trekkieturtle's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Washington, D.C.

Waldseemüller’s 1507 World Map

This groundbreaking 16th-century map is known as "America's birth certificate."
Washington, D.C.

The Mary Surratt Boarding House

The house where John Wilkes Booth conspired with his co-conspirators.
Gaithersburg, Maryland

Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory

Tiny observatory made big contributions to the study of the Earth's motion.
Gaithersburg, Maryland

DeSellum Family Cemetery

This small cemetery remains hidden behind a recreation center.
Washington, D.C.

Reading Room at the Folger Shakespeare Library

Home to a vast and influential collection of Shakespeareana.
Washington, D.C.

Site of the Knickerbocker Disaster

You could be standing at the site of one of D.C.'s most fatal tragedies and not even know it.
Washington, D.C.

NIST Newton Apple Tree

A clone of a cloned tree that was so important it allegedly had its own guards.
Washington, D.C.

Overthrust Fault

A surprising, but overlooked example of geology in the middle of the nation’s capital.
Washington, D.C.

Uncle Beazley the Triceratops

A celebrity from the late Cretaceous period.
Washington, D.C.

Site of the Union Station Train Crash

A 1,100-ton train fell through the floor in 1953. Workers got it patched up in just 72 hours.
Washington, D.C.

African-American Civil War Memorial

The first memorial dedicated solely to the Black troops who fought for the Union.
Washington, D.C.

Museum of Unnatural History

Giftshop catering to cryptozoologists and anyone with a sense of humor.
Washington, D.C.

Palace of Wonders

Bar full of oddities, specimens, artifacts and homages to the great dime museums of the past.
Washington, D.C.

Tivoli's Astounding Magic Supply

The district's only illusionarium supports free writing programs for local students with every purchase.
Upper Marlboro, Maryland

The Tomb of Dr. William Beanes

The final resting place of a physician rescued during the bombardment of Fort McHenry.
Washington, D.C.

Ruins of the McMillan Sand Filtration Site

An Industrial Revolution-era public work that purified water using nothing but sand.
Washington, D.C.

The Capitol Stones

Enormous piles of historically significant stones, dumped by Congress in a forest, and abandoned for 60 years.
Rockville, Maryland

The Fitzgeralds' Gravesite

The final resting place of the tragic king and queen of the Jazz Age is tucked away in a small Maryland graveyard.
Bethesda, Maryland

The Linden Oak

This mighty white oak in Bethesda survived both the American Revolution and the construction of Washington D.C.'s metro red line.
Washington, D.C.

Mary's Garden

An overlooked oasis of quiet on the grounds of Washington's monumental basilica.
Washington, D.C.

National Capitol Columns

The United States Capitol's former columns still stand.
Washington, D.C.

National Bonsai Museum

One of the dwarven trees dates back to 1625 and survived the Hiroshima bombing.
Washington, D.C.

Catacombs of Washington, D.C.

Franciscan monks created a facsimile of the Holy Land for North Americans who couldn’t afford the trip overseas.
Washington, D.C.

Sharpshooter's Tree

A diminutive plaque recalls the treetop sniper who almost killed Abe Lincoln.