Washington, D.C.
Mount Zion Cemetery's Underground Railroad Shelter
People escaping slavery may have hidden inside a corpse vault.
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Places I've been
Places this traveler has marked as been there.
Washington, D.C.
Congressional Garbage Tunnel
The tunnel under the Capitol Building where Congress takes out its trash.
Washington, D.C.
Inside the Capitol Dome
The walls of the iconic dome are hollow and have a secret stairway.
Washington, D.C.
Bootlegging Room in the Cannon House Office Building
During Prohibition, the U.S. Congress had an "official" bootlegger, with his own Capitol Hill office.
Washington, D.C.
Library of Congress Card Catalog
A nostalgic bibliographic gem.
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.
Capitol Bollards
The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.
Bankhead, Alberta
Bankhead Ghost Town
The ruins of the "20-year town" lay out among the mountains of Alberta.
Improvement District No. 9, Alberta
Lake Minnewanka Underwater Ghost Town
The only way to visit this old resort hotel is with scuba gear.
Washington, D.C.
Potomac Park Flood Levee
This mysterious structure by the Washington Monument is a flood barrier designed to protect the White House against rising waters.
Eldon, Alberta
Eisenhower Tower
Canada’s surprisingly controversial monument to Dwight Eisenhower.
Washington, D.C.
Treasury Department Cash Vault
Where the U.S. government kept its actual treasure, before Fort Knox.
Washington, D.C.
Maine Avenue Fish Market
The oldest continuously operating fish market in the United States.
Washington, D.C.
Temperance Fountain
A much-maligned monument to teetotalism.
Washington, D.C.
The Brewmaster's Castle
This grand gothic brewery has been pumping out suds for over a hundred years.
Washington, D.C.
The Capitol Stones
Enormous piles of historically significant stones, dumped by Congress in a forest, and abandoned for 60 years.
Washington, D.C.
USNO Master Clock
The most accurate timepiece in the world.
Washington, D.C.
Culture House
A historic neighborhood church is reborn as a psychedelic arts collective.
Washington, D.C.
East Potomac Park Mini Golf
The country's oldest continually-operated mini golf course lies hidden in plain sight, eclipsed by one of D.C.'s most popular tourist attractions.
Washington, D.C.
Arizona Avenue Trestle
The span is crooked and made from two older recycled bridges.
Washington, D.C.
Southwest Duck Pond
This lovely pocket park is one of the most under appreciated in D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Fireworks Safety Zone on the National Mall
On the Fourth of July this area will transform into a Pompeii-like storm of falling embers and ash.
Berlin, Germany
Soviet Graffiti in the Reichstag
The walls of Germany's Parliament still show the scars of the Red Army takeover in World War II.
Chevy Chase, Maryland
Into the Woods
The wooded estate of the Forest Service employee responsible for D.C.’s cherry blossom trees.
