Everyone knows the famous sites, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capital Building, and obviously, the White House. But Washington, D.C. has many more lesser known sites, even obscure, that have an interesting history and are worth visiting, or at least a quick look in the case of those sites that now operate as something else.
Alexandria Slave Pen
The building known as the "Alexandria Slave Pen" on Duke Street still stands in Alexandria, Virginia, just across the river from Washington.
"I often tell my students, 'You've gone into towns where you just see row after row of car dealerships," Chandra Manning, associate professor of history at Georgetown University said. "Duke Street was that, but slave dealerships."
In May of 1861, the Union Army marched into town, and liberated the slaves, at which point, the slave pen became a refuge for runaway and freed slaves seeking the protection of the Union Army.
Today, 1315 Duke Street is the home of the Alexandria branch of the National Urban League, a civil rights organization. Ironically fitting, no?
A historical marker stands outside, and there's a small museum in the basement, but most passerby are unaware.
"If you're walking with me you have no choice but to know what happened here," Manning said.
The Forgotten Crash
On a foggy night in 1906, a train was running down the tracks near Catholic University at the same time as a slower passenger train was going the opposite direction on the same track. There was no time to stop.
The speed train went through three cars of the passenger train. Fifty-three people were killed and more than 70 people were injured.
Today, the accident, known as the "Terra Cotta" crash, is mostly forgotten.
However, the crash changed railroading, according to Richard Schaffer, a D.C. firefighter who spent 10 years researching the crash. It hastened the conversion of passenger cars from wood to steel and led to improvements in railroad signaling.
In June 2009, a D.C. Metro subway train crashed into another subway train in almost the same spot.
"The irony was it was practically the same location and practically all the same problems, human error, signaling problems, construction quality of the trains," Schaffer said. "If you forget what's happened before you, you don't have a foundation to live upon."
Congressional Cemetery
The Congressional Cemetery is where a majority of Washington's political elite makes their eternal rest. In the 1800s, it was the site of grand funeral processions where tens of thousands of people would gather to watch soldiers carry fallen leaders to their resting place.
"I'm sure there are quite a few secrets buried here," said Abby Johnson, a professor of literature and history at Georgetown University.
There is also a "Public Vault" that is a crypt the size of a one-car garage. It was built in the 1830s to store the bodies of public officials until the ground thawed or they were moved to a different location.
A skeleton key is needed to gain entrance.
The vault was a holding place for Dolly Madison, William Henry Harrison, John Quincy Adams and Zachary Taylor. The president shave all been moved to their home states.
Today the Congressional Cemetery is overshadowed by the better-known Arlington National Cemetery.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
