History Hike Information - Washington DC 2009

Interesting Sights near the Hotels

Adams Morgan, DC

Adams Morgan is a culturally diverse neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C., centered at the intersection of 18th Street NW and Columbia Road NW. Adams Morgan is considered the heart of Washington's Latino community, and is a major night life area with many bars and restaurants, particularly along 18th Street, the main commercial street. Much of the neighborhood is composed of 19th- and early 20th-century row houses and apartment buildings. Despite recent improvements in public safety and revitalization efforts, crime remains a problem in the neighborhood.

Dupont Circle

Dupont Circle is a traffic circle, neighborhood, and historic district in Northwest Washington, D.C. The traffic circle is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW, Connecticut Avenue NW, New Hampshire Avenue NW, P Street NW, and 19th Street NW. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 15th Street NW to the east, 22nd Street NW to the west, M Street NW to the south, and Florida Avenue NW to the north. Many important institutions are located nearby, including: The Brookings Institution, U.S. Green Building Council, and National Geographic. Up the street from the circle you can find the 130 year old Cosmos Club at Massachusetts Avenue and Florida Ave, NW where the National Geographic Society was founded in the 19th century: with several members of the Club who are also members of the History Committee.

Interesting Transportation Sights in Washington, DC

C&O Canal, Georgetown

The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal, and occasionally referred to as the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1836 until 1924 parallel to the Potomac River in Maryland from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, DC. The total length of the canal is about 184.5 miles (300 km). The elevation change of 605 ft (185 m) was accommodated with 74 canal locks. The canal way is now maintained as a park, with a linear trail following the old towpath, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

Columbia Heights on 14th Street

In 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., riots ravaged Columbia Heights along with many other Washington neighborhoods. Many homes and shops remained vacant for decades. In 1999, a revitalization initiative for the neighborhood focused around the Columbia Heights Metro station that opened that year. The opening of the Metro station served as a catalyst for the return of economic development and residents. Within five years, it had gentrified considerably, with a number of businesses including the theatre, Tivoli Square, now a commercial and entertainment complex and middle-class residents settling in the neighborhood. Columbia Heights is arguably Washington's most ethnically and economically diverse neighborhood, composed of high-priced condominiums and townhouses as well as public and middle-income housing. In 2008, a 546,000 square-foot (51,000 m²) retail complex across the street from the Columbia Heights Metro station opened. The space is anchored by retailers Target and Best Buy and includes 390,000 square feet of underground parking.

National Museum of American History

The National Museum of American History collects, preserves and displays American heritage in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. The museum is administered by the Smithsonian Institution and located in Washington, D.C., on the National Mall. After being closed for two years of renovations, the National Museum of American History reopened to shed new light on American history, literally and figuratively. The renovated museum includes a five-story sky-lit atrium, surrounded by artifact displays showcasing the breadth of the museum's three million objects from the cultural, social, technological and political history of the United States. A grand staircase now links the museum's first and second floors and six landmark objects located in the wings of each of the three exhibition floors help orient visitors. New galleries such as the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Hall of Invention join old ones like "The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden" and the excellent transportation exhibits in "American on the Move". The Star-Spangled Banner Flag has been given a new state of the art home at the heart of the museum. The grand reopening starts off a year of new exhibition openings that culminates in summer 2009.

National Building Museum

The National Building Museum, in Washington, D.C., in the United States, is a museum of "architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning". It was created by an act of Congress in 1980, and is a private non-profit institution; it is adjacent to the Judiciary Square Metro station. Two important transportation-related institutions are located nearby, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) is located in the Keck Center at 500 Fifth St. N.W., and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and also know as Metro, is located across 5th Street, NW from the Building Museum. Click here for more info on Metro’s history.

