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Washington, D.C.

Historic Elevator at Potbelly

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

FDR's Bomb Shelter

The first presidential bomb shelter was located in an old vault under the Treasury, connected to the White House via tunnel.
Elliot Carter Added by Elliot Carter
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.
Added by SaraB
Washington, D.C.

Navy Yard Railroad Gun

One of the largest artillery pieces in the world sits in a Washington D.C. parking lot.
Elliot Carter Added by Elliot Carter
Washington, D.C.

Capitol Building Tunnel System

Members of Congress have traveled between the buildings on Capitol Hill for a century hidden from tourists, press, and storm clouds.
Elliot Carter Added by Elliot Carter
Washington, D.C.

The Presidential Booths at Martin's Tavern

Sit where JFK proposed to Jackie or where Nixon dined on meatloaf at this storied pub.
Kendall Cairns Added by Kendall Cairns
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.
Elliot Carter Added by Elliot Carter
Washington, D.C.

Treasury Department Cash Vault

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

Annie's Paramount Steakhouse

This restaurant has been a haven for D.C.'s LGBTQ community since the 1950s.
Reina Gattuso Added by Reina Gattuso
Washington, D.C.

NIST Newton Apple Tree

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

Ruins of the Columbian Cannon Foundry

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

USNO Master Clock

The most accurate timepiece in the world.
Elliot Carter Added by Elliot Carter
Washington, D.C.

Georgetown's Haunted Halcyon House

This stately mansion, built in 1787 by America's first Secretary of the Navy, is rumored to be one of the most haunted buildings in Washington, DC.
micahspangler Added by micahspangler
Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Observatory Library

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

Grace Hopper's Bug

A computer bug so primitive it was an actual insect.
Molly McBride Jacobson Added by Molly McBride Jacobson
Washington, D.C.

Abandoned Drawbridge Control Room

The hidden offices underneath Memorial Bridge have been locked up since 1976.
Elliot Carter Added by Elliot Carter
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.
Elliot Carter Added by Elliot Carter
Washington, D.C.

The Mary Surratt Boarding House

The house where John Wilkes Booth conspired with his co-conspirators.
Sarah Laskow Added by Sarah Laskow
Washington, D.C.

Peirce Mill Spy Station

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

National Archives Vault

An atomic bomb-proof strongbox protects the U.S. Constitution from terrorists and thieves.
Elliot Carter Added by Elliot Carter
Washington, D.C.

Holt House

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

Fort DeRussy

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