Where Now
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W HERETRAVELER ® WASHI NGTON D.C.
a towering bronze statue of the 16th U.S. president and his horse invites historic selfies. Georgetown has been a tony neighborhood to live in for over 200 years, especially if you consider Tudor Place. The 1816 manse, built for a granddaughter of Martha Washington, was designed by William Thornton, the architect of the U.S. Capitol. A domed temple portico dominates the exterior, while lush gardens burst with boxwood and flowers. The interior holds antique furniture and objects, including letters, that George and Martha Washington owned. It’s easy to imagine former slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass expounding on equal rights from the breezy porch at his former home in D.C.’s Anacostia neighborhood. The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site offers guided tours through the 1840s stucco residence on a hilltop, where he lived from 1877 through 1895. Don’t miss artifacts like the violin he used to entertain his grand kids and rooms furnished with Victorian antiques. AUGUST 2019
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ompleted soon after Washington, D.C., became the capital, the circa-1801 Octagon House famously played host to President James Madison and wife Dolley for six weeks in 1814. (The Brits had torched the nearby White House during the War of 1812.) Today, the redbrick, six-sided structure acts as headquarters for the American Institute of Architects and hosts guided tours showing off its grand stairway, antique glass windows and changing exhibits on building arts. “We are truly delighted with this retreat … the drives and walks around here are delightful,” First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln wrote in 1862, referring to the circa-1843 Gothic Revival home in present-day Petworth where she and President Abraham Lincoln spent many days during the Civil War. Now open to the public and called President Lincoln’s Cottage, the peaceful retreat where Abe met with soldiers and published the Emancipation Proclamation holds an interactive exhibit that lets visitors explore Lincoln’s wartime decision-making process. Outside,
©ANNE KIM-DANNIBALE
DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION MUSEUM
