The Jefferson Memorial features a classically-inspired dome surrounded by columns. The centerpiece of the memorial is a 19 foot bronze statue of Jefferson. The statue was the second one of Jefferson placed in the Memorial, replacing a work made of…

Now encompassing several buildings and several dozen acres, the US Botanic Garden began with an original plot of 5 acres set aside by President James Monroe. The original location of the garden buildings was on 3rd Street in line with Capitol dome,…

Commemorating the first air mail flight connecting Washington, Philadelphia, and New York, the Aero Club of Washington placed this plaque in 1958 to mark the 40th anniversary of that flight. Following 52 experimental flights by the Post Office…

This is the second memorial to Roosevelt in the city; the first is near the National Archives and matches Roosevelt's own statement about what a memorial to him should look like: a block of stone about the size of a desk. However, in the 1970s,…

Originally created for the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition, sculptor Frederic Bartholdi had hoped to sell the fountain after the exposition concluded. The only offer to purchase it was made by Congress, who bought the work for $6,000. The sculpture was…

Pierre L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the city of Washington first suggested a reflecting pool for the Capitol, but was never built. The 1902 McMillian Commission design for the National Mall revived the idea, yet it still took until 1971 for the…

In 1912, the United States received a shipment of 3,020 cherry trees as a gift from the government of Japan. These were a replacement for a gift of trees in 1909 which had to be destroyed because they were infected with root disease. The trees were a…

Stretching approximately a third of a mile from end to end, the reflecting pool lies between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Built in 1920 on marshland, the pool gradually sank, leaking into the surrounding land. In 2012, the pool…

The Cuban Friendship Urn originally stood in Cuba to honor American deaths on the USS Maine and during the Spanish-American War. After the urn was damaged in a 1926 hurricane, it was sent to the United States and placed outside the Cuban Embassy.…

The result of decades of planning and effort, the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial honors the Civil War general and US President. The massive memorial features three sections: a large statue of Grant on his horse, a separate sculpture entitled Artillery on…