The Washington meridians are four meridians that were used as prime meridians in the United States which pass through Washington, D.C. The four that have been specified are:
75-721: Jefferson Pier , Jefferson Stone , or the Jefferson Pier Stone , (pronounced pie-er, like radials of a pie ) in Washington, D.C. , marks the second prime meridian of the United States even though it was never officially recognized, either by presidential proclamation or by a resolution or act of Congress . The stone is on the National Mall almost due south of the center of the White House and
150-412: A steak pie or a Jamaican patty ), eggs and cheese (such as quiches or British flans ) or a mixture of meat and vegetables ( pot pie ). Pies are defined by their crusts . A filled pie (also single-crust or bottom-crust ), has pastry lining the baking dish, and the filling is placed on top of the pastry but left open. A top-crust pie has the filling in the bottom of the dish and is covered with
225-467: A "...moyst, thick, tough, course and long-lasting crust, and therefore of all other your Rye paste is best for that purpose.” The largest pies of the era were "standing pies", which were baked with steam holes, which were then sealed with melted butter (which would harden to seal the pie), and then eaten over several months. During the Puritan era of Oliver Cromwell , some sources claim mince pie eating
300-403: A "hygienic pie" which had "apple slices or a pumpkin custard baked in biscuit dough". In 1866, Harper's Magazine included an article by C.W. Gesner that stated that although we "...cry for pie when we are infants", "Pie kills us finally", as the "heavy crust" cannot be digested. Another factor that decreased the popularity of pies was industrialization and increasing movement of women into
375-779: A brick bread oven, and because any mixture of ingredients could be added to pies to "stretch" their "meager provisions". The apple pie made with American apples became popular, because apples were easy to dry and store in barrels over the winter. Early American pies had thick, heavy crusts made with rough flour and suet. As pioneers spread westward, pies continued to be an important supply of food; while apple pies made from dried apples were popular, cooks often had to use fillers or substitutes to stretch out their barrels of apples, such as crushed crackers, vinegar-soaked potatoes, sour green tomatoes and soft-shelled river turtle meat. The first Thanksgiving feast included fowl and venison, which may have been included in pies. Colonists appreciated
450-408: A defaced inscription engraved on its west face that states: POSITION OF JEFFERSON PIER ERECTED DEC 18, 1804. RECOVERED AND RE-ERECTED DEC 2, 1889. [fifth line chiseled out] DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA The chiseled-out fifth line reportedly once incorrectly stated: "BEING THE CENTRE POINT OF THE". According to a notation on Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant 's 1791 " Plan of the city intended for
525-463: A flaky crust and bottom are also a popular dish, typically with a filling of meat (particularly beef, chicken, or turkey), gravy, and mixed vegetables (potatoes, carrots, and peas). Frozen pot pies are often sold in individual serving size. Fruit pies may be served with a scoop of ice cream, a style known in North America as pie à la mode . Many sweet pies are served this way. Apple pie is
600-764: A gift of the Lee Highway Association, was for some reason placed one foot west of the original meridian line extending north–south from the center of the White House. In 1943, the Jefferson Memorial was completed due south of the White House on the Washington Meridian. As a result, the Jefferson Pier now stands on a north–south line that passes near the centers of the "President's house" and the memorial dedicated to
675-470: A huge pie that could serve a large group. In the Georgian era, sweetened pies of meat and dried fruits began to become less popular. In recipe books of the period sweet veal, sweet lamb or sweet chicken pies are given alongside recipes for unsweetened alternatives with the same ingredients made for those who could "no longer stomach the sweetened flesh meats enjoyed by earlier generations". Pumpkin pie
750-640: A new meridian line extending south from the center of the President's House that intersected a line extending due west from the planned center of the Capitol building. On October 15, 1804, Nicholas King, Surveyor of the City of Washington, erected at the intersection "a small pier, covered by a flat free stone, on which the lines are drawn." This established the Washington Meridian (sometimes termed
825-406: A pastry or other covering before baking. A two-crust pie has the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell. Shortcrust pastry is a typical kind of pastry used for pie crusts, but many things can be used, including baking powder biscuits , mashed potatoes , and crumbs . Pies can be a variety of sizes, ranging from bite-size to those designed for multiple servings. The first known use of
