A derelict bit of infrastructure from the canal that once ran through D.C. is landlocked in the heart of the city.

A hidden passageway now marks the site of an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan that some say broke a 140-year-old curse.

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

While most wind tunnels test scale models, the "Cave of Winds" was large enough for actual airplanes.

They sort through millions of dollars worth of diplomatic gifts on behalf of the government.

A tiny monument to the unsuccessful attempt by Thomas Jefferson to place the prime meridian in Washington.

The fountains of the U.S. Navy Memorial are annually salted with water from the Seven Seas as part of a nautical ritual.

This stately mansion, built in 1787 by America's first Secretary of the Navy, is rumored to be one of the most haunted buildings in Washington, DC.

Before Nixon, "watergate" meant canals.

There’s a special club house at the top for the bell ringers.

A much-maligned monument to teetotalism.

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

Washington's iconic carousel has a nice piece of Civil Rights history.

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

This sandwich shop has a century-old elevator behind a sheet of plexiglass.

The only Civil War battle in Washington D.C. took place near this highest natural point in the city.

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.

A brass plaque dedicated to a convicted cannibal hangs in the National Press Club, and that's not even the craziest part of the story.

Home to a vast and influential collection of Shakespeareana.

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

You could be standing at the site of one of D.C.'s most fatal tragedies and not even know it.

The oldest building in the District of Columbia was preserved because of a mistaken connection to George Washington.

The famous abolitionist’s preserved estate is one of Washington's finest monuments to its great Black citizens.