“Mr. Carroll” to whom Dolley is referring in her famous letter describing the events of August 24, 1814, the day the British burned the "President's House" in the War of 1812. ". . . Our kind friend, Mr. Carroll, has come to hasten my departure, and is in a very bad humor with me because I insist on waiting until the large picture of Gen. Washington is secured, and it requires to be unscrewed from the wall .... " When Dolley was finally satisfied that the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington was safe, she came to Dumbarton House, as Mr. Carroll told her the President had requested, to await further word on where the couple should meet. 20th century Another dramatic event in the house's history occurred in 1915. By that time, Georgetown and Washington had been merged into a single political entity, although physically separated by Rock Creek. To facilitate traffic between the two communities, a new bridge was to be constructed, joining the segments of Q Street lying on opposite sides of Rock Creek and continuing Q Street to westward to Wisconsin Avenue. However, at that time, Dumbarton House was positioned approximately 50–60 feet to the south of its present location – right in the middle of Q Street. The owners had only two choices – move the house or demolish it. Since the center portion of the house had a full basement, it was jacked up, ". . . hoisted onto rollers, one animal, whether a horse or a mule has never been established, was attached to a windlass, and slowly it was hauled back . . ." and placed on a new foundation. "Its wings had no cellars so they were dismantled and then rebuilt." In 1932 when Dumbarton House first opened, it was furnished with donated pieces dating generally to the revolutionary and federal periods (1790s through 1820), although occasionally earlier and sometimes later. The house is currently undergoing reinstallation and refurnishing to more accurately reflect the years of the Nourse residence (1804–13). In 2006, the Dumbarton House Board commissioned an in-depth study of the Nourses' furnishings and decorative style. Information was drawn from Nourse family correspondence and Joseph Nourse's account books. Gaps in the picture were filled with data from inventories of the same period and locale, newspapers advertisements, and paintings and prints. The results of the study, properly called a Historic Furnishings