acquired the school in 1937. Davis somewhat liberalized the school, making it more vocationally-oriented, allowing the young ladies to smoke, and providing for co-ed dances (but never for coeducation.) Davis also changed the school's name to the National Park College. In 1942, with the exegencies of WW II, the Army acquired the property by condemnation for about $850,000. That was the end of the Seminary and school.
From 1942 through the late 1970s, the Army used the property as a hospital. Most of the patients were amputees who used new prosthetic devices developed for the military and who used the peace and space of the former seminary for rehabilitation purposes. In the 1980s the property fell into disrepair when the Army no longer needed it. Ultimately, with the work of the "Save our Seminary" group, serious efforts were made to preserve and restore this historic site.
Although many of the old buildings and bridges have disappeared and others are in disrepair, the property is being restored at substantial expense by a private developer. The old buildings are, together with new construction, being restored as condominiums or as private homes in the style of the old Seminary. Much of the property remains in disrepair, but one can get a sense of the College and the Army facility from exploring the grounds. We were shown many of the buildings on the tour, but we couldn't see some of the valley areas because of the mud of a rainy day and because of the ongoing construction. Our little group was the first allowed in the "Main" as "Ye Forest Inn" became known in the Seminary. We visited the old dining room which once held 400 Chippendale Chairs, the largest collection of its kind in the world.
After the tour, I was able to revisit and appreciate Schaffer's and Nelson's little book. It covers the history of the property that became the Seminary from very early days -- well before the failed Resort. There are many photographs of the Seminary grounds and of the girls during the years of the institution and photos as well of the facility during the Army days. The book shows the property during the years of neglect, together with the restoration efforts that we saw on the tour. Photographs of parts of the Forest Glen suburb that I knew were also included in the book for good measure.
The "Save our Seminary" group publishes its own book documenting the history of the property called "Enchanted Forest Glen", from which I took the title of this review. But Schaffer's and Nelson's book gives a good picture of the area. I was pleased to have seen this site and to have learned something about a place I thought I knew. There is much to be gained by taking a fresh look at the seemingly familiar and obvious.
Robin Friedman
Displaying 1 of 1 review