Things to Do in Washington

Widely recognized as the oldest building in Washington, D.C., the historic Old Stone House was built in 1765 and has remained relatively unchanged since its construction. Today, a knowledgeable park ranger meets visitors as they enter the building and shares the colorful history of the capital city's oldest structure. Travelers can take an informal tour through Old Stone House and explore the kitchen, bedrooms and parlor, which are decked out in traditional 18th century style. This unique attraction offers a peek into the daily life of early Americans that's unlike anywhere else. The Colonial Revival Garden, located behind the house, is a popular destination for weddings, afternoon picnics, and quiet escapes from city chaos.

Part of the Smithsonian, this intimate museum is dedicated to crafts and decorative art created in America from the 19th to 21st centuries. Originally built in 1859 to house D.C.'s first art museum, the Corcoran Gallery - which soon outgrew these digs and moved down the street - this ornate Second Empire building had become a moldering, almost-lost cause by the mid-1960s, when it was saved from demolition by President Lyndon Johnson and declared a National Historic Landmark.

In 1972, the museum was spruced up, re-named for its famous architect, James Renwick (designer of the nearby Smithsonian Castle), and re-opened as the home of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's craft collection. The Renwick has since become renowned for its rotating exhibits of inventive, detailed and even whimsical works of American art.

Docent-led tours of the Renwick's highlights meet at the Information Desk in the lobby, offered
Monday - Friday at 12 p.m. and Saturday - Sunday at 1 p.m. Scavenger hunt materials for children are also available free of charge at the Information Desk. Set across the street from the Old Executive Office Building and the White House, the Renwick attracts a great deal of foot traffic; it's advisable to arrive early or late in order to have the most elbow room.

Open to all faiths and creeds, the Washington National Cathedral conducts services for many faiths and peoples. Martin Luther King Jr gave his last Sunday sermon here; now it's the standard place for state funerals and other high-profile events. It’s often considered the country’s most beautiful church.

The building is elegant, but also powerfully Neo-Gothic. With its pale limestone walls, flying buttresses, intricate carving and exquisite stained glass, it is intended to rival Europe's great cathedrals. Take the elevator to the tower overlook for expansive city views; posted maps explain what you see. Chapels in the main sanctuary honor the Apollo astronauts, Martin Luther King Jr, Abraham Lincoln, and abstract ideas like peace and justice.

The endearing Children's Chapel is filled with images of real and imaginary animals. Famous folks like Helen Keller and Woodrow Wilson are buried downstairs in the crypt. Outside, walk through the charming Bishop's Garden, a small English-style garden with winding paths that lend a mood of solitude.

The retirement home for President Woodrow Wilson his wife Edith, this Georgian Revival house on Embassy Row earned its National Historic Preservation Site status for both its inhabitants and its architect. It was designed in 1915 by Waddy Butler Wood, the man behind a slew of D.C.’s finest private homes, as well the Masonic Temple, National Museum of Women in the Arts, and headquarters of the Department of the Interior.

Washington’s only presidential museum, the home has been maintained much as it looked at the time of Wilson’s death here in 1924; Edith continued to live in the house until her own death in 1961. In addition to an 8000-volume library and a slew of personal artifacts and memorabilia, Woodrow Wilson House features an elevator installed to accommodate the former president, who had suffered a semi-paralyzing stroke in 1919.

Designed by Italian architect Luigi Moretti in 1962, this distinctive five-building apartment and business complex beside the Potomac River was home to the political scandal that caused the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. However, as this tall, modern compound was partially funded by the Vatican, approved by the nation’s first Catholic president (John F. Kennedy), and thought to mar the city’s elegant riverfront, Watergate had been controversial for years before this scandal ever happened.

The scandal, though, made Watergate a household name. In 1972, high-level officials from the Nixon administration were sent to headquarters of the Democratic National Committee –then located on the sixth floor of the Watergate Hotel and Office Building – to burglarize the office, photograph documents and tap the phones. A subsequent investigation by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post revealed the break-in, and in 1974, Richard Nixon was forced to step down as president.

The Watergate Complex remains a series of expensive apartments and offices, but the Watergate Hotel has been closed for renovations since 2010. There isn’t much diversion here for visitors, but set near Georgetown and the Kennedy Center, it makes an easy stop on a visit to those areas or on a walk along the Potomac around Foggy Bottom.

Every year, people from all over the world flock to Washington DC just to get a peek at the 132-room United States White House, which has been the official residence of each US president since 1800.

The Basics

The White House is most often admired from afar, as wandering tourists are unable to step inside and the grounds are only open for special events, such as the White House Easter Egg Roll. In lieu of touring the interior (which can be arranged by making a request through Congress), travelers can catch sight of the structure from behind the front gates or head to the National Park Service’s White House Visitors Center to browse exhibits, watch historic reenactments, or stop by the gift shop.

