Highlights

• Devote your day to a tour of Gettysburg and the historic battlefield
• Visit the Gettysburg Diorama, one of the largest Miniature Military Dioramas in the United States
• Visit Cemetery Ridge, where Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address

Explore all of DC on this one day guided tour! Visit the newly renovated Ford’s Theatre and experience a remarkable collection of historic artifacts with background on the Civil War and 1860’s Washington.

Visit the Capitol Building, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. Don’t forget your camera for a photo stop at the White House (south lawn) – you might even see the President! Also, you’ll visit the White House Visitor Center, which houses the same decor and information about past and present Presidents.

Head to the new World War II Memorial to see the tribute to this country. See this beautiful structure and the wonderful water works that make this memorial one to remember. Spend time visiting the world famous Smithsonian Museums. You won’t want to miss the Air and Space Museum or the newly renovated American History Museum.

Also, you’ll see the FBI Building, Federal Triangle, Ellipse, Tidal Basin, National Archives, Washington Monument, House and Senate Office Building, U.S. Botanical Gardens, National Gallery of Art, U.S. Navy Memorial and Grant Memorial.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

If not one of the most powerful in the world, the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial is certainly one of the most powerful in Washington D.C. The iconic memorial is comprised of two walls of polished black granite, on which the names of the 58,209 soldiers killed in the Vietnam War are inscribed. It’s an eloquent inversion of the Mall’s other monuments: rather than a pale, ornate structure reaching skyward, it’s dark, austere and burrows into the earth, symbolizing the war’s wound to the national psyche.

Paper indices at both ends help you locate individual names. The most moving remembrances are notes, medals, and mementos left by survivors, family and friends; some of these are collected by park rangers and displayed at the National Museum of American History.

Nearby is the tree-ringed Women in Vietnam Memorial depicting female soldiers aiding a fallen man. Veterans dedicated to finding lost POWs have set up permanent camps around the monument, passing out pamphlets and Congressional petitions to search for soldiers still missing three decades after the war’s end.

Arlington National Cemetery

More than four million people visit Arlington National Cemetery, which contain the graves of soldiers of every war the United States has fought since the American Revolution. The cemetery is also a resting place for such American leaders as John F. Kennedy, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Medgar Evers.

At the end of Memorial Drive is the Women In Military Service for America Memorial, honoring women who have served in the armed forces since the Revolution. On the slopes above are the Kennedy gravesites; an eternal flame marks John F. Kennedy’s grave. The Tomb of the Unknowns holds unidentified bodies from World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. Soldiers march before it 24 hours a day, performing an impressive ceremonial changing of the guard every half hour.

Other memorials include the Confederate Monument, the mast of the battleship USS Maine, the Challenger memorial, and the Nurses’ Memorial. The Iwo Jima Memorial, displaying the famous raising of the flag over Mount Suribachi, is on the cemetery’s northern fringes.

Washington DC by Night: WWII Memorial

The Smithsonian

Founded in 1846, the Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum and research complex, consisting of 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park and nine research facilities.

The Smithsonian Institution was established with funds from James Smithson (1765-1829), a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for theincrease and diffusion of knowledge.”

Smithson, the illegitimate child of a wealthy Englishman, had traveled much during his life, but had never once set foot on American soil. Why, then, would he decide to give the entirety of his sizable estate—which totaled half a million dollars, or 1/66 of the United States’ entire federal budget at the time—to a country that was foreign to him?

Some speculate it was because he was denied his father’s legacy. Others argue that he was inspired by the United States’ experiment with democracy. Some attribute his philanthropy to ideals inspired by such organizations as the Royal Institution, which was dedicated to using scientific knowledge to improve human conditions. Smithson never wrote about or discussed his bequest with friends or colleagues, so we are left to speculate on the ideals and motivations of a gift that has had such significant impact on the arts, humanities, and sciences in the United States.

Visitors can pay homage to Smithson with a visit to his crypt, located on the first floor of the Smithsonian Castle.

Smithson died in 1829, and six years later, President Andrew Jackson announced the bequest to Congress. On July 1, 1836, Congress accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust. In September 1838, Smithson’s legacy, which amounted to more than 100,000 gold sovereigns, was delivered to the mint at Philadelphia. Recoined in U.S. currency, the gift amounted to more than $500,000.

National Zoological Park

One of the world’s best zoos and home to approximately 2,000 animals representing nearly 400 species, of which about a quarter are endangered; provides leadership in animal care, science, education, and sustainability.

After eight years of sometimes heated debate, an Act of Congress signed by President James K. Polk on Aug. 10, 1846, established the Smithsonian Institution as a trust to be administered by a Board of Regents and a Secretary of the Smithsonian. Since its founding .more than 164 years ago, the Smithsonian has become the world’s largest museum and research complex, with 19 museums, the National Zoo and nine research facilities.

The Museums and Zoo

The Smithsonian Institution—the world’s largest museum and research complex—includes 19 museums and galleries and the National Zoological Park.

Most Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are free and open every day of the year except December 25. For a complete list of hours see the information on planning your visit or select a museum from the list.

Note: Additional Smithsonian exhibitions and events can be found in the S. Dillon Ripley Center on the National Mall.

A list of all of the Museums located at The Smithsonian

• African American History and
  Culture Museum
• African Art Museum
• Air and Space Museum
• Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center
• American Art Museum
• American History Museum
• American Indian Museum
• American Indian Museum Heye Center
• Anacostia Community Museum
• Arts and Industries Building
• Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
• Freer Gallery of Art
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
• National Zoo
• Natural History Museum
• Portrait Gallery
• Postal Museum
• Renwick Gallery
• Sackler Gallery
• Smithsonian Institution Building,
  The Castle