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#1732776905609900-418: A peacock-filled pie. The expressions "eat crow" and "four and 20 blackbirds" are sayings from the era when crow and blackbirds were eaten in pies. Cooked birds were frequently placed by European royal cooks on top of a large pie to identify its contents, leading to its later adaptation in pre-Victorian times as a porcelain ornament to release of steam. The apple pie was first referenced in writing in 1589, when
975-744: A pie case. By 160 BC, Roman statesman Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149 BC), who wrote De Agri Cultura , notes the recipe for the most popular pie/cake called placenta . Also called libum by the Romans, it was more like a modern-day cheesecake on a pastry base, often used as an offering to the gods. With the development of the Roman Empire and its efficient road transport, pie cooking spread throughout Europe . Wealthy Romans combined many types of meats in their pies, including mussels and other seafood. Roman pie makers generally used vegetable oils, such as olive oil, to make their dough. Pies remained as
1050-569: A recipe for chicken pie was written on a tablet in Sumer . Pie pastry is believed to have originated in Ancient Greece . In the plays of Aristophanes (5th century BC), there are mentions of sweetmeats including small pastries filled with fruit. Nothing is known of the actual pastry used, but the Greeks certainly recognized the trade of pastry-cook as distinct from that of baker. When fat
1125-440: A removable top crust, hence the name pot pie . The first unequivocal reference to pie in a written source is in the 14th century ( Oxford English Dictionary sb pie ). The eating of mince pies during festive periods is a tradition that dates back to the 13th century, as the returning Crusaders brought pie recipes containing "meats, fruits and spices". Some pies contained cooked rabbits, frogs, crows, and pigeons. In 1390,
1200-431: A skilled pie cook by comparing the cook to a fortification builder who "...Makes citadels of curious fowl and fish" and makes "dry-ditches", "bulwark pies" and "ramparts of immortal crusts". In Gervase Markham's 1615 book The English Huswife , there is a pie recipe that calls for "an entire leg of mutton and three pounds of suet..., along with salt, cloves, mace, currants, raisins, prunes, dates, and orange peel", which made
1275-418: A staple of traveling and working peoples in the colder northern European countries, with regional variations based on both the locally grown and available meats, as well as the locally farmed cereal crop. In these colder countries, butter and lard were the main fats in use, which meant that pie cooks created dough that could be rolled flat and moulded into different shapes. The Cornish pasty is an adaptation of
1350-488: A survey of a meridian through the President's house while living in the house when serving as the President of the United States . It is not known why Jefferson requested a survey of a new meridian after he had previously directed a survey of a different one while serving as Secretary of State eleven years earlier. In accordance with Jefferson's request, Isaac Briggs used a transit and equal altitude instrument to survey
1425-619: A traditional choice, though any pie with sweet fillings may be served à la mode . This combination, and possibly the name as well, is thought to have been popularized in the mid-1890s in the United States . Apple pie can be made with a variety of apples; cultivars such as the Golden Delicious , Pink Lady , Granny Smith , and Rome Beauty are popular for usage in pies. Cold pigeon pies and venison pasties appear in novels by Jane Austen , but also more generally in writing in
1500-625: A way that other foods were not. In 1806 Mrs Rundell in her Observations on Savoury Pies in A New System of Domestic Cookery stated that 'There are few articles of cookery more generally liked than relishing pies, if properly made'. Alexis Soyer , a celebrity cook of the 19th century said in his book Shilling Cookery for the People (1860) "From childhood we eat pies - from girlhood to boyhood we eat pies - in fact, pies in England may be considered as one of our best companions du voyage through life. It
1575-627: A wide range of newly developed sweet pies. Pies became more refined with subsequent waves of immigrants; the Pennsylvania Dutch contributed a more aromatic, spiced, and less-sweet style of pie-making; the French brought the approach of making pie with butter and a range of tart, galette and pâté (forcemeat of meat and fish in dough) recipes. Swedish immigrants in the plains states brought recipes for fish pie and berry pie; Finnish immigrants brought their recipes for pasties and meat pies. In
