A little marble compass above George Washington's (empty) tomb in the Capitol marks where D.C.'s four quadrants intersect.

Members of Congress have traveled between the buildings on Capitol Hill for a century hidden from tourists, press, and storm clouds.

Where the U.S. government kept its actual treasure, before Fort Knox.

Perhaps the most scandalous statue of America's first president.

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

The most accurate timepiece in the world.

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

The oldest continuously operating fish market in the United States.

There's a crumbling old mansion inside the Smithsonian National Zoo.

The national park was once a plantation estate.

The house where John Wilkes Booth conspired with his co-conspirators.

A nostalgic bibliographic gem.

The beloved statue at the National Academy of Sciences is oh so inviting to sit on.

A lovely aquatic park built by a one-armed Civil War veteran who made a fortune from lotuses.

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

A tiny piece of the Moon is embedded in this stained glass masterpiece.

The site of the climactic scene from the classic horror film is now a historic landmark.

Taste the white whiskey that the United States' first president once distilled and enjoyed.

These unusual rooms on wheels are holdovers from the 1960s.

Right next to departures—how convenient!

This church built atop a gas station promises to "equip you for the next stage in your life’s journey."

The Pentagon sits on a former island that was in Virginia at low tide and D.C. at high tide.

The story behind the mysterious symbol painted in front of the historic university's famous Rotunda.

Where pardoned turkeys once spent their all-too-brief final days.