The National Mall is a landscaped park near the downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institution, art galleries, cultural institutions, and various memorials, sculptures, and statues. It is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) of the United States Department of the Interior as part of the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit of the National Park System. The park receives approximately 24 million visitors each year. Designed by Pierre L'Enfant, the "Grand Avenue" or Mall was to be a democratic and egalitarian space—unlike palace gardens, such as those at Versailles in France, that were paid for by the people but reserved for the use of a privileged few.
Southeast is the southeastern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and is located south of East Capitol Street and east of South Capitol Street. It includes the Capitol Hill and Anacostia neighborhoods, the Navy Yard, the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB), the U.S. Marine Barracks, the Anacostia River waterfront, Eastern Market, the remains of several Civil War-era forts, historic St. Elizabeths Hospital, RFK Stadium, Nationals Park, and the Congressional Cemetery. It also contains a landmark known as "The Big Chair," located on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. The quadrant is split by the Anacostia River, with the portion that is west of the river sometimes referred to as "Near Southeast". Geographically, it is the second-smallest quadrant of the city.
Northeast is the northeastern quadrant of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. It encompasses the area located north of East Capitol Street and east of North Capitol Street.
Deanwood is a neighborhood in Northeast Washington, D.C., bounded by Eastern Avenue to the northeast, Kenilworth Avenue to the northwest, Division Avenue to the southeast, and Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue to the south.
The history of Washington, D.C., is tied to its role as the capital of the United States. The site of the District of Columbia along the Potomac River was first selected by President George Washington. The city came under attack during the War of 1812 in an episode known as the Burning of Washington. Upon the government's return to the capital, it had to manage the reconstruction of numerous public buildings, including the White House and the United States Capitol. The McMillan Plan of 1901 helped restore and beautify the downtown core area, including establishing the National Mall, along with numerous monuments and museums.
Adolf Ludwig Cluss also known as Adolph Cluss was a German-born American immigrant who became one of the most important, influential and prolific architects in Washington, D.C., in the late 19th century, responsible for the design of numerous schools and other notable public buildings in the capital. Today, several of his buildings are still standing. He was also a City Engineer and a Building Inspector for the Board of Public Works.
Suburban Gardens was the first and only major amusement park within Washington, D.C. Located at 50th and Hayes Streets, NE, in the Deanwood neighborhood near the National Training School for Women and Girls, Suburban Gardens opened in 1921 and was in operation for almost two decades. It was a welcome site for African Americans who were excluded by whites from Glen Echo Amusement Park in nearby Maryland.
Benning Heights is a residential neighborhood located in northeast Washington, D.C. It is bounded by East Capitol Street to the south, Brooks Street NE to the north, 44th Street NE and Benning Road NE to the west, and Division Avenue NE to the east. It is served by the Benning Road Metro Rail station on the Blue Line and Silver Line of the Washington Metro.
Benning Ridge is a residential neighborhood located in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is bounded by Fort Chaplin Park to the northwest, Southern Avenue to the south, Benning Road to the east, and Ridge Road SE to the west. Benning Ridge is an unusual neighborhood for its location east of the Anacostia River: although it is surrounded by working-class and low-income African American neighborhoods, Benning Ridge is rather affluent, with a diverse population of middle- and upper-middle-class white and black residents. As of 2015 the neighbourhood was one of the top ten most liberal neighbourhoods in Washington D.C..
Kenilworth is a residential neighborhood in Northeast Washington, D.C., located on the eastern bank of the Anacostia River and just inside the D.C.-Maryland border. A large public housing complex, Kenilworth Courts, dominates the area. The neighborhood is famous for the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, a national park whose centerpiece is a series of ponds carved out of Anacostia River marshland. Visitors come especially during June and July to see the beautiful blooming water lilies and lotus flowers. In 1895 the name “Kenilworth” was first applied to the area by white real estate developer Allen Mallery, who named this neighborhood after Kenilworth Castle in England, the ruins of which can still be seen today in Warwickshire. Kenilworth Park, which includes the Kenilworth-Parkside Recreation Center, also carries the neighborhood name, though most of the park's area is actually located adjacent to the modern neighborhoods of Parkside and Eastland Gardens.
Skyland is a neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. It is bounded by Good Hope Road to the northeast, Alabama Avenue to the southeast, and Fort Stanton Park to the south and west. It is part of Ward 8. Also see article on the Anacostia neighborhood.
The boundary markers of the original District of Columbia are the 40 milestones that marked the four lines forming the boundaries between the states of Maryland and Virginia and the square of 100 square miles (259 km2) of federal territory that became the District of Columbia in 1801. Working under the supervision of three commissioners that President George Washington had appointed in 1790 in accordance with the federal Residence Act, a surveying team led by Major Andrew Ellicott placed these markers in 1791 and 1792. Among Ellicott's assistants were his brothers Joseph and Benjamin Ellicott, Isaac Roberdeau, George Fenwick, Isaac Briggs and an African American astronomer, Benjamin Banneker.
The Rainbow Pool was a reflecting pool located on the National Mall in Washington D.C., USA. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., and was situated between the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and 17th Street NW. The pool was renamed the Rainbow Pool on October 15, 1924, after it was noticed that its 124 nozzles created a "perfect rainbow" when turned on.
Chevy Chase Circle is a traffic circle straddling the border of Chevy Chase, Washington, D.C., and Chevy Chase, Maryland. It sits upon the convergence of Western Avenue, Grafton Street, Magnolia Parkway, Chevy Chase Parkway NW, and Connecticut Avenue.
The Civil War Monuments in Washington, D.C. are a group of seventeen outdoor statues which are spread out through much of central and northwest Washington, D.C. The statues depict 11 Union generals and formerly included one Confederate general, Albert Pike, who was depicted as a Mason and not as a general. The Pike statue was torn down on Juneteenth 2020, as part of the George Floyd protests. Two Union admirals are honored, although Admiral Samuel Francis DuPont's statue was removed to Wilmington, Delaware, and he is now honored with a fountain. Other statues depict nuns, peace, emancipation, and the Grand Army of the Republic.
The Garden Club of America Entrance Markers in Washington, D.C., are carven stone pylons installed along the border of the District of Columbia in 1932 and 1933 by local Garden Club of America chapters. Originally about five feet tall, the markers were placed at important entrance points to the national capital. Seven survive: sets of two markers in Westmoreland Circle, Friendship Heights, and Chevy Chase Circle; and a single marker along Georgia Avenue. These surviving markers are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Union Square is an 11-acre public plaza at the foot of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It encompasses the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial (1924) and the 6-acre Capitol Reflecting Pool (1971) and is just west of the United States Capitol building. Views differ as to whether the Square is just east of the National Mall or is itself the eastern end.
The Apollo Theater was a movie theater located at 624 H Street NE in Washington, D.C. which played silent movies. It was built in 1913 and was part of the Crandall network of movie theaters popular at the time. It was demolished in 1955. The lot is today occupied by a residential building named the "Apollo" in its honor.
Romulus Cornelius Archer Jr. was an American architect. An African American, he is credited with designing Virginia University of Lynchburg in Lynchburg, Virginia and Saint Paul African Union Methodist Church in Washington D.C. Both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A United States postage stamp and the names of a number of recreational and cultural facilities, schools, streets and other facilities and institutions throughout the United States have commemorated Benjamin Banneker's documented and mythical accomplishments throughout the years since he lived (1731–1806). Among such memorializations of this free African American almanac author, surveyor, landowner and farmer who had knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and natural history was a biographical verse that Rita Dove, a future Poet Laureate of the United States, wrote in 1983 while on the faculty of Arizona State University.