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#17327769056091650-444: Is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie ), nuts ( pecan pie ), fruit preserves ( jam tart ), brown sugar ( sugar pie ), sweetened vegetables ( rhubarb pie ), or with thicker fillings based on eggs and dairy (as in custard pie and cream pie ). Savoury pies may be filled with meat (as in
1725-485: Is about 4 arc seconds less than NAD83. Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant specified the first meridian in his 1791 " Plan of the city intended for the permanent seat of the government of the United States . . . " (see: L'Enfant Plan ). (Shortly after L'Enfant prepared this plan, its subject received the name "City of Washington".) His plan stated near its right side that the longitude of the Congress house, now called
1800-421: Is added to a flour-water paste it becomes a pastry . The Romans made a plain pastry of flour, oil, and water to cover meats and fowls which were baked, thus keeping in the juices. The Roman approach of covering "...birds or hams with dough" has been called more of an attempt to prevent the meat from drying out during baking than an actual pie in the modern sense. The covering was not meant to be eaten. It filled
1875-558: Is fine grained stone soft enough to carve with a chisel, yet has no tendency to split in any preferential direction. Another stone, the Capitol Stone , was erected where the north–south line from the President's house intersected a line extending west from the south end of the Capitol, and a third stone, the Meridian Stone , was erected on the north–south meridian two miles north on Peters Hill, now Meridian Hill. Neither of
1950-426: Is the food of the heroic" and "no pie-eating people can ever be permanently vanquished". The slang expression "to eat humble pie" comes from the umble pie , which was made with chopped animal offal. "It's a piece of pie", meaning that something is easy, dates from 1889. "Pie-eyed", meaning drunk, dates from 1904. The expression "pie in the sky", to refer to an unlikely proposal or idea, comes from " The Preacher and
2025-603: Is we who leave them behind, not they who leave us; for our children and grandchildren will be as fond of pies as we have been; therefore it is needful that we should learn how to make them, and make them well! Believe me, I am not jesting, but if all the spoilt pies made in London on one single Sunday were to be exhibited in a row beside a railway line, it would take above an hour by special train to pass in review these culinary victims". The Pilgrim fathers and early settlers brought their pie recipes with them to America , adapting to
2100-478: The Boston cream pie , which is a cake . Many fruit and berry pies are very similar, varying only the fruit used in filling. Fillings for sweet or fruity are often mixed, such as strawberry rhubarb pie . Washington meridian#White House meridian Their longitudes may be reported in three ways: NAD83 longitude of the Capitol is about 1.1 arc seconds less than its NAD27 longitude; astronomic longitude there
2175-578: The Potomac River . The area of the present National Mall west of the marker was under water until an engineering project that Peter Conover Hains directed from 1882 to 1891 created West Potomac Park . East of the marker, Tiber Creek was transformed into the Washington City Canal . Barges used the marker as a mooring post during and after the first phase of Washington Monument's construction, which began in 1848. However, that usage
2250-643: The Shakespearean era, fruit pies were served hot, but others were served at room temperature, as they would be brought to the "...table more than once". Apple pies were popular in Tudor and Stuart times. Pippins were baked with cloves , cinnamon , dates and candied orange peels . Rosewater was often added to apple pies. The Elizabethan food author Gervase Markham called for baking “Red Deer Venison, Wild-Boar, Gammons of Bacon, Swans, Elkes, Porpus and such like standing dishes, which must be kept long" in
2325-493: The food preservation aspect of crusty-topped pies, which were often seasoned with "dried fruit, cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg". Their first pies included pies that were based on berries and fruits pointed out to them by the Native North Americans . Pies allowed colonial cooks to use round shallow pans to literally "cut corners" and to create a regional variation of shallow pie. By the late 1700s, cookbooks show
Jefferson Pier - Misplaced Pages Continue
2400-494: The "16th Street Meridian"), now at a longitude 77°2'11.56" (NAD 83) west of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich . The pier and stone were located at the point that L'Enfant's plan had identified as being the future site of George Washington's equestrian statue. A pier is a massive pillar capable of supporting a great weight. Most of the length of a surveying pier is buried vertically in the ground for stability. Free stone
2475-451: The "Congress house" and its northern vertex at the President's House, now named the "White House". (This would place L'Enfant's statue 0.36 meters (1 ft 2 in) north of the latitude of the Capitol.) The west side of L'Enfant's triangle forms a natural prime meridian passing through the center of the President's house. The following ten features on and near this "Washington Meridian" are listed from south to north: The third meridian
2550-464: The "President's house" (now the White House) and the "Congress house" (now the U.S. Capitol building). To complete the triangle, a line projecting due south from the center of the President's house intersected at a right angle a line projecting due west from the center of the Congress house. A 400 feet (122 m)-wide garden-lined "grand avenue" would travel for about 1 mile (1.6 km) along
2625-425: The 15th century, custard and fruit pie recipes began appearing, often with apples and figs and dried fruit like dates and raisins. Fresh fruit did not become widely used until sugar dropped in price during the 16th century. The first cherry pie is recorded in the late 16th century, when Queen Elizabeth I was served cherry pie. Queen Elizabeth I was often given gifts of quince or pear pies for New Years. During
2700-449: The 1860s). All states were territories of the same name when their meridians were specified except as noted. States without dates have boundaries dependent on the neighboring state with a date listed immediately above it. The fourth meridian was through the clock room of the new Naval Observatory, 2.3 mi (3.7 km) northwest of the White House, at 77°3′56.7″W (1897) or 77°4′2.24″W (NAD 27) or 77°4′1.16″W (NAD 83) . The clock room
2775-453: The 18th century. The character Mrs Elton, from the 1815 novel Emma , believes herself to be modern, but nevertheless plans to take 'pigeon-pies and cold lamb' to a country outing to Box Hill and consults George Turberville 's 1575 work The Noble Art of Venerie (1575) for advice. In the 1817 novel Persuasion , Jane Austen includes pies in her description of an old-fashioned Christmas spread, mentioning 'tressels and trays, bending under
2850-478: The Capitol, was 0,0° . L'Enfant's plan contained the following explanatory note: In order to execute the above plan, Mr. Ellicott drew a true meridian line by celestial observation, which passes through the area intended for the Congress-House; this line he crossed by another line due east and west and which passes through the same area. These lines were accurately measured, and made the basis on which
2925-487: The English cookbook A Forme of Cury had a recipe for “tartes of flesh”, which included a ground-up mixture of "pork, hard-boiled eggs, and cheese" blended with "spices, saffron, and sugar". It also included an apple pie recipes which called for various spices to be used along with figs and raisins The 14th century French chef Taillevent instructed bakers to "crenelate" pie shells and "reinforce them so that they can support
3000-538: The Greenwich meridian to become the legal prime meridian of the United States. Many western states have borders that are meridians of "longitude west of Washington", that is, west of the legal 1850 meridian through the Old Naval Observatory. However, their present boundaries follow the subsequently surveyed boundary, even when inaccurately marked a few miles (kilometers) east or west of the meridian in
3075-450: The Jefferson Pier in a more protected area. Theodolite measurements showed the new Ellipse Meridian Stone stood 26 inches (0.66 m) from the longitudinal line of the replacement Jefferson Stone, indicating one of the two markers was improperly located. Download coordinates as: 38°53′23.29463″N 77°2′11.56″W / 38.8898040639°N 77.0365444°W / 38.8898040639; -77.0365444 Pie A pie
Jefferson Pier - Misplaced Pages Continue
3150-532: The Jefferson stone pier, erected December 18, 1804, and recovered and reerected, December 2, 1889." ( Silvio Bedini has written that these reports did not accurately describe the inscription.) The marker was lowered to within 8 inches of its top, so that the inscription was not visible above ground. In 1899, the ground on the west side of the pier was sloped so as to show the inscription on the Pier. The meridian of
3225-536: The Slave ", a 1911 Joe Hill song. Cream filled or topped pies are favorite props for slapstick humor. Throwing a pie in a person's face has been a staple of film comedy since Ben Turpin received one in Mr. Flip in 1909. More recently, pieing has also become a political act; some activists throw cream pies at politicians and other public figures as a form of protest. Some of these pies are pies in name only, such as