US Department of Transportation

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has moved its new Headquarters to the Southeast Federal Center. DOT is housed in two connected buildings – the East Building and the West Building. The new headquarters building for the DOT, which opened in Spring 2007 in Southeast Washington, near the Washington Navy Yard and Nationals Park. The office buildings are the first new cabinet-level headquarters to be designed and constructed in the Capitol in over three decades. The DOT HQ sits on an 11-acre site and is the first building to mark the redevelopment of the Southeast Federal Center, a 55-acre site along the Anacostia River, adjacent to the Washington Navy Yard. Although a highly secured facility, the buildings present an open appearance to the public. Amenities offered to the community include landscaped meeting areas, regular farmer markets and a new Transportation Walking Museum that contains a series of temporary and permanent outdoor exhibits.

9th & F Street, NW in Penn Quarter

9th Street, NW is a southbound one-way urban arterial that paired with northbound 12th Street, NW provide excellent highway access from downtown DC via tunnel access underneath the national mall to I-395. F Street, NW is a revitalized shopping street with several new and existing attractions. The intersection is located in Penn Quarter which is a neighborhood in the East End of downtown Washington, D.C., located just north of Pennsylvania Avenue, halfway between the White House and the U.S. Capitol Building — between 3rd Street on the east and 15th Street on the west, Pennsylvania Avenue on the south and New York and Massachusetts avenues on the north. Penn Quarter has been rejuvenated over the past several decades, stimulated first by the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation and later, following the recession in the 1990s by the Verizon Center, which opened in 1997 as the hockey and basketball arena. Penn Quarter now boasts quality museums, theaters, designer clothing stores, destination restaurants, and contemporary art galleries. Over the past decade, Penn Quarter has expanded to include the city's Chinatown as well as commercial and residential blocks that adjoined the nucleus of this downtown neighborhood. Penn Quarter has roughly 10,000 residents. The Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) represents property owners who tax themselves to make their community cleaner, safer and more vibrant. The tax revenue is used by the BID to purchase services and capital improvements that supplement those provided by the city.

Presidential Inauguration Sights

Swearing-in of the President

The swearing-in of the President of the United States occurs upon the commencement of a new term of a President of the United States. The swearing-in traditionally takes place at noon on Inauguration Day at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., with the Chief Justice of the United States administering the oath. From the presidency of Martin Van Buren through Jimmy Carter, the ceremony took place on the Capitol's East Portico. Since the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, the ceremony has been held at the Capitol's West Front. The inauguration of William Howard Taft in 1909 and Reagan in 1985 were moved indoors at the Capitol due to cold weather. Until 1937, Inauguration Day was March 4. Since then, Inauguration Day has occurred on January 20 (the 1933 ratification of the Twentieth Amendment changed the start date of the term).

Pennsylvania Avenue

Pennsylvania Avenue is a street in Washington, D.C. joining the White House and the United States Capitol. Called "America's Main Street," it is the location of official parades and processions, as well as protest marches and civilian protests. Moreover, Pennsylvania Avenue is an important commuter route and is part of the National Highway System. Laid out by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Pennsylvania Avenue was one of the earliest streets constructed in the federal city. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson considered the Avenue an important feature of the new capital. After inspecting L'Enfant's plan, President Washington referred to the thoroughfare as a "Grand Avenue". The symbolically important street was named for Pennsylvania as consolation for moving the capital from Philadelphia. From 1862 to 1962, streetcars ran the length of the avenue from Georgetown to the Anacostia River.

Ever since an impromptu procession formed around Jefferson's second inauguration, every United States president except Ronald Reagan has paraded down the Avenue after taking the oath of office (Reagan paraded down the avenue for his first inauguration, in 1981, but not for the second in 1985 because of freezing temperatures which high winds made dangerous). From William Henry Harrison to Gerald Ford the funeral corteges of seven of the eight presidents who died in office and two former presidents followed this route. Abraham Lincoln's funeral cortege solemnly proceeded down Pennsylvania Avenue in 1865; only weeks later the end of the American Civil War had been celebrated when the Army of the Potomac paraded more joyously down the street.

