This is the former Old Soldier's Home from Civil War days. Lincoln would sleep out here during the summers to beat the Washington heat. The Home is perched 300 feet above DC and is much cooler, catching the breezes on the hilltop. Washington was built on swampland which made the summers humid and full of mosquitoes. People threw their shit, literally, in the canal where Constitution Avenue lies now. The summer heat made the stench unbearable.

The government bought the house and surrounding farm land from George W. Riggs, the founder of Riggs National Bank back in 1851. Now the grounds have expanded into the Armed Forces Retirement Home, hosting a thousand former servicemen. There is no waiting line. They have room for 1300. You have to either be wounded in service or serve twenty years and be able to walk through the front door. You can stroke out the next day and you will be cared for but you have to make it through the threshhold on your own steam.

The retirees pay a pittance to stay. The cost is paid by a twenty-five cent charge made to every enlisted person's monthly paycheck. Also, anytime an enlisted person suffers pay forfeitures, it goes to the Home. Angela, our guide, says the food is pretty good. It sounds like one of those secret good deals that nobody knows about.