Exclusive Washington, D.C. Trivia

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Most people know Washington, D.C., is the seat of Government. Yes, it is home to the Smithsonian, The Washington Monument, The Jefferson Memorial, The White House and the Capitol. What people do not know is:

The Term Capitol Hill is in fact, WRONG. The hill the Capitol BUILDING sits on is known as Jenkins Hill. The White House sits on land owned by a man named Burns. The White House is not run by the Executive Branch, but instead by the National Park Service. The Executive Branch pays rent to the NPS.

The Washington Monument is not sinking. Next to the monument is a manhole and contained within this manhole is a scale model of the monument. The model is used to check to see in the monument is leaning or sinking. Thanks to the swamp area where the Lincoln Memorial was built, you will find stalactites and stalagmites in the Basement.

Georgetown, the ritzy part of D.C., was once a seaport. Once the Potomac silted up, it stopped being a port to large ships. Now, it is a trendy part of town, home to Georgetown University (which was founded by Jesuits). The house which was used as the background for Peter Benchley’s “The Exorcist” exists…and so do the stairs next to the house.

You will sometimes hear references to “Foggy Bottom”.  This came from the  fog which used to swirl from the former swamps stretching from the Potomac River to the Lincoln Memorial and H Street, N.W. (Washington is divided into quadrants, N.W., S.W., NE. and SE). The 2nd longest escalator is the Bethesda Metro Stop. The longest escalator in the world is located in Moscow, Russia.

In the Capitol Rotunda is a painting called The Baptism of Pocahontas. In the painting you will find a six toed Indian. President Andrew Johnson never went to school and was taught to write by his wife. Dr. Mary Walker was considered the most eccentric woman in Washington. Why? She dressed as a man during the Civil War…with special sanctions from Congress! She was also awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour for her services as the only female Surgeon of the Civil War. Printing and Publishing is the largest industry of Washington, D.C..

Captain John Smith led the first expedition up the Potomac River. You will find the names of all Congressional Medal of Honour Winners in the Hall of Heroes in the Pentagon. Barbara Bush and Abigail Adams are the only two women who have had both Husband and Sons as President. William Henry Harrison was the first President to arrive in D.C. by Train. Andrew Jackson was the first U.S. President to leave Washington, D.C. by train at the end of his term.

The painting Declaration of Independence, located in the Capitol Rotunda is inaccurate in that five of the people portrayed never signed the document and 15 who did are not shown. The World War One  Victory Parade was the first time veterans from the Civil War, both Union and Confederate, marched together…in 1919. President Herbert Hoover was an Engineer before he became President. President Carter holds a PhD in Nuclear Physics.

1516-18 28th Street, N.W., has a fence made of spiked gun barrels from  the Mexican American War. There is constant Gunfire within 1/2 mile from the White House..at the indoor range at the F.B.I. Building. The Bronze doors at the Constitution Avenue entrance of the National Archives weigh 6 1/2 tons each. The official name of the National Cathedral is the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. At one time, out of 100 residents of D.C., one of them was a lawyer.

There are four statues in Lafayette Park. They are statues of Kosciuszko, Rochambeau, Von Stuben and Lafayette…all foreigners who helped the American Colonists. Dunbar is the first High School for Blacks in the Nation.

Adams, Jefferson and Monroe are Presidents who died on the 4th of July.

Archie Butt, Personal aide to Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, died as a result of being on-board “Titanic”. Davy Crockett was known as the “Coonskin Congressman”. The largest Catholic Church in America is the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

President Carter was the first President to welcome a Pope to the White House. Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s estate became Arlington National Cemetery. In the cemetery itself, Confederate Tombstones are pointed because the people buried there did not want “some damned Yankee sitting on them”.

The Capitol and White House are two of the most haunted buildings in D.C. The James Madison Memorial Building of the Library of Congress covers 35 football fields. The Joan of Arc statue in Meridian Hill Park is the only equestrian statue of a woman in D.C.

The statue atop the Capitol, named Freedom, has survived numerous lighting strikes thanks to lightening rods mounted on her headdress and shoulders. If the statue of Lincoln, housed in the Lincoln Memorial, ever stood up, he would be 28 feet tall. The motto E Pluribus Unum (from Many, One) refers to the separate American Colonies combining into one nation.

In 1814, British Officers ate in the White House then set fire to it. During the Civil War, the Capitol Rotunda was used as barracks and later as a hospital. All Potomac River bridges share one thing in common..no overhead construction. Speaking of Construction, no building in D.C. may be higher than the Washington Monument. The Tidal Basin is 17 feet below sea level.

All streets start at the Capitol. Lettered streets run east-west while numbered streets run north-south. There is no “B” street in N.W. D.C…it is Constitution Avenue and at one time was the Tiber Creek. As you leave the Capitol, number streets get higher as do the lettered streets. The lettered streets have the first alphabet (A-Z,) the second alphabet (words that can be divided in half), the third alphabet (words divided twice) and so on. There is no “I” or “J” street. The only thing which will throw you off is the occasional Avenue crossing your path.

Enjoy your stay at the inauguration!

About Post Author

Carol Bell

Carol is a graduate of the University of Alabama. Her passion is journalism and it shows. Carol is our unpaid, but very efficient, administrative secretary.
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11 years ago

Fascinating article. Thank you sooooooo much for saying “Titanic” and not “the Titanic.” MadMike will tell you how much that bugs me.

BD

Reply to  bitcodavid
11 years ago

Yes. That bugs David 🙂

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