emajohn's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Places visited in Sterling, Virginia
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Washington, D.C.

Lincoln Book Tower

A three-story tower of books about Abraham Lincoln is one of the more unusual monuments to the president.
Inyo County, California

Marble Bath

This desert oddity hides in plain sight thanks to a cartographic error and a desert explorer with a punny sense of humor.
Cornwall, England

Restormel Castle

The ruins of an 11th-century Norman castle with a rare, perfectly circular shape.
Johnstown, Pennsylvania

Johnstown Inclined Plane

Steepest flood safety railway in the entire world.
Duffield, Virginia

Virginia's Natural Tunnel

A 300-yard long natural tunnel runs through a ridge deep in the Appalachian Mountains.
Staunton, Virginia

Abandoned DeJarnette Sanitarium

A former mental hospital founded in the 1930s by a eugenicist who advocated for the forced sterilization of patients.
Washington, D.C.

Vigilant Firehouse

‘Bush the old fire dog died of poison July 5th, 1869. RIP.’
Washington, D.C.

Georgetown Waterfront

The little-known, 300-year history of the area includes former lives as a bustling tobacco port, parking lot, and industrial dump.
Washington, D.C.

Old Stone House

The oldest building in the District of Columbia was preserved because of a mistaken connection to George Washington.
Washington, D.C.

Washington Coliseum

A historic arena where the Beatles played their first concert in the U.S.
Washington, D.C.

Peirce Mill Spy Station

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

Uncle Beazley the Triceratops

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

St. Elizabeths Hospital

Government testing at the asylum briefly explored using marijuana as a "truth serum" on Nazi prisoners of war.
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.

Historic Elevator at Potbelly

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

Holt House

There's a crumbling old mansion inside the Smithsonian National Zoo.
Washington, D.C.

Mount Zion Cemetery's Underground Railroad Shelter

People escaping slavery may have hidden inside a corpse vault.
Washington, D.C.

Dumbarton Oaks

The Byzantine, pre-Columbian, and medieval art at this stately mansion are some of the most under-appreciated collections in D.C.
Washington, D.C.

The Adams Memorial

A haunting tribute to pioneering photographer Clover Adams.
Washington, D.C.

Fort DeRussy

A Civil War fort in the middle of Washington, D.C. has been swallowed by a forest.
Washington, D.C.

East Potomac Park Mini Golf

The country's oldest continually-operated mini golf course lies hidden in plain sight, eclipsed by one of D.C.'s most popular tourist attractions.
Washington, D.C.

National Bonsai Museum

One of the dwarven trees dates back to 1625 and survived the Hiroshima bombing.
Siegen, Germany

Hainer Stollen

The abandoned mine where American troops discovered a treasure trove of art and artifacts hidden by the Nazis.
New York, New York

REI's Wall of Litho Stones

A trove of century-old litho stones from the Puck Building's printing days were discovered behind a cellar wall, and are now hanging in the store.