Capitol Visitors Center

The United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) is an addition to the United States Capitol which serves as a gathering point for up to 4,000 tourists and an expansion space for the US Congress. It is located below the East Front of the Capitol, between the Capitol and 1st Street East. The CVC contains 580,000 square feet (54,000 m2) of space below ground on three floors. The overall project's budget was $621 million. Visitors are free to explore the CVC, which houses an exhibition hall, two gift shops, and a 530-seat food court. Visiting the CVC and the Capitol are free. Tickets for Capitol tours are also free and are available online for order ahead of time for the first time ever.

Regional Transportation Centers

Union Station

Union Station is the grand ceremonial train station designed to be the entrance to Washington, D.C., when it opened in 1907. It is one of the busiest and best-known places in Washington, D.C., visited by 20 million people each year. The terminal is served by Amtrak, MARC and VRE commuter railroads, and the Washington Metro transit system of buses and subway trains. Architect Daniel Burnham, assisted by Pierce Anderson, was inspired by a number of models: Classical elements included the Arch of Constantine (exterior, main facade) and the great vaulted spaces of the Baths of Diocletian (interior); prominent siting at the intersection of two of Pierre L'Enfant's avenues, with an orientation that faced the United States Capitol, just five blocks away; a massive scale, including a facade stretching more than 600' and a waiting room ceiling 96' above the floor; stone inscriptions and allegorical sculpture in the Beaux-Arts manner; expensive materials such as marble, gold leaf, and white granite from a previously unused quarry.

Ronald Reagan National Airport

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is a public airport located three miles south of Washington, D.C., in Arlington County, Virginia, Originally named Washington National Airport; the facility was renamed to honor former President Ronald Reagan in 1998. The airport is commonly known as "National", "Washington National", "Reagan", and "Reagan National"; "DCA" is used as the main airport code. Terminal A opened in 1941 and was expanded in 1955 to accommodate more passengers and airlines. Terminals B and C opened in 1997, replacing a collection of airline-specific terminals built during the 1960s. The new terminals were designed by architect Cesar Pelli and house 35 gates. The George Washington Memorial Parkway provides primary access to the airport. Between the airport and the parkway, several attractive bridge segments have been added to the popular Mount Vernon bicycle trail in order to remove conflicts between vehicle traffic and trail users.

Transportation Mega-Structures

14th Street Bridge

The 14th Street Bridge is a complex of five bridges across the Potomac River, connecting Arlington, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Three of the spans are each four-lane automobile bridges—one northbound, one southbound, and one with two general purpose lanes in each direction—that carry Interstate 395 and U.S. Route 1 traffic. Adjacent to the automobile bridges are two bridges for rail traffic, one for the Yellow Line of the Washington Metro and the other for a CSX Transportation rail line. At the north end of the bridge, in East Potomac Park, the three roadways merge and split into two two-way bridges over the Washington Channel into downtown Washington, one carrying traffic (including northbound US 1) north onto 14th Street, and the other carrying I-395 (and southbound US 1) traffic onto the Southwest Freeway.

New Woodrow Wilson Bridge

The Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge (also known as the Wilson Bridge) is a bascule bridge that spans the Potomac River between the independent city of Alexandria, Virginia and Oxon Hill in Prince George's County, Maryland. The bridge is one of only a handful of drawbridges in the U.S. Interstate Highway System. The Wilson Bridge carries Interstate 95 and Interstate 495 (the Capital Beltway). The drawbridge on the original span opened approximately 260 times a year and carried approximately 250,000 cars each day. The new, higher span will require fewer openings.

Springfield Interchange

The Springfield Interchange, also known as the Mixing Bowl, is the interchange of Interstate 95, Interstate 395, and Interstate 495 in Springfield, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C.. The interchange is located at exit 57 on the Capital Beltway and exit 170 on I-95. This interchange is nicknamed the "Mixing Bowl" because, prior to the reconstruction, local and long distance travelers shared the same lanes and travelers had to merge to the right or left to reach the correct lanes for their destination. The last of this weaving and merging was eliminated on April 21, 2007. The interchange is one of the busiest highway junctions in the U.S., serving about 430,000 cars per day.