In Search of Hogan's Swimming Hole and Great Falls Picnic

Today had a rather sad beginning. As we were going out the driveway of my Aunt's house, we saw a young deer trying to move across the front lawn. It was dragging one hind leg which was twisted horribly in the wrong direction. Apparently the doe had been hit by a car during the night and had pulled itself up into the yard to escape further injury. Debbi called animal control, but it was several hours before a police car with two officers arrived. I hoped the poor deer's suffering would end quickly since I'd grown up around animals and knew that it only took one well-aimed shot to do what was necessary and humane. I was in the house when I heard the shot and breathed a silent 'thank you.' When I heard a second shot, I was surprised. By the third shot, I was angry, and by the fourth I was feeling nauseous. Later I found out that a rooky cop (using a pistol) was afraid to get too close to the deer, so it took him that many shots to finally get the job done. It still makes me angry to think about it.


The rest of the day was much happier. Greg, Debbi, Aunt Gladys, Kathy, Rich, Wesley, Billy and I went in search of Hogan's Hole. When my dad was a teenager, he discovered a place on Rock Creek a mile from the family home that had excellent potential for a swimming hole. He cleaned out rocks and debris from the bottom, and dammed up the creek below the hole slowing the flow enough to make the water deep and perfect for diving into. Over the years he continued to maintain the swimming hole, adding a diving board and a rope swing. It came to be known as Hogan's Hole after my dad. In 1941, the Washington Post did a full-page photo and a feature article in the Rotogravure Section. Of course the creek has changed many times over the past 65 years, but that doesn't make me any less proud of what my dad accomplished and how many boys' (and on rare occasion girls') lives were brightened during and after those Great Depression years.

"While $1-a-year men wrestle with priorities and Washingtonians worry about traffic, these Rockville, Md., youngsters go swimming at a spot that would make Tom Sawyer green with envy.

Just a few miles from the District, on Veir's Mill Road, this particular part of Rock Creek has been a swimming-in-the-natural pool with boys for generations. Screened by trees and brush, with a rock for medium diving, a fallen tree for low, and a plank diving board for higher--it's a boyhood dream come true. They call it Hogan's Hole, and are willing to walk three miles, climb a locked gate and maneuver through a barbed wire fence to get there."

Finally, the day ended with a 40-minute drive and a picnic at Great Falls National Park on the Potomac River. The water was far below the normal water line, but the falls were still beautiful.