3300-740: The United States was changed to the center of the small dome of the Old Naval Observatory in 1850 ( see Old Naval Observatory meridian ) and finally replaced by the Greenwich Meridian as the legal prime meridian for both boundaries and navigation in 1912. In 1920, Congress approved the placement of a new delineation stone on the Ellipse, the Zero Milestone , which is an itinerary marker from which official mileages from Washington would be determined. The new marker,
3375-660: The corner of E and 23rd Streets in Foggy Bottom (north of the Lincoln Memorial and west of the White House). The observatory adopted 77°2′48.0″W for its meridian in the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac for the years 1855 to 1869 (as 5 8 11.2 ) . In 1897, well after the observatory closed in 1892, the Coast and Geodetic Survey reported that its meridian was 77°3′2.3″ west of Greenwich, which
3450-633: The east–west line. L'Enfant chose the west end of the "grand avenue" (at the triangle's southwest corner) to be the location of a future equestrian statue of George Washington for which the Continental Congress had voted in 1783. (Although the planned "grand avenue" became the portion of the National Mall that is now between the Capitol's grounds and the Washington Monument, neither the avenue nor Washington's equestrian statue were ever constructed. In 1804, Jefferson requested
3525-410: The filling is impossible to prove. The thick crust was so sturdy it had to be cracked open to get to the filling. This may also be the reason why early recipes focus on the filling over the surrounding case, with this development leading to the use of reusable earthenware pie cases which reduced the use of expensive flour. Medieval pie crusts were often baked first, to create a "pot" of baked dough with
3600-588: The form of flat, round or freeform crusty cakes called galettes consisting of a crust of ground oats , wheat , rye , or barley containing honey inside. These galettes developed into a form of early sweet pastry or desserts , evidence of which can be found on the tomb walls of the Pharaoh Ramesses II , who ruled from 1304 to 1237 BC, located in the Valley of the Kings . Sometime before 2000 BC,
3675-486: The ingredients and techniques available to them in the New World. Settlers' recipes were for English-style meat pies. The newcomers used the fruits and berries that they were familiar with from Europe, but also began incorporating North American vegetables and game that they were not familiar with, with guidance from Indigenous people. Settlers favoured pies over bread because pies required less flour and did not require
3750-428: The initial planning of the nation's capital city. Jefferson hoped that the United States would become scientifically as well as politically independent from Europe. He therefore desired that the new nation's capital city should contain a new "first meridian". A prominent geometric feature of L'Enfant's plan was a large right triangle whose hypotenuse was a wide avenue (now part of Pennsylvania Avenue , NW) connecting
3825-490: The labour market, which changed pie making from a weekly ritual to an "occasional undertaking" on special occasions. In the 1950s, after WWII, the popularity of pies rebounded in the US, especially with commercial food inventions such as instant pudding mixes, Cool Whip topping, and Jello gelatin (which could be used as fillings) ready-made crusts, which were sold frozen, and alternative crusts made with crushed potato chips. There
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#17327769056093900-472: The meat"; one of his pies was high enough that it resembled a model of a castle, an illusion enhanced by miniature banners for the nobles at the event. Pies in the 1400s included birds, as song birds at the time were a delicacy and protected by Royal Law. At the coronation of eight-year-old English King Henry VI (1422–1461) in 1429, "Partrich" and "Pecok enhakill" were served, alleged by some modern writers to consist of cooked peacock mounted in its skin on
3975-655: The midline of 16th Street, NW , about due west of the center of the United States Capitol building, almost due north of the center of the Jefferson Memorial and 391 ft (119 m) WNW of the center of the Washington Monument . The monument is a 2.25-by-2.25-foot (0.7 m × 0.7 m), 3-foot (0.9 m) tall granitic monolith with crossing longitudinal and latitudinal lines engraved on its upper surface and with
4050-718: The northern states, pumpkin pie was popular, as pumpkins were plentiful. Once the British had established Caribbean colonies, sugar became less expensive and more widely available, which meant that sweet pies could be readily made. Molasses was popular in American pies due to the rum and slave trade with the Caribbean Islands, although maple syrup was an important sweetener in Northern states, after Indigenous people taught settlers how to tap maple trees and boil down
