WASHINGTON DC: Social
Studies Tour
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DC > Social
Studies
FEATURED ATTRACTIONS
Arlington National
Cemetery Tour begins at the
cemetery visitor’s center and includes
the Kennedy gravesites, the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier for the Changing
of the guard ceremony, Arlington House and the
Robert E. Lee Memorial.
Explorers Hall at
the National Geographic society contains exhibits
depicting famous National Geographic sponsored
exhibitions. The Hall encompasses the entire
1st floor of the building. Its centerpiece
is an 11 foot sphere, Earth Station One, said
to be the world’s largest free standing
globe. The globe illustrates such detail as
the relief of the ocean floor.
Ford’s Theatre (closed for 2007-08 season for renovations) where Abraham Lincoln was fatally shot by John
Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, has
been restored to its 1860’s appearance. Short
talks recounting the atmosphere of Washington during
the Civil War and the story of the assassination
are presented.
Peterson House the place where Abraham Lincoln
died after being shot at Ford’s Theatre. Holocaust Memorial
Museum presents the history
of 6 million Jews and millions of others including
Roma
(gypsies), Soviet POWs, Poles, Dissidents, homosexuals,
Jehovah’s Witnesses and the disabled, who
suffered and died at the hands of the Nazis during
their rule
of Germany 1933-1945. J. Edgar Hoover F.B.I.
Building Covers an entire
city block. Exhibits explain the history and
jurisdiction of the FBI, as well as the work of
the FBI laboratory.
The tour includes a firearms demonstration. Closed to tours until further notice.
Library of Congress is across from the Capitol,
off Independence Ave., is a complex of three
buildings. The oldest building, the Thomas Jefferson,
is richly
ornamented. The library’s Art Deco John Adams
building offers a reading room for business and
science, Near Eastern, African, Asian and the Hebraic.
The
newest structure, the contemporary James Madison
Memorial Building, contains reading rooms, exhibit
halls and an information center to assist first-time
visitors.
Lincoln Memorial is
in line with the Capitol and the Washington
Monument. Between the memorial and the monument
lie two reflecting pools and the new WWII memorial.
The stately marble structure, designed by Henry
Bacon, stands just before the approach to Arlington
Memorial Bridge. The 36 columns, one for each
state in existence at the time of Lincoln’s
death, symbolized the Union.
Mount Vernon home
of George Washington, our first President of
the United States.
National Archives preserves and makes
available for research, federal government records
of enduring
value. Exhibition Hall displays the Declaration
of
Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights
and a copy of the 1297 Magna Carta, as well as
temporary exhibitions.
National Air and Space
Museum of the Smithsonian Institution is devoted to the history and development
of air and space technology and is one of the
world’s
most popular museums.
National Museum of the
American Indian was chartered by Congress in 1989 as the 16th
museum of the Smithsonian
Institution. This museum has one of the largest
and most extensive collections of Native American
art
and artifacts in the world—approximately
800,000 objects representing over 10,000 years
of history,
from more than 1,000 indigenous cultures through
the Western Hemisphere. The hallmark of this museum
is that all aspects of its exhibitions and programs
are presented from the Native perspective—“in
the Native voice.”
Smithsonian American
History Museum
This museum collects and preserves more than 3 million unique American artifacts!
Everything from the original Star-Spangled Banner and Abraham Lincoln’s
top hat to Dizzy Gillespie’s angled trumpet and Dorothy’s ruby slippers
from The Wizard of Oz. The collections on display form a vast and fascinating
mosaic of American life. The exhibitions within the walls of this vast structure
explore major themes in American history and culture, from the War of Independence
to the present day. The following are some of the exhibitions on display. The
Price of Freedom: Americans at War, surveys the history of U.S. military conflicts
and examines ways in which wars have been defining episodes in American history.
America on the Move immerses visitors in the sights, sounds, and sensations of
transportation in the United States from 1870 to the present. Other popular exhibitions
that have drawn literally tens of millions of visitors to the Museum over many
years include The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden, Within These Walls
. . ., First Ladies: Political Role and Public Image, and Field to Factory: Afro-American
Migration 1915–1940. An array of temporary and traveling exhibitions offer
visitors something new on almost every visit.
Smithsonian Natural
History Museum
Prominently located on the National Mall, this museum displays treasures of
nature and of humankind. They tell of forces that generate, shape, and sustain
natural and cultural diversity. More than a century of careful collecting and
research by scientists has resulted in an unsurpassed world collection of more
than 120 million natural and cultural objects! You’ll see the Scanning
Electron Microscopy Lab (SEM Lab) which has assisted researchers to explore
and understand our world at the microscopic level. Here, you’ll take
in the incredible gem and pearl collection including the Hope Diamond, The
Pearl of Asia, The Pearl of Kuwait, and The Hope Pearl. You may even want to
take in Bugfest 2005 or an Imax movie at the Johnson’s Imax Theatre.
The National Museum of Natural History is dedicated to understanding the natural
world and our place in it.
Thomas Jefferson Memorial on the S.E. side of the Tidal Basin is a circular
domed structure supported
by Ionic columns. The central memorial room contains
a heroic bronze statue of Jefferson, by Rudolph
Evans, surrounded by panels inscribed with Jefferson’s
most significant writings. Tomb of the Unknowns The Tomb of the Unknowns,
near the center of the cemetery, is one of Arlington's
most popular tourist sites. The Tomb contains
the remains of unknown American soldiers from World
Wars
I and II, the Korean Conflict and (until 1998)
the Vietnam War. The Tomb is guarded 24-hours-per-day
and 365-days-per year by specially trained members
of the 3rd United States Infantry (The Old Guard).
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy
Center near Washington Dulles International
Airport is the companion facility to the
Air and Space Museum on the National Mall.
The building opened in December, 2003, and
provides enough space for the Smithsonian
to display the thousands of aviation and
space artifacts that cannot be exhibited
on the National Mall. The two sites together
showcase the largest collection of aviation
and space artifacts in the world.
United States Capitol The United States Capitol
is
among the most architecturally impressive and
symbolically important buildings in the world.
It has housed
the meeting chambers of the Senate and the House
of Representatives
for almost two centuries. Begun in 1793, the
Capitol has been built, burnt, rebuilt, extended,
and restored;
today, it stands as a monument not only to its
builders but also to the American people and
their government. Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors the men and
women who served in the US Armed forces in Vietnam.
World War II Memorial
The World War II Memorial
honors the 16 million who served in the armed
forces of the United
States, the more than 400,000 who lost their
lives in the war, and all who supported the war
effort from the homeland. The memorial is a monument
to the spirit, sacrifice, and commitment of the
American people. The Second World War is the
only 20th Century event commemorated on the National
Mall’s central axis.
The memorial opened to the public on April 29,
2004 and was dedicated one month later on May
29. Located between Constitution and Independence
Avenues on 17th Street, it is flanked by the
Washington Monument to the east and the Lincoln
Memorial to the west. The memorial is now operated
by the National Park Service and is open to visitors
24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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