chip520's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Washington, D.C.

Theodore Roosevelt Island

The national park was once a plantation estate.
Arlington, Virginia

Abingdon Plantation Ruins

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

Pentagon Cable Crossing Sign

Please don’t anchor your boat onto the Department of Defense’s underwater data cables.
Fairfax, Virginia

National Firearms Museum

Collecting 700 years of mechanical death-dealing, the NRA's sprawling gun museum is a revealing testament to the American obsession with armament.
Bethesda, Maryland

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center

FDR's Art Deco hospital tower was hopelessly inefficient.
Silver Spring, Maryland

Wheaton Station Escalator

The longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere takes over three minutes to ride down.
Washington, D.C.

Ruins of the Columbian Cannon Foundry

These recently uncovered walls are all that's left of Washington, D.C's first defense contractor.
Arlington, Virginia

Reagan National Airport Bird Cannon

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

George Washington Memorial Parkway

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

Summerhouse

A hidden gem on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
Washington, D.C.

Maine Avenue Fish Market

The oldest continuously operating fish market in the United States.
Washington, D.C.

Cuban-American Friendship Urn

The only National Monument ever to go missing for nearly 50 years then resurface in a dump.
Washington, D.C.

Titanic Memorial

This lonely waterfront memorial to the men of the Titanic was erected by the "Women of America."
Washington, D.C.

St. Elizabeths Hospital

Government testing at the asylum briefly explored using marijuana as a "truth serum" on Nazi prisoners of war.
Washington, D.C.

The Big Chair

A super-sized promotional trick that is now a D.C. landmark.
Washington, D.C.

Watergate Steps

Decades before the scandal, this staircase on the river was a literal "water gate."
Washington, D.C.

The K-9 of the Korean War Veterans Memorial

Those with a sharp eye can find the hidden image of a German Shepherd on the memorial's Mural Wall.
Washington, D.C.

Navy Yard Railroad Gun

One of the largest artillery pieces in the world sits in a Washington D.C. parking lot.
Washington, D.C.

Georgetown Waterfront

The little-known, 300-year history of the area includes former lives as a bustling tobacco port, parking lot, and industrial dump.
Washington, D.C.

Watergate Gas Station

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

USS Balao Conning Tower

Part of a WWII submarine is lurking outside the Washington Navy Yard parking lot.
Washington, D.C.

Organization of American States Building

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

Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery

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

P.O. Box 1142 Memorial

This simple stone memorial remembers a secret, Geneva Convention-defying interrogation base from WWII.