Lincoln Park

Washington, DC


Lincoln Park is the lively center of Capitol Hill’s east end. Joggers and stroller-pushing families zip past the Emancipation Memorial, a statue of a chained slave kneeling at Lincoln's feet. Freed black slaves raised the funds to erect it in 1876, but the slave's supplicant position makes it DC's most bizarrely uncomfortable monument. Across the park, the Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial is DC’s first statue of a black woman. Bethune was an educator and founder of the National Council of Negro Women.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Washington, DC attractions

1. Emancipation Memorial

0.03 MILES

Freed black slaves raised the funds to erect this 1876 memorial, which portrays the snapping of slavery’s chains as Abraham Lincoln proffers the…

2. Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial

0.04 MILES

The memorial, DC’s first statue of a black woman, honors the educator and founder of the National Council of Negro Women.

3. The Fridge

0.58 MILES

First you have to find the Fridge, a friendly gallery specializing in street art. Follow the murals into the alley across 8th St from Ambar restaurant…

4. Folger Shakespeare Library

0.68 MILES

Bard-o-philes will be all aflutter here, as the library holds the world's largest collection of old Billy’s works. Stroll through the Great Hall to see a…

5. Adams Building

0.7 MILES

One of the Library of Congress' three buildings, this holds 180 miles of shelving and is used mostly by researchers.

6. Marine Barracks

0.74 MILES

The ‘Eighth and Eye Marines’ are on largely ceremonial duty at the nation’s oldest Marine Corps post. Most famously, this is the home barracks of the…

8. Congressional Cemetery

0.76 MILES

Yes, that is a dachshund snuffling around J Edgar Hoover's tombstone, while a black lab lopes over the final resting place of composer John Philip Sousa…