By Lani Gering
The month of January was a rough one for us and we weren’t able to carve out time to go on an adventure in search of subject matter for this column. Hopefully we will be back on track this month and will have another fun destination to turn you on to in the March issue.
In keeping with the President’s Day theme, we thought it might be a good time to suggest that you all take in the many memorials and the two monuments (Washington and Garfield) located in the DMV that honor some of our Presidents. Until I did the research for this, I had no idea that half of them existed. Mind you, I have lived in and around Old Town for 34 years and I used to work for the USDA in the south building located on the Mall at 14th and Independence Avenue and no doubt encountered some of the lesser knowns and didn’t realize it. I feel kinda bad actually. I don’t want you to feel the same way. I have compiled a listing – including the icons we all know and love – in no particular order of the ones that are a short drive or metro ride away.
As an aside, if you find yourself without anything to do on Valentine’s Day or maybe make it a part of your “celebration”, the largest President’s Day parade in the USA takes place in the heart of Old Town on the 14th. See the calendar listing in this issue for details.
Located at 2 15th Street NW, this 555-foot marble obelisk offers 360-degree views of the city. While the grounds are open 24 hours, the observation deck is open 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Entry is free, but a $1 service fee per ticket applies for advance reservations on Recreation.gov. http://www.nps.gov
A neoclassical temple featuring a 19-foot statue of Abraham Lincoln is located at 2 Lincoln Memorial Circle. It is open 24 hours a day and has no entrance fee. In 2026, the new Undercroft museum is set to open, providing access to the building’s massive concrete foundations and civil rights history exhibits. http://www.nps.gov
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
Located on the Tidal Basin at 16 East Basin Drive SW, this rotunda honors the third U.S. president. It is open 24 hours and is particularly famous for its surrounding cherry trees, which typically bloom in late March or early April. www.nps.gov
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
This expansive outdoor memorial uses four “rooms” of granite walls, waterfalls, and statues to chronicle FDR’s four terms. It is open 24 hours and is located along the Tidal Basin at 1850 West Basin Drive. http://www.nps.gov
Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial
One of the newest additions, located across from the National Air and Space Museum at 540 Independence Avenue SW. Designed by Frank Gehry, it features bronze statues and a massive stainless-steel tapestry depicting the Normandy coastline. It is open 24 hours. http://www.nps.gov
Our 26th president has an 88-acre wooded island in the Potomac River dedicated to him. It features roughly 2 miles of trails and a central memorial plaza with a statue. Access is via a footbridge from the Virginia side near Rosslyn.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove On the Potomac
A peaceful grove of white pines and a granite monolith located in Lady Bird Johnson Park on Columbia Island adjacent to the GW Parkway. The Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove is located in Washington, DC across the Boundary Channel from the Pentagon in Virginia. The park has two entrances, one on the George Washington Memorial Parkway and one on Boundary Channel Drive. http://www.nps.gov
The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial is the presidential memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring American Civil War general and 18th president of the United States. It sits at the base of Capitol Hill, below the west front of the United States Capitol. http://www.aoc.gov
The James A. Garfield Statue by John Quincy Adams Ward honoring the 20th president stands on the grounds of the United States Capitol in Garfield Circle near the Rayburn House. Basically, in a traffic circle at First Street and Maryland Avenue SW in Washington, D.C. Wikipedia.com
James Buchanan Memorial
This memorial is a bronze, granite, and concrete memorial that honors U.S. President James Buchanan. It is located on the southeast corner of Meridian Hill Park, near the park’s reflecting pool, in an area where Columbia Heights, Adams Morgan, and the U Street Corridor intersect. It was designed by architect William Gorden Beecher, and sculpted by Maryland artist Hans Schuler. Wikipedia.com
Woodrow Wilson Presidential Memorial
The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Memorial Exhibit is located at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20004. The closest metro stop is Federal Triangle. www.wilsoncenter.org
John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame
The John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame is a presidential memorial at the grave site of assassinated United States President John F. Kennedy, in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. www.arlingtoncemetery.mil.
President William Howard Taft Memorial Grave
President William Howard Taft (1857-1930), the 27th president of the United States, was the first president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and one of only two presidents buried here. (The other is John F. Kennedy.) Taft is the only person to have served both as president of the United States (1909-1913) and as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1921-1930). www.arlingtoncemetery.mil.