How to Prepare for the White House Tour

Requests for free, self-guided tours of the East Wing must be submitted through your member of Congress. Tour requests can be made up to three months in advance; this is advised given that they are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis and space is limited. The names, birthdates, and social security numbers of everyone in your party must be submitted. Once approved, you’ll be assigned a tour time (they are available Tuesday through Thursday from 8:30am to 11:30am and Friday and Saturday until 1:30pm). Call the White House Visitors Office information line at (202) 456-7041 for additional tour information.

If you do secure one of these public tours, highlights include the Red Room, used primarily for afternoon tea; the Green Room; and the Blue Room, the setting of the White House Christmas tree. West Wing tours (including the Oval Office) are by invitation only.

What to Know Before Visiting the White House

Here are a few tips to help you plan your visit.

• Be sure to have your government-issued photo ID with you at all times during your visit.
  
• There are no general public storage facilities on site; most visitors bring only their wallet, keys, and cell phone. Compact cameras are also allowed.
  
• Prohibited items include no-brainers such as electric stun guns and martial arts weapons/devices. You’ll also want to leave purses, backpacks, video cameras, and book bags at home. The U.S. Secret Service reserves the right to prohibit any other personal items.
  
• The nearest restrooms are in the Ellipse Visitor Pavilion.
  
• Note that visitor access records to the White House complex are made publicly available 90 to 120 days after each visit.

Built to honor the first US president, George Washington, the Washington Monument is the tallest building in DC. Reaching an impressive 555 feet (170 meters), this iconic structure is quite remarkable, as is its mirror image in the 2,029-foot-long (618-meter) Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool below. Most travelers stop to view and photograph the monument's exterior on the National Mall, but it's also possible to take a glass-walled elevator to an observation landing at the top (currently closed until spring 2019).

The nation's only museum dedicated to female artists, since 1981 the NMWA has featured a permanent collection of 4,500 artworks made by more than 1,000 different women. Spanning the 16th century to today, this collection includes pieces by painters Berthe Morisot and Grandma Moses, photographer Nan Goldin, and sculptor Louise Bourgeois. The museum also hosts several rotating exhibits throughout the year, highlighting exciting, whimsical, controversial and/or thought-provoking female-made work in every medium.

Housed in an elegant Renaissance Revival building, NMWA has a performance space for lectures, a library full of resources on women in the arts, and the on-site Mezzanine Cafe, serving Mediterranean-style salads and sandwiches in a marble-paved atrium surrounded by art. The Cafe is open 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., and in addition to weekday and Saturday lunches, offers brunch on the first Sunday of every month ($25 per person).

Home to the local baseball team, the Washington Nationals (and its bald eagle mascot, Screech), this LEED-certified stadium can seat over 41,ooo fans. The Nationals, formed by the transfer of the Montreal Expos in 2005, is D.C.'s first baseball team since the Washington Senators folded in 1971. The East Division team played its first three seasons in D.C.'s RFK Stadium before moving into its own dedicated stadium in 2008.

Set in the formerly scruffy Navy Yard neighborhood by the Anacostia River, Nationals Park jumpstarted urban renewal and a thriving commercial district full of independently-owned shops, bars, and cafes; as a nod to its more historic and maritime Navy Yard surroundings, a submarine horn blares after every Nationals home run and win. The Park itself features views of the U.S. Capitol Building, National Cathedral and Washington Monument from its upper deck, and in addition to concessions by local eateries like Ben's Chili Bowl, the Red Porch sit-down restaurant offers full meals with a view of the field.

First opened in 1907, the D.C. area's largest train station is the headquarters for Amtrak, the busiest station on the Metrorail's Red Line, and a shopping and dining destination. Set just five blocks from the U.S. Capitol Building, this sprawling warren of specialty boutiques, food courts and elegant restaurants beneath soaring, gilded ceilings and Grecian arches makes for an easy stop amidst sightseeing in Federal Triangle, on Capitol Hill, and in Chinatown and Penn Quarter.

Union Station reached its peak in popularity during and immediately following World War II, but after a failed attempt to turn it into a popular National Visitors Center in the 1970s, it was refurbished and re-launched in its present form in 1988. Since then, the train station has been used by an average of 1o,000 Amtrak travelers per year, headed to and from destinations all over the country.

A variety of city tours depart from the Main Hall at the station's street level, including Old Town Trolley Tours and Open Top Sightseeing, but guided tours of Union Station itself are not offered.  To get a different view of the station, visit the popular outdoor market held here each April through October, Monday "“ Saturday from 7 a.m. "“ 7 p.m.

Located on the Metrorail Red Line, there is also a large public parking lot on the premises of Union Station; with validation, up to two hours' parking costs $1.