The National Air and Space Museum holds the world's largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft. A second location in Chantilly, Virginia, opened in 2003 to display even more items from its collection, including the Space Shuttle…

The creation of a memorial to Civil War Union General George Meade was first proposed by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1911. Congress approved the memorial in 1915, but conflicts between the Pennsylvania Meade Memorial Commission and the Washington…

On the afternoon of August 23, 2011, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in Mineral, Virginia which was felt as far away as New York state. In Washington, DC the Washington Monument swayed from the force of the earthquake. Visitors were evacuated by…

Henry Latrobe, an architect of the US Capitol, was also the chief engineer of the Washington City Canal. He prepared drawings of the canal locks in 1810, before construction began. The Canal was about one mile long and passed in front of the Capitol.…

These American bison, also known as buffalo, were part of the Smithsonian's Department of Living Animals. The Department was started by chief taxidermist William T. Hornaday, who was a spokesman for the conservation movement and very concerned about…

The same storm system which contributed to the Johnstown Flood in June 1889 also caused flooding in Washington, DC. This map detail shows the extent to which the flooding affected the National Mall. The dark blue lines show the edges of the flooding;…

The lockkeeper's house at 17th Street and Constitution Avenue is a reminder that canals once flowed through Washington, DC. Between 1835 and 1855, a lockkeeper served the lock that connected the Washington branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to…

This 1860s photograph shows the Capitol dome under construction, with the Botanical Gardens and canal in foreground. In the 1860s, the Capitol dome was not yet complete. The city's canal system connected the Anacostia River to the Potomac by flowing…

This map shows a plan for the National Mall which featured gardens, parks, winding paths, and the existing canal. Before the McMillan Commission's proposed redesign of the Mall in 1902, the space was much more pastoral in look and feel.

This bird's-eye view of Washington, DC faces west with the US Capitol in the foreground. Canals and other waterways intersecting the National Mall are visible to the left of tree-lined Pennsylvania Avenue, then the capital's ceremonial thoroughfare,…