A little marble compass above George Washington's (empty) tomb in the Capitol marks where D.C.'s four quadrants intersect.

For 60 years, the academy had no permanent location until members voted Washington D.C. as its forever home.

Four bald cypress trees in Lafayette Square, across from the White House, mark the southern edge of a 100,000 year old cypress swamp.

The privately owned cemetery that holds room for Washington's finest when they step down from life.

Washington's iconic carousel has a nice piece of Civil Rights history.

The unique traffic pattern named for an influential urban planner is also known as the Pedestrian Scramble.

Sit where JFK proposed to Jackie or where Nixon dined on meatloaf at this storied pub.

The world's oldest soul food restaurant is also one of its best.

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

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

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

This unique museum cafeteria showcases the history and regional diversity of African American cuisine.

Decades before the scandal, this staircase on the river was a literal "water gate."

An easily overlooked memorial to a Ukrainian famine-genocide that killed over 4 million people.

These recently uncovered walls are all that's left of Washington, D.C's first defense contractor.

The most accurate timepiece in the world.

D.C.'s first central library was born out of a chance encounter with the philanthropist whose name it bears.

A haunting tribute to pioneering photographer Clover Adams.

This lovely pocket park is one of the most under appreciated in D.C.

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

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

This restaurant has been a haven for D.C.'s LGBTQ community since the 1950s.

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

A celebrity from the late Cretaceous period.