Must-see attractions in Northern Virginia

One of America's most visited historic sites, Mount Vernon was the beloved home of George and Martha Washington.

Sprawling across hills above the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia, Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for America’s most revered…

Between 1937 and 1959, famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed a series of small-scale houses that he called 'Usonian.' Modest in scale but rich in…

A relative newcomer to the Loudon district, this solar-powered 20-acre winery in the Waterford Cluster incorporates meticulously restored and rebuilt…

On a bluff overlooking the Potomac, this 475-acre estate is one of the most attractive vineyards in Virginia. The winery has a 6000-sq-ft cave/cellar, and…

The best-known vineyard in the Loudoun Heights cluster, Breaux produces a wide range of wines, the best of which are the the Madeleine Chardonnay and the…

The National Air and Space Museum in the Mall is so awesome they made an attic for it: the Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA. It’s three times…

South of Arlington Cemetery is the Pentagon, the largest office building in the world and the headquarters of the US Department of Defense, the Army, Navy…

More than 13,000 Americans were killed during the Civil War in four battles fought in a 17-mile radius covered by this park: Fredericksburg,…

At this tranquil memorial, 184 illuminated benches honor each man, woman and child killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon,…

The site of two major Confederate victories early in the Civil War, Manassas National Battlefield Park today is a curving green hillscape, sectioned into…

Wander landscaped grounds along the Potomac and get a sense of what the region looked like in George Washington’s day. The first president once owned…

This demure Federal-style row house holds a tragic story. At a time when Alexandria was the nation’s second-largest slave center (after New Orleans), a…

Paintings, photographs, books and other memorabilia documenting the African American experience in Alexandria, one of the nation’s major slave ports, are…

If you have time for just one historic house tour in Alexandria, make it this one. The house dates from 1753 when merchant and city founder, John Carlyle,…

In 1792 Edward Stabler opened up his apothecary (pharmacy) – a family business that would operate until 1933, when the Depression forced its doors to…

Alexandria’s most prominent landmark features a fine view from the observation deck of its 333ft tower. Modeled after Egypt’s Lighthouse of Alexandria, it…

Preserved and operated by the National Trust of Historic Preservation, Woodlawn Plantation was once part of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. In 1799,…

Established in 1803 by a great-grandson of Robert ‘King’ Carter, a wealthy pre-Revolutionary planter, this plantation has as its focal point a lovingly…

Housed in the atrium of the US Patent and Trademark Office, this museum tells the history of the US patent. Step inside to see where the story started in…