Grace Dunlop Peter

Grace Dunlop Peter was an American writer remembered for A Portrait of Old George Town (1933), a book that blends local history with a personal sense of belonging. In its opening pages, she makes clear that she was writing not as a detached historian, but as someone born in Georgetown and closely connected to generations of families who had lived there before her.

Available records also connect her with another book, Cleveland Park, showing a broader interest in Washington, D.C., neighborhoods and their past. Project Gutenberg and library catalogs list her work under Grace Dunlop Peter, and one catalog also notes the name Grace Dunlop Ecker, suggesting that her publications are connected with more than one surname used during her life.

Genealogical records indicate that she was born in Georgetown on July 31, 1878, and died on March 31, 1974. Even with only a few biographical details firmly confirmed, her writing still leaves a strong impression: warm, observant, and shaped by a lifelong closeness to old Washington.