History
The US Congress met in a variety of cities - Philadelphia, New York, and Princeton (New Jersey) among them - before the fledgling republic was ready to commit to a permanent seat of government. Congress chose the Potomac as a natural midpoint that would satisfy both northern and southern states (whose cultural and political differences were apparent well before the Civil War of 1861-1865). This spot had the added benefit of being across the river from George Washington's home in Mount Vernon.
Folks started referring to it as 'the city of Washington' around 1791 and the name stuck. Maryland and Virginia agreed to cede land to create the District of Columbia (named for Christopher Columbus), and an area 'ten miles square' (26 sq km) was laid out by African American mathematician Benjamin Banneker and surveyor Andrew Ellicott. French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant was hired to design the city, and though his elegant plan was widely admired, he quickly ran afoul of local politics. After L'Enfant was fired, Banneker continued to carry out L'Enfant's plans.
Work started on the ornate Capitol in 1793, but it was barely complete when British troops torched it in the War of 1812. Though the Capitol was eventually rebuilt, the city entered a slump from which it wouldn't recover for decades. A dispirited vote to abandon the capital lost by only nine votes.
Charles Dickens visited and dismissed DC as 'the City of Magnificent Distances,' complaining about 'spacious avenues that begin in nothing and lead nowhere; streets, milelong, that only want houses, roads, and inhabitants; public buildings that need but a public.'
The Civil War focused attention on Washington, bringing bivouacs, temporary hospitals, and armies to its outskirts. The war's chaos and expense led Washingtonians to wonder whether construction of the elaborate Capitol dome might not be suspended. President Lincoln responded, 'If people see the Capitol going on, it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on.' In the war's aftermath, the Great Emancipator was assassinated in Ford's Theater (a memorial flag remains draped over the theater box shrine today), and the role of the US capital changed from state-led administration to centralized leadership.
The town's ailing infrastructure was overhauled in the 1870s by territorial governor Alexander 'Boss' Shepherd, whose extravagant use of federal funds and penchant for steamrolling anything in his way led to a crackdown by Congress that robbed DC of self-government for another 100 years. For the citizenry, it was a high price to pay for a city beginning to look like it might fulfill L'Enfant's original vision of a world-class capital.
A beautification plan at the turn of the century added most of the landscaping, parks, and monuments for which Washington is now well known. Nevertheless, until recently Washington suffered from its image as a Southern backwater. It was John F Kennedy who so succinctly slammed it as 'a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.' The Kennedy Center, established as a 'living memorial' to JFK, did much to bring cosmopolitan culture to the place.
Washington is plonked down in the District of Columbia, a little enclave chopped from the state of Maryland. It is bounded on one side by the Potomac River (on the other side of the river you'll find Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia) and on the other sides by the state of Maryland. The city covers 69 sq miles (111 sq km).
Washington is ringed by a freeway bypass called the Beltway, which divides the urban insiders from the suburbanites. The Capitol isn't just the symbolic center of Washington: from here the city is divided into four compass-point quadrants along axes following N Capitol St, E Capitol St, S Capitol St and the Mall. Identical addresses appear in all four quadrants, so you need to know the directional component of the address you want. Most tourist sights are located around the Capitol, along the Mall and in the northwest quadrant.
Streets are arranged on a grid of north-south numbered streets and east-west lettered streets. This grid is overlaid by broad diagonal avenues. The geometric pattern is further interrupted by traffic circles that add to the city's appeal but can make DC a challenging place for outsiders to navigate by car.
Capitol Hill is the main sightseeing area. Downtown includes the monuments dotting the Mall but is otherwise strictly business. Dupont Circle is an upscale business and residential address with a funky fringe; Adams-Morgan is bohemian, funky and international; Shaw has historically elite residential areas and ghettos; and Georgetown has pristine historic houses, a university and lively bars.
Washington Dulles International Airport is 26 miles (41km) southwest of the city. Greyhound buses come into the Greyhound terminal on the corner of 1st St NE and L St. Just to the south is Union Station, the flagship terminal of the Amtrak network, located at 50 Massachusetts Ave NE on Capitol Hill.
Smithsonian Institution
The Mall is home to some of the capital's most famous museums. The Smithsonian is among the world's finest research centers, and has 13 phenomenal museums and galleries as well as a zoo. Its collection is so immense that only 1% of it is ever on display. The Smithsonian museums on the Mall are the turreted red-brick Smithsonian Castle (the original Smithsonian), the Freer Gallery of American and Asian Art, the National Museum of African Art, the Arthur M Sackler Gallery of Asian Arts, the Arts & Industries Building (housing a collection of Victorian Americana), the National Gallery of Art and the Hirshhorn collection of modern art.
The Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum is the most popular museum in the world. It's packed with full-size air and spacecraft, including the Wright brothers' plane and the Apollo IX command module. You can touch a moon rock, watch a stomach-churning IMAX film or visit the planetarium. The National Museum of Natural History holds many awesome highlights, including the Hope Diamond, a model of the biggest blue whale ever seen and a giant mammoth. It's got all the favorites: dinosaur bones, insects and a newly renovated hall of gems and minerals. The National Museum of American History is full of cultural touchstones - they've got the original American flag and, more importantly, the original Kermit the Frog, as well as Fonzie's leather jacket, Dorothy's ruby slippers and a whole bunch of sensible historical stuff.
The US Holocaust Museum, half a block south of the Mall, isn't part of the Smithsonian, but it's one of the city's best museums. It's a haunting memorial to victims of Nazi tyranny, covering the period 1933 to 1945. The exhibits - which include film footage, audio recordings, photos and personal belongings - vividly convey the scope and nature of Holocaust atrocities.
There are three major airports in the Capital Region; all three are within 35 miles of Washington, DC. Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) is located in Linticum, Maryland, 10 miles (16km) south of downtown Baltimore and 30 miles (48km) northeast of Washington. Washington Dulles International Airport (pronounced 'DULL-uss') (IAD) is in Herndon, Virginia, 25 miles (40km) east of Washington.
By far the most convenient airport for Washington visitors is Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), which is right on the Potomac River near Arlington National Cemetery. National Airport is served by all major foreign and domestic carriers.
Amtrak provides frequent rail service along the busy Eastern Seaboard corridor from Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington. You'll generally find efficient, well-maintained trains, and convenient stations. Rates and travel times between many destinations along this route are competitive with air travel, especially considering that train stations are centrally located in major cities. Union Station in Washington is Amtrak's 'flagship' station, and offers a variety of convenient travel resources to visitors.
Amtrak service to and through other parts of the US is more limited, less convenient, and not as good value - long-distance fares are often higher than the cost of airfare or car rentals for covering the same distance, so beyond the East Coast corridor, train travel is an option that appeals mostly to dedicated rail lovers.