The polo field on the National Mall has been a popular site for polo matches since the early 1900s. During World War II members of the military, including General George S. Patton, used the field for intramural games. Today, the polo field and…

In 1860, the first baseball clubs in Washington, DC, the Nationals and the Potomacs, played a game on the field south of the White House, then known as the White Lot. The field was originally open to baseball enthusiasts of all races, but became…

The Tripoli Monument was commissioned by members of the US Navy's Mediterranean fleet in memory of 6 officers who died during the Barbary Wars of the early 1800s. Built in Italy in 1806, the monument came to the US on board the USS Constitution and…

The mud flats and marshland to the west of the Washington Monument (on the left side of this image) were called the Potomac Flats for most of the 1800s. In 1870, the Army Corps of Engineers began dredging the Potomac to remove silt and to deepen the…

This historical survey stone was established in 1793 to mark the prime meridian of the United States. It was also intended to mark the intersection of direct lines from the middle of the Capitol and the White House, but it is in fact a little off…

The Eisenhower Memorial is a proposed monument to the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. The proposed monument site is located on the south side of Independence Avenue, directly across from the National Air and Space Museum.…

The Babcock Lakes, located west of the Washington Monument, served as spawning pools for the US Fish Commission. Mandated to remedy decreases in the availability of commercial fish in America, the Commission used Babcock Lakes to breed Eurasian Carp,…

The site of the National Air and Space Museum was once home to the headquarters of the United States Fish and Fisheries Commission, also known as the US Fish Commission. President Ulysses Grant signed the US Fish Commission into existence in 1871 to…

The Ellipse, officially known as President's Park South, is a 52 acre park located directly south of the White House. It was part of L'Enfant's original plan of the city. The Ellipse was originally called "The White Lot" due to the whitewashed fence…

Originally, Braddock's Rock was a sizable outcropping of Piedmont stone jutting into the Potomac. Called the "Key of all Keys," this rock became a starting point for surveyors drawing property lines for early settlers. In 1755, General Edward…