Showing 1-15 of 15 results
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Arlington House
Robert E Lee resided in this gracious home set high on the hills overlooking the Potomac River. His home and part of his 1100-acre property were confiscated after he left to command the Confederate Army of Virginia, and Union dead were buried around the house to spite him. After the war, the family sued the federal government for reimbursement and received it. The historic house has been open since 1817 for public tours.
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Blair & Lee Houses
The 1824 Blair House has been the official presidential guesthouse since 1942, when Eleanor Roosevelt got sick of tripping over dignitaries in her White House. A plaque on the front fence commemorates the bodyguard killed here while protecting President Truman from a 1950 assassination attempt by Puerto Rican pro-independence terrorists.
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Dumbarton House
Often confused with Dumbarton Oaks, Dumbarton House is a modest Federal historic house once inhabited by Joseph Nourse, Register of the US Treasury for the first six presidents. It's now run by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. The genteel but gently witty tours focus not only on the house - chockablock with antique china, silver, furnishings, rugs, gowns and books - but also on quaint Federal customs, like passing around the chamber pot after formal dinners so gentlemen could have a group pee.
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Fort Stevens Park
In a daring raid on July 11, 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early attacked Fort Stevens, the northernmost of the defensive ramparts ringing the city. A small but fierce battle raged until Early's men were forced back across the Potomac. President Abraham Lincoln, observing from Fort Stevens' parapet, popped his head up so often that Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, then a Union captain, yelled: 'Get down, you damn fool, before you get shot!'
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Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
This rather bulky title refers to Cedar Hill, the great abolitionist's Anacostia home, which is maintained as a museum honoring the diplomat, author and former slave's life and work. The house still contains most of his original furnishings, down to his wire-rim eyeglasses on his roll-top desk. Hourly tours are entertaining and informative. Start at the visitors center embedded in the foot of the hill, where you can see a short biographical film.
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Lee-Fendall House
Between 1785 and 1903, generations of the Lee family lived in this house. Guided tours show the house as it probably was in the 1850s and 1860s, showcasing Lee family heirlooms and personal effects. The Georgian-style townhouse across the street (607 Oronoco St; ;closed to public) was Robert E Lee's childhood home from 1810.
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National Air Force Memorial
Overlooking the Pentagon and adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery, this new memorial opened in time to celebrate the 60th birthday of the United States Air Force. It pays tribute to the millions of men and women who served in the air force and its predecessor organizations.
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National Bureau Of Engraving & Printing
If money does not grow on trees, where does it come from? You can see for yourself at the National Bureau of Engraving & Printing, where all US paper currency is designed, engraved and printed. Forty-minute guided tours demonstrate how around US$700 million a day is churned out, and show exhibits on counterfeiting and unusual bills. All that green is a big thrill with the kids. Arrive early, as only a limited number of tickets are distributed.
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National Japanese American Memorial
Patriotism of Japanese immigrants to the US during WWII is remembered at this triangular plaza with inscriptions commemorating such sentiment. The centerpiece of the grounds is a statue depicting two cranes bound with barbed wire. It is meant to symbolize the battle to overcome prejudice against Japanese-Americans in the decades following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.
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National World War II Memorial
DC's newest memorial is particularly moving at dusk, when the American flags are lowered and the mixture of white lights illuminating marble pillars and fountains, reflecting in inky pools, creates a picture as haunting as it is beautiful.
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Oak Hill Cemetery
This 24-acre, obelisk-studded cemetery contains winding walks and 19th-century gravestones set into the hillsides of Rock Creek. James Renwick designed the lovely gatehouse and the wee gneiss chapel, both c 1850.
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State Department
The State Dept is a forbidding, well-guarded edifice, but you can tour its grand Diplomatic Reception Rooms, where Cabinet members and the Secretary of State entertain visiting potentates amid ornate 18th-century American antiques. Call at least a month beforehand to reserve a tour spot, and bring photo ID; no kids under 12 are admitted.
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Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The memorial is comprised of two walls of polished Indian granite that meet in a 10ft apex. They are inscribed with the names of the 58,209 soldiers killed in the war, arranged chronologically by date of death. It's an eloquent inversion of the Mall's other monuments: rather than a pale, ornate structure reaching skyward, it's dark, austere and burrows into the earth, symbolizing the war's wound to the national psyche.
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Washington Post
Want to see where Woodward and Bernstein toppled a president? Stop by the Post 's headquarters. Its free tours don't reveal much of the paper's operations but do show you the busy newsroom and explain how the paper is printed.
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Woodrow Wilson House
This Georgian-revival mansion offers guided hour-long tours focusing on the 28th president's life and legacy. Genteel elderly docents discuss highlights of Wilson's career (WWI, the League of Nations) and home, which has been restored to the period of his residence (1921-24). A lovely garden, a stairwell conservatory, European bronzes, 1920s-era china and Mrs Wilson's elegant dresses all paint a glamorous portrait of Roaring '20s DC society.
Showing 1-15 of 15 results
