chip520's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Washington, D.C.

Senate Bathtubs

Senators used to relax in the nearly forgotten marble tubs now hidden in the U.S. Capitol Building's basement.
Washington, D.C.

'Cartwheel' Tower

Washington's top-secret Cold War-era doomsday communications tower is located in a small neighborhood park.
Washington, D.C.

The Highest Court In the Land

There just so happens to be a court even higher than the U.S Supreme Court: a basketball court in the building itself.
Washington, D.C.

Reading Room at the Folger Shakespeare Library

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

Volta Laboratory & Bureau

Helen Keller once broke ground on this historic center for the study of technologies to benefit the hearing impaired.
Washington, D.C.

Sharpshooter's Tree

A diminutive plaque recalls the treetop sniper who almost killed Abe Lincoln.
Washington, D.C.

C&O Boat Elevator Ruins

This forgotten boat elevator was an engineering marvel in its heyday.
Washington, D.C.

Eritrean Cultural Civic Center

Daily lunch spot for many of Washington, D.C.'s cab drivers.
Washington, D.C.

National Cathedral Bell Tower

There’s a special club house at the top for the bell ringers.
Washington, D.C.

Library of Congress Book Conveyor Tunnel

A fantastic array of trays and cables once whisked books over to the Capitol at 600 feet per minute.
Washington, D.C.

Arizona Avenue Trestle

The span is crooked and made from two older recycled bridges.
Washington, D.C.

The National Gallery's Art Materials Collection

The institution is sitting on a goldmine of 21,000 paints, varnishes, pigments, and primers preserved for posterity.
Washington, D.C.

Mary's Garden

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

Capitol Tile Room

In the basement of the U.S. Capitol Building is a hidden storage room full of ornate floor tiles leftover from the 1850s.
Washington, D.C.

Alferd Packer Cannibal Plaque

A brass plaque dedicated to a convicted cannibal hangs in the National Press Club, and that's not even the craziest part of the story.
Washington, D.C.

Godey Lime Kilns

A historic ruin just 20 feet away from a busy highway onramp.
Washington, D.C.

Serenity Statue

This poor little statue is the most vandalized memorial in Washington.
Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Observatory Library

A hoard of sky catalogs, astrophysical journals, even the works of Galileo and Copernicus.
Washington, D.C.

Treasury Department Cash Vault

Where the U.S. government kept its actual treasure, before Fort Knox.
Washington, D.C.

Historic Elevator at Potbelly

This sandwich shop has a century-old elevator behind a sheet of plexiglass.
Washington, D.C.

Fort Reno Park

The only Civil War battle in Washington D.C. took place near this highest natural point in the city.
Washington, D.C.

United Brick Corporation Ruins

Once the supplier for noteworthy projects like the National Cathedral, this old brickworks now lies abandoned.
Washington, D.C.

Peirce Mill Spy Station

Cold War intelligence agents monitored communist embassies from an attic in a former pigeon coop.