London's creepiest cemetery was once the site of dueling magicians and mobs of stake-carrying vampire hunters.

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

The iconic D.C. restaurant where the Cuban Missile Crisis was negotiated, now a Walgreens.

After James Madison's death, his wife and former First Lady Dolley Madison lived in this yellow building near the White House.

An 18th-century townhouse that once hosted guests of the president.

This bridge over D.C.'s Rock Creek Park is sometimes called the "Buffalo Bridge" because of its four buffalo sculptures, which were cast from a single piece of bronze.

The hippo that stands on this university campus was once a drunken flea market purchase.

Surrounded by a verdant garden and a backdrop of ivy, a monument to beloved poet Khalil Gibran stands outside of the Lebanese embassy.

This small hilltop church weaves the urban history of Washington, D.C. with the national history of the United States.

The story behind this beloved toy—named for Theodore Roosevelt and owned by his grandson—is more complicated than you might guess.

Garments from across the globe call this hidden gem home.

One critic described it as "middle Mussolini, early Ramses, and late Neiman-Marcus." Another called it an architectural "natural disaster."

The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.

The grand marble structure next to the White House is Andrew Carnegie's temple to Pan-American diplomacy.

The National Park Service’s best-kept secret with views that rival any in D.C.

A line of blue paint marks the route of the inaugural parade.

An obscure federal monument honors the French diplomat who served as Ambassador to the U.S. during WWI.

Corn-inthian columns with a uniquely American take on neoclassical architecture.

A tribute to the pop culture icon overlooks this Washington D.C. intersection.

A 1,100-ton train fell through the floor in 1953. Workers got it patched up in just 72 hours.

The school tested mustard gas for the U.S. Army during World War I.

This seemingly out-of-place gas station by the Watergate hotel was once described as the most expensive gas station in the world.

One of the most influential presidents in U.S. history wanted only this plain, elegant monument as his lasting memorial.

A derelict bit of infrastructure from the canal that once ran through D.C. is landlocked in the heart of the city.