This gigantic mural, painted on the entire back of the block-long Penn Building in Northeast Washington, features the iconic image of a seated Abraham Lincoln, much like the statue of him in the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall. The mural, however, isn’t intended to honor Lincoln, but rather the African-American men who quarried the white Georgia marble used to build Lincoln’s statue.

Muralist Garin Baker named his installation “28 Blocks” after the number of stone blocks used to make the Lincoln statue. The family of Italian immigrants who hand-carved the statue is also pictured in the mural (far right). Baker said he wanted his mural to pay tribute to all those whose blood, sweat and tears helped create the Lincoln statue and much more.

I had seen a picture of this mural but only knew it was along something called the Metropolitan Branch Trail, which it turns out is a long trail for cyclists and hikers running along a rail line. We had to go into the nicest dog park I’ve ever seen in DC to photograph the building, where some yappy little dog repeatedly tried to attack me. First me, then Tim got up on a bench to get the fullest view of the building possible. We also discovered that the Eckington neighborhood (where we had never been) was full of murals, some of which I’ll be posting here.

Best to view in "Original" because other versions resized by Pbase are decidedly
unsharp.

Holiday greetings, posted earlier: