Daredevil repair workers can worm their way out the access hatch, loop ropes over the apex and rappel down the monument.

The monument's pointy aluminum tip has been melted down by repeated lightning strikes.

There's a 12-foot-tall replica of the Washington Monument hidden under a manhole nearby.

This lovely picnic spot featuring thunderous jet landings is an aircraft spotter’s dream.

The remains of a historic plantation nestled in between a parking lot and the rental car return at Reagan National Airport.

Right next to departures—how convenient!

This isn't your average roadway—it's actually a National Park and a transportation pioneer.

The romance of early commercial flight still fills this Art Deco destination.

The system of air guns are fired off remotely to scare any trespassing avians.

Long buried under the 20th-century landscape, this lift lock of the Alexandria Canal is the lone remnant of an ambitious early American transportation project.

This stately building in Alexandria, Virginia was built by Freemasons to honor one of their most famous members.

The narrowest house in America is seven feet of pure spite.

A former major munitions plant that has been converted into a sprawling art space.

A superbly preserved example of Georgian residential architecture that was once home to one of the founders of Alexandria, Virginia.

This colonial tavern played host to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other famous early Americans.

A massive, majestic mammal watches over pedestrians from his perch atop a former B.P.O.E. lodge.

The final resting place of an unidentified revolutionary soldier sits behind a Virginia church.

This brick-lined pedestrian walkway was once a railway tunnel used during the Civil War.

This rare triple-jurisdiction drawbridge passes through Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

America's first federal monument.

Once forgotten and built over, this historic Black cemetery now houses a poignant memorial.

This fort down the Potomac from Washington, D.C. was once the only defensive fort protecting the capital.

The graveyard holding the remains of George Washington's slaves was forgotten for nearly 200 years.

The tomb was guarded by soldiers from both sides of the war, and some left their initials carved in the brick.