One of the oldest used bookstores in the U.S. has been selling antiquarian treasures since 1825.

Every week, a festive public jam session breaks out in downtown Asheville.

This mother-daughter run curiosities shop is a beautifully odd mix of taxidermy and exotic plants.

Where America's first doomsday cult awaited the end of the world.

This splendid Versailles-inspired mansion has the largest French-style formal gardens in North America.

This palatial botanical garden is home to one of the largest pipe organs ever installed in a private residence, and a piece of Wood's cycad.

A tour de force of a fountain, memorializing a man who loved fountains more than anything else.

Dr Barnes' $25 billion private collection of art and arboretum.

An abandoned cemetery lies in ruins as the surrounding forest swallows it whole.

This hidden gem of a garden has one of the only surviving Victorian ferneries in America.

A public art jibe at one of the United States’ oldest and longest-serving senators.

Also known as the Founding Church of Scientology.

"Congress may voluntarily remain in session throughout the summer, in order that our Congressmen may be protected from the intolerable discomforts and dangers of the ordinary outdoor weather!”

Before Nixon, "watergate" meant canals.

The discovery site of the "Capitalsaurus," the official dinosaur of Washington, D.C.

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

This poor little statue is the most vandalized memorial in Washington.

Light bulbs, scrap wood, and tinfoil comprise this homemade throne of the gods.

An overlooked oasis of quiet on the grounds of Washington's monumental basilica.

A clone of a cloned tree that was so important it allegedly had its own guards.

The span is crooked and made from two older recycled bridges.

Four bald cypress trees in Lafayette Square, across from the White House, mark the southern edge of a 100,000 year old cypress swamp.

This lovely pocket park is one of the most under appreciated in D.C.

Obscure Freemasons still live in D.C.’s largest private residence.