Washington D.C.: Monumental Moments

Whenever I think of the city, I think monuments. There surely can’t be another city in the world that can boast so many memorials, some to former Presidents, others remembering those who gave their lives in war. It’s a collection that seems to grow every time we visit D.C. and best of all; it’s a collection that can be visited either on foot or by Tourmobile which is authorized by the National Park Service.

The best starting point on the tour, appropriately enough, is the memorial to America’s first President. Completed in 1885, the Washington Monument is the simplest looking in the city, an obelisk built of marble, granite and sandstone, but building it wasn’t a simple task. Started in 1848, the money ran out and construction was halted only one third of the way up. The centenary of the Declaration of Independence brought additional funds and allowed work to resume more than 20 years later.

Since its completion, the Washington Monument has undergone several restorations, the most recent a major two year program of repairs and cleaning in the late 1990’s, which saw the Monument encased in specially designed scaffolding. Although it made for some unique photos at the time, I prefer the refurbished Monument, which now looks far cleaner than it did a decade ago.

The improvements made during that refurbishment aren’t just external. The elevator on the way down now slows at points and the lights inside dim, so that you can see a selection of the commemorative stones in the exterior wall, which were donated by individuals, states and nations during the monument’s construction. Of course, that’s not the only reason to visit the Washington Monument. It’s superbly placed in the center of the capital, offering stunning views to all four sides, with the Jefferson Memorial to the south, the Lincoln to the west, the White House to the north and the Capitol and Mall to the east. Be sure to bring your camera and video camera and plenty of film or digital storage. You’ll always take more photos here than you think.

Once at the top of the Monument, you can stay as long as you like, but getting there can be a challenge. Same-day tickets are available free of charge from the ticket kiosk at 15th Street and although there’s little problem with walking up and being handed a ticket out of season, peak time visitors might want to reserve their tickets for a $1.50 service charge and $0.50 shipping charge. For more information, visit http://www.nps.gov/wamo

From here, you’ve got two options to tour the rest of D.C.’s main monuments. Either buy a ticket for Tourmobile, which allows free all day re-boarding, or the other option is to put your best foot forward and walk. It’s not a walk for the faint-hearted however and appearances can be deceptive. Memorials have a habit of looking closer than they are, trust me, I speak from bitter experience about that!

Heading west from the Washington Monument, you quickly come across the newest addition to the collection. With a pool and fountains in its center, the World War II Memorial, opened in 2004, has two pavilions at each end, one representing the Atlantic and other the Pacific, symbolizing how the war was fought across both oceans. Four thousand gold stars in the middle commemorate the 400,000 Americans who died in the war, while sculptures at each side of the entrance recall scenes of America at war.

In the walk down to the Lincoln Memorial, there are more tributes to those who have lost their lives in combat over the years, in the shape of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, two long triangular black walls, covered with the names of those gave their life in this conflict. This is perhaps the simplest of Washington’s war memorials, but one of the most striking, with families often leaving flowers by the names of their loved ones.

The Korean War Veterans Memorial is nearby and depicts 19 soldiers on patrol, with a black granite wall to the south, etched with the images of more than 2,000 veterans. Although all of D.C.’s monuments are lit up at night and all well worth a visit, it is this one that sticks most in my mind. The statues appear as if they are coming out of nowhere as you walk up to the memorial and that’s perhaps exactly the idea this was meant to convey.

In between these two war memorials is the Lincoln Memorial, surely one of D.C.’s best known spots, thanks to its many cinematic appearances. Before this was built, the whole area was a very different site, with the swampy area around the building drained when work started in 1914. Overlooking the Reflecting Pool and facing toward the Washington Monument and the Capitol, there’s nowhere better to sit down and rest from all that walking than on the steps of this grand memorial. Inside, the impressive 19 foot marble statue of Lincoln watches over the city, surrounded by 36 columns, the number of states during Lincoln’s Presidency.

Head south-east from here and you’ll find the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on the banks of the Tidal Basin. The most recent Presidential tribute, this open-air memorial takes you through four distinct rooms, each representing one of the President’s terms of office. Each room has granite “walls” with quotations from FDR inscribed in them and a theme throughout all the rooms is water, sometimes in quiet pools and other times cascading. It’s quite a sight to see it frozen over in winter, making the whole place eerily quiet.

Continuing southwards around the Tidal Basin, you find another of the Presidential monuments, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. This is the furthest out of the main city and it’s a quite a walk to get here, but it’s well worth a visit, particularly in the springtime, when the Japanese cherry trees are in full bloom around the Tidal Basin.

A walk, or bus, back to the starting point at the Washington Monument will take you past the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, another place to stop and remember the terrible events of years gone by.

Now where else in the world can you travel back over 300 years in time, stopping at so many different places to remember steps along that journey? That’s why D.C. is all about memorials and monuments for me and may that never change.

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About the Author: Cheryl and husband Mark live in England and love to travel, particularly to Disney, and they have made numerous visits to destinations across America and Europe. They recently completed their tour of every Disney theme park around the world, which culminated in their visit to Japan, including the Tokyo Disney Resort. Click here to view more of Cheryl's articles!

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Updated 06-01-2011 - Article #648 

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