With great thanks to reader G. for passing this along, I can report that the newly released Google Earth 5.0 (beta, of course) now includes an option to page back through older satellite photos. As you might imagine, I raced to see what they had for Near Southeast, and found a not-razor-sharp 1949 image, which you can see on my Near Southeast Satellite Photos page if you don't have Google Earth.

* Tonight (Thursday) is Tommy Wells's second Liveable, Walkable Community Awards, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street, NE.

* A reminder that Friday night (Oct. 24) is the "Night at the Yards" fundraiser for Living Classrooms of the National Capital Region. Individual tickets are $125 in advance, $135 at the door for the event to be held in a big tent at Fourth and Tingey, with music by the English Beat and Rita Rocks. Living Classrooms is planning to eventually build its new main campus building on the eastern end of the waterfront park at the Yards, near the Navy Yard.

* The Post has an article on how today's Nationals game against the Brewers is the second of only two weekday afternoon games at Nationals Park this season. " 'We love afternoon weekday games but had to hold off this year due to the uncertainty about daytime parking availability,' Nationals President Stan Kasten said. 'We'd certainly like to have more next season, but no decisions have been made about '09.' " The article also talks to hookey-playing grownups who miss these games. Given that it's a holiday, and the gorgeous weather, and Sunday's second-highest-of-the-season attendance (35,567), this final weekday game might see a pretty big pile of people.

From NBC4 (this is the entire piece): "There could soon be a faster way to get from Prince William County to the District. The Potomac River Express commuter ferry took its first test run Thursday, traveling from Quantico Marina up the Potomac River to Navy Yard. During the trial run, the ferry got to the Wilson Bridge in 47 minutes. The ferry arrived at Navy Yard in just under an hour. That's nearly half the amount of time it can [take] by car during rush hour. More test runs for the ferry are planned for the spring. The company that will run it still needs to get approval to operate from the Virginia Department of Transportation." There's also a much more detailed story from the Potomac News. I don't think they actually docked anywhere along the Anacostia (since there isn't anywhere for a ferry to let people off--yet), they were just testing the time.

I've updated my Upcoming Events Calendar with the lineup of activities for September at the Navy Yard's Naval Historical Center.

The US Navy Museum has released its July/August schedule of events, which I've added to my Upcoming Events calendar. So take the Little Skippers down to the museum for some maritime craft-making!

On Monday (May 7), DDOT is having a media briefing to announce that construction has begun on the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail. This is the first phase, and so doesn't actually include the planned portion of the trail through Near Southeast (from the 11th Street Bridges to the Frederick Douglass Bridge)--according to the AWC page and a meeting AWC held a few weeks back, I believe what's now being constructed is Phase I, the trail on the west side of the Anacostia from the Navy Yard to the National Arboretum. Phase 2 will be on the east side of the river, from Poplar Point to Pennsylvania Avenue, and Phase 3 (the Near Southeast portion) is probably looking at a 2010 date (when the Waterfront Park at the Yards is completed, and they can build the pedestrian bridge to link that park to Diamond Teague Park and Florida Rock.

More posts: 11th Street Bridges, Anacostia Waterfront Corp., Pedestrian/Cycling Issues, East of 11th Street, Florida Rock, Navy Yard, riverwalk, Teague Park, The Yards