4125-517: The permanent seat of the government of the United States ... " (see L'Enfant Plan ), Andrew Ellicott measured a prime meridian (longitude 0°0' ) through the future site of the U.S. Capitol. (Shortly after L'Enfant prepared this plan, its subject received the name "City of Washington ".) Thomas Jefferson , who at the time was serving as the United States Secretary of State , supervised Ellicott's and L'Enfant's activities during
4200-704: The pie to a working man's daily food needs. The first reference to "pyes" as food items appeared in England , in a Latin context, as early as the 12th century, but it is not clear that this referred to baked pies. In the Medieval era, pies were usually savory meat pies made with "...beef, lamb, wild duck, magpie pigeon -- spiced with pepper, currants or dates". Medieval cooks had restricted access to ovens due to their costs of construction and need for abundant supplies of fuel. Since pies could be easily cooked over an open fire, this made pies easier for most cooks to make. At
4275-496: The poet R. Green wrote "Thy breath is like the seeme of apple pies". Medieval England had an early form of sweet pies called tarts and fruit pies were unsweetened, because sugar was a rare and costly status symbol . In the Middle Ages, a pie could have a number of items as its filling, but a pastry would have only a single filling. Until the start of the 15th century, most pies were expected to contain meat or fish. In
4350-580: The president for whom the Pier is named. An artifact sometimes confusing to and often overlooked by tourists, Jefferson Pier is maintained today by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks administrative unit. In 1890 a new monument, the Ellipse Meridian Stone , was placed by the Coast and Geodetic Survey in the center of the Ellipse in President's Park about 1,506 feet (459 m) north of
4425-416: The role of what was later called puff paste. A richer pastry, intended to be eaten, was used to make small pasties containing eggs or little birds which were among the minor items served at banquets. The first written reference to a Roman pie is for a rye dough that was filled with a mixture of goat's cheese and honey. The 1st-century Roman cookbook Apicius makes various mentions of recipes which involve
4500-462: The same time, by partnering with a baker, a cook could focus on preparing the filling. The earliest pie-like recipes refer to coffyns (the word actually used for a basket or box ), with straight sealed sides and a top; open-top pies were called traps . The resulting hardened pastry was not necessarily eaten, its function being to contain the filling for cooking, and to store it, though whether servants may have eaten it once their masters had eaten
4575-643: The sap. In the Midwest, cheese and cream pies were popular, due to the availability of big dairy farms. In the US south, African-Americans enjoyed sweet potato pies, due to the widespread availability of this type of potato. By the 1870s, the new science of nutrition led to criticism of pies, notably by Sarah Tyson Rorer , a cooking teacher and food editor who warned the public about how much energy pies take to digest. Rorer stated that all pie crusts "...are to be condemned" and her cookbook only included an apple tart, jelly and meringue-covered crackers, pâté, and
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#17327769056094650-576: The significance of the stone, the United States Army Corps of Engineers removed the original marker during 1872–1874 as part of a cleanup and grading of the grounds around the stump of the Washington Monument, which had not yet been finished. As part of this project, the Corps of Engineers filled in gullies, planted trees and constructed ornamental ponds and a broad carriage road around the stump. The project left in place about 20 inches of
4725-421: The statute. Other western states have meridians relative to Greenwich ( Alaska , California , Oklahoma , Texas ) or relative to a river or lake ( Arkansas , Louisiana , Minnesota , Missouri , Oregon , Washington state ). The following meridians west of Washington are listed east to west, along with the appropriate boundary of the present state. The date of the meridian's definition is in parentheses (all in
4800-489: The stone's foundation. On December 2, 1889, John Stewart, a draftsman acting on the instructions of Colonel O. H. Ernst, Officer in Charge of Public Buildings and Grounds, erected a replacement marker above the recovered foundation of the original marker. According to 1898 and 1899 reports, an inscription on the west side of the replacement marker stated: "Position of the meridian post, erected September 20, 1793, and position of
