The U.S. Navy’s preposterously detailed mini battleship took 77,000 hours to complete.

The 28,000-year-old specimen is remarkably intact.

Atop this media building, two hives containing more than 30,000 bees keep the surrounding area vibrant.

A surprising, but overlooked example of geology in the middle of the nation’s capital.

Also known as the Founding Church of Scientology.

"Congress may voluntarily remain in session throughout the summer, in order that our Congressmen may be protected from the intolerable discomforts and dangers of the ordinary outdoor weather!”

The school tested mustard gas for the U.S. Army during World War I.

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

Look closely and you’ll notice that the color changes a third of the way up the tower.

Before founding the American Red Cross, Clara Barton had a tremendous humanitarian impact by locating thousands of missing soldiers.

The district's only illusionarium supports free writing programs for local students with every purchase.

The preamble to the U.S. Constitution written entirely from vanity license plates hangs in the Smithsonian museum.

For 60 years, the academy had no permanent location until members voted Washington D.C. as its forever home.

A heroic pigeon that, through a barrage of gunfire, delivered a message that saved over 100 lives in World War I.

A much-maligned monument to teetotalism.

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

Sit where JFK proposed to Jackie or where Nixon dined on meatloaf at this storied pub.

Senators used to relax in the nearly forgotten marble tubs now hidden in the U.S. Capitol Building's basement.

A fantastic array of trays and cables once whisked books over to the Capitol at 600 feet per minute.

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

The remains of Martha, the last known passenger pigeon, serve as a tool to educate about conservation.

A traveling postal dog covered 48 states and more than 140,000 miles, and he lives on as taxidermy, patched up with a rabbit's foot and a pig's ear.

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

A clone of a cloned tree that was so important it allegedly had its own guards.