The Madonna of the Trail, Bethesda Maryland
The Madonna of the Trial statue in Bethesda Maryland was dedicated on April 19, 1929 on land given by Walter R. Tuckerman facing the County Building on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Montgomery Lane. The Bethesda Post Office was built at this corner in 1937. This was the last of the 12 Madonna Statues to be dedicated; Judge Harry Truman was present. It contained within it's base a time capsule.
The inscriptions on base refer to Braddock's 1755 Campaign. and the first Military Road in America.
In 1982 the statue was removed for the construction of the Bethesda Metro Plaza and the Hyatt Hotel. In May 1982 the time capsule was found to contain "no real goodies" and it's contents were "dumped in a bucket and locked inside a closet at DAR Headquarters.". The statue was replaced in 1986 on the north side of the Post Office. It was removed again in 2004 when it was nearly toppled by by a sink hole.
Photos by Janice Browne, 11/6/2004
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