The New Nation
Birthstone of the Nation
Pilgrim Steps at Washington's National Cathedral
Pilgrim Steps at Washington's National Cathedral
In 1893 the Episcopal Church was chartered by Congress to build “a house of prayer for all people.” Started in 1907 and completed in 1990, this Gothic place of worship is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world. The church walls are made of Indiana limestone, but the fifty-one broad steps leading to the south transept entrance, known as Pilgrim Steps, were made of Aquia stone in the 1920s. The walls surrounding the Bishop’s Garden, modeled after a medieval walled garden, were also made of freestone. The stone was from the George Washington Stone Corporation on Aquia Creek.
