Disappearing Act

Slanted Wayside Exhibit:
Changing Shoreline
379 words / Total Audio Description: 2 minutes, 6 seconds

Site Information
106 words / 35 seconds

This is an audio description of an interpretive sign titled Disappearing Act. The sign is divided into 2 parts. On the left is a graphic panel measuring 3 feet (1 meter) wide by 2 feet (0.5 meters) tall. On the right, a tactile map is 1 foot (0.3 meters) wide by 2 feet (0.5 meters) tall. An audio speaker with push buttons and two solar panels separates the graphic panel from the map. All parts are set within an angled black metal frame with two legs that raise the sign 3 feet (1 meter) off the ground. Beyond the panel is a grassy area with trees.

Exhibit Panel Content
273 words / 1 minute, 31 seconds

The title reads Disappearing Act.The pastel illustration shows a bustling historic river scene. In the lower left corner, mules are hitched to a canal boat carrying workers and goods. The lockkeeper’s family appears to greet the workers from the front yard. Behind them, a small, grey brick building—the lockkeeper’s house—is at the entrance of river port. In the center of the illustration, workers appear to be moving goods off the seven wooden ships, while the gray Potomac River flows on either side of the dock. In the background of the illustration, a hazy scene reveals a partially complete Washington Monument, built stone by stone.

Black text, located at the top of the panel, reads:

If you stood here in 1870, you would look out over the Potomac River. Sailors and dock workers—many recently freed from enslavement—hustled to move cargo on the 17th Street Wharf. Mules pulled long, low canal boats down the canal behind you. The river view didn’t last. The government filled in parts of the river between 1881 and 1890. Today, most of that new land is occupied by the monuments and parks we know as the National Mall.

Near the Washington Monument, a brown label in white text reads:

Washington Monument. An illustration caption reads in black text:The Washington Monument stood partially finished, like it is here, for over 20 years. Construction began in 1848, but lack of money stopped it in 1854. It remained unfinished through the Civil War. Construction resumed in 1878 with marble from different quarries, but the new stones didn’t quite match. You can see where the color changes today.

[End of description.]