mmcgui's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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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.
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.

Civil War Nurses Memorial

A bas relief commemorates the "Nuns of the Battlefield" who cared for soldiers on both sides of the conflict.
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.

USS Balao Conning Tower

Part of a WWII submarine is lurking outside the Washington Navy Yard parking lot.
Washington, D.C.

FBI Spy House

A painfully obvious spy house sits right across the street from the Russian Embassy.
Washington, D.C.

Sonny Bono Memorial Park

A small triangle of DC grass is the final resting place of one of Sonny and Cher's songs.
Washington, D.C.

Letelier-Moffitt Monument

A diminutive memorial marks the site of a successful assassination by a right-wing death squad in America's capital.
Washington, D.C.

National Archives Vault

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

The Sun Building

This nine-story building is the oldest standing skyscraper in D.C.
Washington, D.C.

Embassy Gulf Service Center

Behind an abandoned storefront is an example of pioneering 1930s gas station architecture.
Washington, D.C.

Secret Entrance to the White House

The winding route passes through an enclosed alleyway, two tunnels, and leads to the White House basement.
Washington, D.C.

Riggs Bank

The bank that helped fund the Mexican-American War and the purchase of Alaska met its downfall after helping Augusto Pinochet launder money.
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.

Washington Stock Exchange Building

D.C. once had its own tiny rival to the New York Stock Exchange.
Washington, D.C.

Inaugural Parade Center Line

A line of blue paint marks the route of the inaugural parade.
Washington, D.C.

Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Vega

The "lovely red Vega" of the legendary record-settling pilot.
Washington, D.C.

Starship Enterprise NCC-1701

The actual model from the original "Star Trek" series is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
Washington, D.C.

Mount Zion Cemetery's Underground Railroad Shelter

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

Willard Hotel

Legend has it that President Grant’s frequent drinking in the lobby gave rise to the term “lobbyist.”
Washington, D.C.

Culture House

A historic neighborhood church is reborn as a psychedelic arts collective.
Washington, D.C.

Treasury Department Cash Vault

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

Mummified Bison

The 28,000-year-old specimen is remarkably intact.
Washington, D.C.

Martha, the Last Passenger Pigeon

The remains of Martha, the last known passenger pigeon, serve as a tool to educate about conservation.