This building at the south end of the boardwalk was once home to the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the U.S. Coast Guard before being rescued itself.

This field of concrete was once an active defense site armed with nuclear warheads.

One of the earliest and best-preserved buildings in Charles County, Maryland.

A small brick parlor house and artist's studio located in the wilderness is surrounded by imposing suburban palaces.

Hidden in the forest atop a long, winding driveway is this stately home.

A weathered, American Foursquare-style house originally built for lumber merchant William Wimsatt.

This twice-relocated "Usonian" home is among the smallest built by master architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

One of the oldest standing structures in Montgomery County, Maryland.

The last of nine massive kilns that produced many of the red bricks for buildings in Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia in the early 20th century.

The only remaining African American schoolhouse in northern Virginia is now a museum dedicated to formerly enslaved people.

Hidden on the 7th floor of a historic building, this Cajun spot features wall-to-wall bottles of hot sauce.

This pharmacist and his patient greet visitors to the National Community Pharmacists Association.

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

The oldest surviving one-room schoolhouse in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Hidden within an idyllic suburban garden is a memorial dedicated to the victims of a terrifying spree of killings committed on U.S. soil.

The 72-foot giant escaped confinement in a large patch of mulch only to be reburied in the sandy shores of the Potomac River.

These figures float and flutter in this fountain crafted by famed Swedish sculptor Carl Milles.

This little brick tunnel built by Confederate forces was used to conduct surprise attacks on the railroad.

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