Main Street Turns a Corner

Urbanites Drawn to Cumberland, Md., by Small-Town Potential
By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to the Washington Post

Jorge Zamorano whipped out a copy of the Cumberland Times-News from behind the bar at the Starfish Cafe, one of two restaurants he owns on Capitol Hill.

The newspaper trumpeted a 17 percent increase in housing prices in the Western Maryland town over the past year. Zamorano, a Cuban-born artist and restaurateur, was pleased at his prescience.

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High on Their Lofty Spaces on the Hill

In the Old School, Tales of Love at First Sight

By Stephanie Cavanaugh (photo by Monica Cavanaugh)
Special to The Washington Post

Jamie Brown and Kyle Hamblin say they won't be buying another 17-foot Christmas tree this year.

"It touched the ceiling," said Brown, a trial lawyer. "They don't look as big on the farm."

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Touching Base on Burke Street

Close-Knit Block in SE Has Grown Even Closer

By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to The Washington Post

In 1951, Willie Bowman paid one Mr. Albright $15,950 for a modest brick rowhouse on Burke Street SE. It was about two grand more than the going price, "but this one suited me," Bowman recalled. "I didn't want to argue. I just wanted to get my wife away from my sister."

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Of Tiny Homes and Hidden Alleys

By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to The Washington Post

It is late on an overcast Sunday afternoon and the neighbors on F Street Terrace SE are popping in and out of their houses with the makings of a party.

John Klaja sets down a bistro table covered with a blue plaid cloth, topped with a pot of pansies. Will Fleishell brings pistachios. Rusty Horger backs up his pickup and drops the tailgate, a makeshift buffet. His wife, Linda, will be out in a minute; she's washing her hair.

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Going With the Flow on Tiber Island in D.C.

By Stephanie Cavanaugh
Special to The Washington Post

It's peaceful here, across the road from the Potomac River in Southwest Washington. The sun glitters on the water and there is little to be heard but the flutter and caw of the gulls and the hypnotic clank from the sailboats at their docks.

Peace is one of the chief attractions of the 64 townhouse condominiums that make up one segment of Tiber Island, a neighborhood of sand-colored condos and co-ops, houses and apartment towers, that anchors the end of the riverfront promenade farthest from the hubbub of the fish markets.

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