Map of DC (.pdf 398KB)
Introduction
Seeing Washington
Historical
Timeline
Historical DC
Today's DC
U.S. Department
of the Interior
National Park Service
TODAY'S DC
The west front of the Capitol makes a graceful transition down to the Mall in a series of arcades, steps, and terraces. At its base is the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial with its Reflecting Pool.
The White House is the President's home and office. It is the center of the Executive Branch of the government as well as the place where the President receives foreign dignitaries.
The U.S. Marine War Memorial depicts the moment when Marines raised the flag over Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during World War II.
The sculpture by Glenna Goodacre at the Vietnam Women's Memorial commemorates the women who served in Vietnam.
The
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, by Maya Ying Lin, lists the names of the
servicemen and women who died in the conflict or who remain missing.
The Lincoln Memorial was designed by Henry Bacon in the style of a classical Greek temple. To make the structure a more effective terminus to the Mall, he turned it, placing the entrance in one of the long sides. Inside, Daniel Chester French's seated Lincoln faces the Capitol.
As an architect Thomas Jefferson was influenced by classical models typified by the colonnaded, domed Pantheon in Rome – the inspriation for his Rotunda at the University of Virginia. John Russell Pope's design for the Thomas Jefferson Memorial echoes those structures.
Visitors to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial move through four outdoor rooms, one for each of his terms in office. Sculptures, inscriptions, plantings, and flowing water make this a moving tribute.
Photos of FDR Memorial and U.S. Capitol by Richard T. Notwitz. Photo of Vietnam Veterans Memorial by Robert Shafer/Folic Inc. Photo of Vietnam Women's Memorial courtesy NPS. All other photos by @ Carol Highsmith.