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

This stately building in Alexandria, Virginia was built by Freemasons to honor one of their most famous members.

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

Before Nixon, "watergate" meant canals.

The national park was once a plantation estate.

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

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

At 207 feet, one of the world's longest continuous escalators.

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

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

Soldiers were buried next to Lee's house in the center of Arlington Cemetery to dissuade the general from reclaiming his property after the war.

Located at the former Lorton Prison the Lucy Burns Museum tells the story of the 91 year history of the prison including the dark chapter of its involvement in the women's suffrage movement.

At Washington's Dulles Airport is a satellite museum (no pun intended) with three quarters of a million square feet of aircraft history.

Exact replica of the ancient monument, but much, much lighter.

The last holdout of a pre-Civil War rebel who took the matter of slavery into his own hands.

Outsider art meets paleontology at this roadside reptile repository.

A sacred site for Native Americans surveyed by George Washington and owned by both King George III and Thomas Jefferson.

Andy Griffith's hometown has made itself up to look like the fictional town of Mayberry.

I-95's Tijuana-style celebration of kitsch at the Carolina border.

This roadside attraction has been serving out its fair share of hearty folklore and chaos since 1858.

A six-foot pair of socks hangs from a drawer of the world's largest bureau.

A retired tobacco farmer's pet project turned into a sturdy miniature city.

A folk art mecca famous among outsider art fans.

This research center for rare prosimians is studying how they sleep to help prolong human life.