White House on the Waterfront

Slanted Wayside Exhibit:
Tiber Creek / Washington City Canal
485 words / Total Audio Description: 2 minutes, 41 seconds

Site Information
124 words / 41 seconds

This is an audio description of an interpretive sign titled White House on the Waterfront. 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 panel 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 narrow strip of grass then 17th Street NW. Covered by trees in the distance is the White House.

Exhibit Panel Content
315 words / 1 minute, 47 seconds

The title reads White House on the Waterfront.This panel features an oil painting by Peter Waddell called Tiber Creek: The Bathers (2009). Saturated in warm, golden and green tones, the painting depicts a lush creek teeming with wildlife. Herons wade through lily pads and shallow water in the foreground, while purple irises bloom beneath a tree full of green parrots. In the background, cattle in grassy yellow fields graze and rest near shocks of hay by the White House. On the lower right side of the painting, a man in a loose shirt and a dark hat—President John Quincy Adams—is seated in the bottom of the canoe. A younger man, shirtless with red hair, steers the canoe with a long pole, while another younger man, also shirtless with red hair, guides the boat with one hand in knee-deep water.

White text, located below in an olive-green footer, reads:

For most of human history, the place where you’re standing was under water. Anacostan people harvested fish and shellfish from a marshy creek that ran here for thousands of years. In the 1830s, President John Quincy Adams swam in Tiber Creek, which ran past the south lawn of the White House. In the early 1800s, Washington officials turned the natural waterway into the Washington City Canal. When canals were replaced by railroads, the canal was converted into a sewer.

Below the men in the boat, a caption in white text reads:

This 2009 painting by Peter Waddell, Tiber Creek: The Bathers, shows President John Quincy Adams, his son, and a servant boating on Tiber Creek. On this particular trip, the boat was leaky. The president and his party abandoned ship and swam to shore.In the bottom right-hand corner of the panel, a dark green circle lined in light orange with white text reads:What changes have you seen in the landscape around you?

Tactile Map
46 words / 15 seconds

The title reads

Tiber Creek. A tactile map to the right of the panel and audio description buttons outlines the location of Tiber Creek.

A legend with raised letters below the map contains text that reads:

You Are Here
North
White House
Water
Washington Monument
Capitol

[End of description.]