The upstairs reading room is packed with millions of rare books, literary manuscripts, and historical treasures.

Turning night into day in Victorian-era Austin to thwart a serial killer.

Austin’s nonprofit-run graffiti park where street art is meant to be painted over.

Home to the largest urban bat colony in North America, estimated at 1.5 million bats.

One part antique store, one part curiosities hodge-podge.

This unique structure in suburban Austin is made up entirely of other people's castaways, and constantly changing.

Continuing the tradition of the dime museum in style.

A grove of colossal man-made flowers built to collect the sun's rays.

A trio of colossal statues spread across a Dallas neighborhood chart the emergence of a giant robot born of a locomotive and spilled gin.

This collection of bronze hands comes from astronauts, presidents, baseball greats, and more.

America's first federal monument.

This grave marks the passing of a historic Jane Doe whose identity remains a mystery to this day.

A muscular Art Deco monument represents the struggle between regulators and unbridled markets.

A 1,100-ton train fell through the floor in 1953. Workers got it patched up in just 72 hours.

A rotating cast of guys and dolls in front of a Washington, D.C. building.

After his presidency, George Washington planned to live only a few blocks from the Capitol building.

An overlooked memorial honoring the local Washington residents who died in World War I.

The institution is sitting on a goldmine of 21,000 paints, varnishes, pigments, and primers preserved for posterity.

A line of blue paint marks the route of the inaugural parade.

This nine-story building is the oldest standing skyscraper in D.C.

A portal into the bricked up canal that runs through the heart of Washington D.C.

This mysterious structure by the Washington Monument is a flood barrier designed to protect the White House against rising waters.

Before Metro, Washington had a robust streetcar network—and you see the remains of this infrastructure if you know where to look.

Go take a picture with the inventor of the daguerreotype photographic process.