The bank that helped fund the Mexican-American War and the purchase of Alaska met its downfall after helping Augusto Pinochet launder money.

The iconic D.C. restaurant where the Cuban Missile Crisis was negotiated, now a Walgreens.

The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.

The national park was once a plantation estate.

This unacceptably tall building was the real reason for Washington, D.C.'s skyscraper ban.

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

The oldest continuously operating fish market in the United States.

Before Metro, Washington had a robust streetcar network—and you see the remains of this infrastructure if you know where to look.

Legend has it that President Grant’s frequent drinking in the lobby gave rise to the term “lobbyist.”

Go take a picture with the inventor of the daguerreotype photographic process.

A historic arena where the Beatles played their first concert in the U.S.

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

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

Art deco landmark on the outskirts of Washington, D.C.

The Byzantine, pre-Columbian, and medieval art at this stately mansion are some of the most under-appreciated collections in D.C.

Fittingly, America's museum of architecture is itself a magnificently designed old building.

The first purpose-built art gallery in the United States is once again open as a center of craft arts.

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

Long-abandoned trolley tunnels just a mile away from the White House are turning into an art space.

The sci-fi villain is a little-known inhabitant of the U.S. capital's largest cathedral.

The museum chronicling a treasure hunter's dream, fulfilled.

A monument celebrating the idea of reaching inaccessible places.

These remote Florida islands have a history of sea turtles and sunken treasures, and one of the world's largest coastal brick fortresses.

Panoramic views of the city of New Haven and the Long Island Sound, with a side of history.