4875-410: The two latter stones survives. Due to errors either when the Jefferson Pier was initially surveyed or when it was replaced, its center is now 2.23 ft (0.680 m) south of the Capitol's centerline. The 1804 stone marker replaced one of two wooden posts driven into the ground in 1793 at its site. The marker was originally located on the south bank of Tiber Creek , near the creek's confluence with
4950-411: The weight of brawn and cold pies'. In the whole of Persuasion , brawn and cold pies are the only specific mention of food; they are also the only Christmas foods to be mentioned in any of Jane Austen's novels. In the United States of America, a popular idiom is "American as apple pie". There pie, especially apple pie, became intertwined to the point that in 1902, The New York Times asserted that "pie
5025-636: The whole plan was executed. He ran all the lines by a transit instrument , and determined the acute angles by actual measurement, and left nothing to the uncertainty of the compass. The longitude of the center of the Capitol's dome (completed in 1863 during the Civil War ) is now given by the National Geodetic Survey as 77°00′32.6″W (NAD 83) . L'Enfant planned Washington around a right triangle , having its 90° vertex at an equestrian statue of George Washington , its eastern vertex at
5100-584: The word "pie" may be the magpie , a "bird known for collecting odds and ends in its nest"; the connection could be that Medieval pies also contained many different animal meats, including chickens, crows, pigeons and rabbits. One 1450 recipe for “grete pyes” that might support the "magpie" etymology contained what Charles Perry called "odds and ends", including: "...beef, beef suet, capons, hens, both mallard and teal ducks, rabbits, woodcocks and large birds such as herons and storks, plus beef marrow, hard-cooked egg yolks, dates, raisins and prunes." Early pies were in
5175-625: The word 'pie' appears in 1303 in the expense accounts of the Bolton Priory in Yorkshire . However, the Oxford English Dictionary is uncertain to its origin and says 'no further related word is known outside English'. A possible origin is that the word 'pie' is connected with a word used in farming to indicate 'a collection of things made into a heap', for example a heap of potatoes covered with earth. One source of
5250-565: Was a pie renaissance in the 1980s, when old-fashioned pie recipes were rediscovered and a wide range of cross-cultural pies were explored. Meat pies with fillings such as steak, cheese, steak and kidney , beef and ale, lamb and mint, minced beef , or chicken and mushroom are popular in the United Kingdom , Australia , South Africa and New Zealand as take-away snacks. They are also served with chips as an alternative to fish and chips at British chip shops. Pot pies with
5325-554: Was banned as a frivolous activity for 16 years, so mince pie making and eating became an underground activity; the ban was lifted in 1660, with the Restoration of the monarchy. Food historian Annie Gray suggests that the myth of the Puritans "actively" banning mince pies came about "due to the defenders of Christmas" who reported Puritan vitriol "with a certain amount of exaggeration". In the 17th century, Ben Jonson described
5400-439: Was defined on September 28, 1850, by Congress : "[T]he meridian of the observatory at Washington shall be adopted and used as the American meridian for all astronomical purposes and ... the meridian of Greenwich shall be adopted for all nautical purposes." The observatory decided that this meridian passed through the center of the original (small) dome atop the main building of the Old Naval Observatory , now abandoned southwest of
5475-444: Was fashionable in England from the 1650s onward, then fell out of favour during the 18th century. Pumpkin was sliced, fried with sweet herbs sweetened with sugar and eggs were added. This was put into a pastry case with currants and apples. Pumpkin pie was introduced to America by early colonists where it became a national dish. During the 19th century, pies became, according to food historian Janet Clarkson, "universally esteemed" in
5550-522: Was not the reason that the stone was named a "pier", because the surveyor who erected it had already used that term himself. The developers of the Washington Monument originally wanted the memorial to be located at the site of the Jefferson Pier. However, concerns about the bearing capacity of the soil prevented that from occurring. The marker served as benchmark when the Monument's construction began, but later disappeared from view. Without recognizing
5625-482: Was quoted for the next 50 years in the list of observatories in the Almanac (as 5 8 12.15 ) . When referred to later datums, this meridian has been variously specified as 77°3′6.119″W or 77°3′6.276″W (both presumably NAD 27). If NAD27, the latter would be 77°3′5.194″W (NAD 83) which seems to be within a few meters of the actual longitude, at worst. This meridian was repealed by Congress on August 22, 1912, to allow
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