There is a traffic circle (a roundabout to the Brits) a stone’s throw from the White House, called The Ellipse.
Does this have any historical function, or is it just a semi-famous traffic median?
Here is the history of the ellipse.
It would seem that it is just decorative. Incidently, theZero Milestone is at the Ellipse.
An aerial view of the ellipse.
The national christmas tree lives there right now, along with the yule log and a few national reindeer.
I should also mention it’s a traffic circle in appearance only. Functionally it’s a parking lot, and it might even be closed off to all but “official” vehicles in these recent days of international tension.
Attrayant, you are right. Currently it is a parking lot for official vehicles only. Before 9/11 it was a parking lot for everyone but only after 6ish PM. I don’t know if they will open it again for the lighting of the White House Tacky Giftmas Tree.
I have an interesting story, vaguely relevant to the question. Shortly after the first inauguration of Bill Clinton on a cold winter night I had a chat with two homeless gents who were living on the Ellipse. They were complaining that the Secret Service was trying to expand the security perimeter around the White House and had told the two of them to clear out.
“They can’t kick us out of here–this is our home,” I remember one of them saying.
There wasn’t much I could do about it, but I suggested to them that maybe they should make some signs and otherwise advertise their problem. A lot of federal employees pass through there.
That summer of 1993 I was again walking past the Ellipse and sure enough, there was one of the guys, hanging out within a hundred feet of where I met him the first time. I asked him how things had turned out, and he told me that they had indeed raised a stink about it to anyone who would listen, and not long afterward some Secret Service guys came up to them and said the President himself wanted to apologize for trying to run them off. They were welcome to stay there as long as they wished.
He could have been BSing me, but that really cracked me up. I still have visions of the President walking his dog up to the fence there in the back yard and saying, “howdy, neighbor–is the steam grate warm enough for ya these days?”