The institution is sitting on a goldmine of 21,000 paints, varnishes, pigments, and primers preserved for posterity.

A hoard of sky catalogs, astrophysical journals, even the works of Galileo and Copernicus.

In the basement of the U.S. Capitol Building is a hidden storage room full of ornate floor tiles leftover from the 1850s.

When it opened during the final years of the embargo, all the drinks and cigars were free.

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

The privately owned cemetery that holds room for Washington's finest when they step down from life.

A wondrous old library overlooking the nation's capital.

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

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

This imposing Masonic temple a mile from the White House was the first public library in Washington, D.C.

A historic estate packed with George Washington's heirlooms, and its own nuclear bunker.

Franciscan monks created a facsimile of the Holy Land for North Americans who couldn’t afford the trip overseas.