Military funeral honors for U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Spencer Collart in Section 52 of Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., Sept. 25, 2023 (U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery)
The following was written by Kevin M. Hymel of Arlington National Cemetery. It was linked in yesterday’s Morning Notes but is republished this morning with permission. Cpl. Collart grew up in Arlington and graduated from Washington-Liberty High School.
Alexia Collart’s eyes filled with tears as she accepted the flag that had been draped over her son Marine Cpl. Spencer R. Collart’s casket. Her daughter Gweneth, sitting beside her, openly wept. Bart Collart, Cpl. Collart’s father, held back tears. The family’s grief spread to the crowd of more than 100 family and friends, who either dabbed their eyes or let the tears roll down their cheeks.
Military Flyover Today — From AlertDC: “The US Military will conduct a fly over at Arlington National Cemetery on October 10, 2023 at 1:00PM.”
Police Holding ‘Essentials Drive’ — “The Arlington County Police Department is hosting an Essentials Drive to benefit unsheltered individuals in our community. Officers will be present at the following locations and times to collect new toiletries and cold weather items as well as engage with community members.” [ACPD]
The concrete spheres and steel poles of Dark Star Park create more than a striking sculpture. Photo by Elman Studios.
Visitors gather each year to witness the annual Dark Star Park Day alignment. Photo by Elman Studios.
Dark Star Park in Rosslyn, designed by artist Nancy Holt, was created to connect art, time and place. Photo by Elman Studios.
Every year, for just a few minutes, one of Arlington’s most iconic works of public art comes to life exactly as its artist intended.
On Saturday, Aug. 1, at approximately 9:32 a.m., visitors will gather in Rosslyn to witness the annual shadow alignment at Nancy Holt’s Dark Star Park (1979–84). At that precise moment, the shadows cast by the sculpture’s spheres and poles align with permanent shadow forms embedded in the ground—a phenomenon Holt designed to commemorate the anniversary of Rosslyn’s founding.
The alignment lasts only a few moments, but it has become a beloved Arlington tradition, drawing residents, visitors, artists and architecture enthusiasts alike to experience the intersection of art, astronomy, and history. If the weather cooperates, the park transforms into a striking demonstration of how light, time and place can become part of a work of art.
Created between 1979 and 1984, Dark Star Park was Arlington’s first County-commissioned public artwork and remains one of the nation’s earliest examples of integrated public art—where sculpture, landscape architecture and the surrounding environment function as a single work. Rather than placing an object within a park, Holt made the entire park the artwork, incorporating spheres, pools, steel poles, tunnels, earthworks and carefully positioned plantings into an immersive landscape.
Nancy Holt (1938–2014) was a pioneering artist whose work spanned poetry, film, photography, land art and large-scale public sculpture. Throughout her career, she explored perception, time and humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Dark Star Park remains her most significant urban installation and one of the few major works by the artist that can be experienced in an accessible city setting.
Whether you’ve attended for years or have never visited before, Dark Star Park Day offers a rare opportunity to experience a public artwork that changes with the movement of the sun—and reminds us that some of the most memorable moments in art happen not inside a museum, but out in the world around us.
Dark Star Park Day
When: Saturday, Aug. 1, beginning around 9 a.m.; shadow alignment at approximately 9:32 a.m. Where: Dark Star Park, 1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Rosslyn
Construction at Ballston Station project, October 2023 (staff photo by James Jarvis)
A new development with affordable apartments, a church and childcare, across from the Ballston Metro station, is set to debut early next year.
Nearly two years ago, Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing broke ground on the long-delayed, $84 million project to replace the old Central United Methodist Church building at 4201 Fairfax Drive with an 8-story building with 144 committed affordable units.
Join DC Road Runners and Potomac Valley Track Club for our annual Family Night at the Track and Meet of Miles. The event is open to runners of all ages and paces as well as nonmembers.
This event hosts 400 meter and 800 meter races for kids ages 1-8, as well as multiple 1-mile heats for participants of all ages. There is also a 3K race that is open to participants of all ages.
As seen at the construction of “The Grove at Dominion Hills” on the former Rouse estate (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Funeral for Arlington Marine — “Alexia Collart’s eyes filled with tears as she accepted the flag that had been draped over her son Marine Cpl. Spencer R. Collart’s casket. Her daughter Gweneth, sitting beside her, openly wept. Bart Collart, Cpl. Collart’s father, held back tears. The family’s grief spread to the crowd of more than 100 family and friends, who either dabbed their eyes or let the tears roll down their cheeks.” [Arlington National Cemetery]
HQ2 ‘Is At a Crossroads’ — “Amazon HQ2, the corporate site selection project, was a symbol of the tech industry’s economic muscle. Now it stands as a palace built for a former dynasty… From door desk to gourmet coffee bars onsite, HQ2 was one of the last grand gestures of the Bezos era. It falls to his successor, Andy Jassy, to decide whether to resume the project as designed or opt for a more frugal alternative.” [Bloomberg]
Madelin Jones Barratt, 69, of Falls Church, Va., passed away peacefully at home on September 29, 2023 of mesothelioma.
Madelin was born in 1954 in Houston, Texas to C.M.C. Jones, Jr. and Jacquelin Jones. Her father was a Marine Corps officer and the Jones family was stationed in several locations around the United States during Madelin’s childhood, including Annapolis, Md., Quantico, Va., Pearl Harbor, and Camp Lejeune, N.C. After graduating from Lejeune High School, where she was a captain of the cheerleading squad, Madelin attended Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va., where she received a bachelor’s degree in music in 1976.
