Washington, D.C.
Capitol Tile Room
In the basement of the U.S. Capitol Building is a hidden storage room full of ornate floor tiles leftover from the 1850s.
Places Annie Oortman Wants to Go
1964
Places I want to go
Places on this traveler's wishlist.
Washington, D.C.
FDR's Bomb Shelter
The first presidential bomb shelter was located in an old vault under the Treasury, connected to the White House via tunnel.
Washington, D.C.
Holodomor Memorial
An easily overlooked memorial to a Ukrainian famine-genocide that killed over 4 million people.
Washington, D.C.
District of Columbia Center Point
A little marble compass above George Washington's (empty) tomb in the Capitol marks where D.C.'s four quadrants intersect.
Washington, D.C.
Historic Elevator at Potbelly
This sandwich shop has a century-old elevator behind a sheet of plexiglass.
Permanently Closed
Washington, D.C.
United Brick Corporation Ruins
Once the supplier for noteworthy projects like the National Cathedral, this old brickworks now lies abandoned.
Washington, D.C.
Capitol Building Tunnel System
Members of Congress have traveled between the buildings on Capitol Hill for a century hidden from tourists, press, and storm clouds.
Washington, D.C.
Alferd Packer Cannibal Plaque
A brass plaque dedicated to a convicted cannibal hangs in the National Press Club, and that's not even the craziest part of the story.
Washington, D.C.
U.S. Naval Observatory Library
A hoard of sky catalogs, astrophysical journals, even the works of Galileo and Copernicus.
Washington, D.C.
International Temple of the Order of the Eastern Star
Obscure Freemasons still live in D.C.’s largest private residence.
Washington, D.C.
Bare-Chested George Washington
Perhaps the most scandalous statue of America's first president.
Washington, D.C.
Fort Reno Park
The only Civil War battle in Washington D.C. took place near this highest natural point in the city.
Washington, D.C.
Congressional Cemetery
The privately owned cemetery that holds room for Washington's finest when they step down from life.
Washington, D.C.
Ruins of the Columbian Cannon Foundry
These recently uncovered walls are all that's left of Washington, D.C's first defense contractor.
Washington, D.C.
Watergate Steps
Decades before the scandal, this staircase on the river was a literal "water gate."
Washington, D.C.
Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega
The "lovely red Vega" of the legendary record-settling pilot.
Washington, D.C.
USNO Master Clock
The most accurate timepiece in the world.
Washington, D.C.
Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument
Housing the National Women's Party since 1929, this historic house is now a monument to the fight for gender equality.
Permanently Closed
Washington, D.C.
Site of the Knickerbocker Disaster
You could be standing at the site of one of D.C.'s most fatal tragedies and not even know it.
Washington, D.C.
Peirce Mill Spy Station
Cold War intelligence agents monitored communist embassies from an attic in a former pigeon coop.
Washington, D.C.
The Portrait Monument
Rumor has it the uncarved lump behind the three famous suffragists is reserved for the first woman president.
Washington, D.C.
Carnegie Library of Washington, D.C.
D.C.'s first central library was born out of a chance encounter with the philanthropist whose name it bears.
Washington, D.C.
Ruins of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site at Reservoir Park
An Industrial Revolution-era public work that purified water using nothing but sand.
Washington, D.C.
Grace Hopper's Bug
A computer bug so primitive it was an actual insect.
