Monuments and Memorials Bike Tour Preview

Welcome! This tour is intended for riders to go at their own pace. We have provided information for each stop along the route. Some of the stops are off of the bike path and we do recommend locking up your bikes before viewing them. For the best experience, please enable location alerts. This map is color coded, so you can choose your own adventure!

• The stops with black icons comprise the primary tour route. Each stop is a notable location with a brief history and fun facts!
• The stops with red icons indicate locations from television and movies. See where iconic scenes with some of the biggest stars were filmed.
• The stops with green icons are notable for their beauty and photo appeal. Take a snapshot in this location and share with us on social media!
• The stops with orange icons indicate our top recommendations for food in and near the park.
• The stops with teal icons show where public restrooms are located.

We are so happy you chose to ride with Unlimited Biking and hope you have a wonderful tour! If you have any questions, please call us at 202-842-2453 or email sales@unlimitedbiking.com.

The District of Columbia was founded in December 17901970 when then-President George Washington signed an Act of Congress declaring the federal government would reside in a district "not exceeding ten miles square...on the river Potomac." After this was established, a residence was required for the president. Over the course of his presidency, Washington actually had three official residences - two in New York and one in Philadelphia - and is the only president to never have lived in the White House. However, he did choose the winning architect, James Hoban, from the design competition that was conducted.

Washington reportedly saw the Hoban-designed Charleston County Courthouse that was under construction during a visit to Charleston, South Carolina and he liked it so much that he later summoned Hoban to Philadelphia to discuss designs. The second president, John Adams, and the second first lady, Abigail, were the first to move into the residence in 1800, before the building was actually finished. President Thomas Jefferson was the first to have it for the entire duration of his presidency.

During the War of 1812, in August of 1814, British and Canadian troops attacked and burned down almost every federal building they could find in DC, including the Capitol and the White House while First Lady Dolley Madison, White House staff and enslaved workers saved valuables before fleeing. The White House was so damaged that the interior had to be gutted and half of the exterior walls were torn down. James Hoban was still alive and came back to rebuild the house, but the quick repair job was rather weak, using wood for the interior supports instead of stone and brick like in the original structure.

Problems eventually arose and culminated about 130 years after the White House was repaired. In 1945, President Truman was moving in and his piano broke through the floor of the building. Between 1949 and 1952, the White House was reconstructed with steel structures replacing the internal wooden ones. During this period of time, the Trumans lived in the Blair House, the president’s official guest house. Truman also insisted on building the White House’s balcony, visible from the South side. Today it's known as the Truman balcony.

The building is 55,000 square feet and has 18 acre grounds, 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, 5 kitchens, 6 levels, 28 fireplaces, and 3 elevators. The President and his family can add in whatever they choose, so the building has changed quite a bit over time. FDR had an indoor swimming pool installed which was converted into the Press Room under Nixon’s administration. Richard and Pat Nixon were both avid bowlers, so he also had a single-lane bowling alley added. Hidden from view on the south grounds are a tennis court, outdoor swimming pool, running track, putting green, and a horseshoe pit. President Obama added a set of solar panels to the roof.

President Thomas Jefferson was the first to open the White House for public tours, and in those days, you could just walk right up to the front door. Now, you will need to contact your Representative to request a free tour ticket at least 3 months before your planned visit. The guided tour of the White House visits the first floor of the main building and includes the Blue Room as well as the State Dining Room and the East Room, where both Lincoln and JFK laid in state after their assassinations.

When he became the country’s youngest president in 1901, Roosevelt had 6 children ranging in age from 5 to 17 years old. He needed a place to work where his kids weren’t running through the hallways, so he added the West Wing as his work space. Today the West Wing holds the Oval Office and the Situation Room underneath it. Roosevelt also added a small East Wing to act as an alternative entrance into the complex. It was his cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who expanded the East Wing to what it is today. Since the Carter Administration, the East Wing has held the official offices of the First Lady.

Fun Facts:

1. The White House’s south side is where the President’s helicopter (Marine One) lands. In the 1950’s, Dwight Eisenhower was the first President to travel to and from the White House by helicopter.
2. The original timber from the first White House was used as paneling in the new building when it was rebuilt after the War of 1812.
3. The building was originally known as the “President’s Palace,” “President’s Mansion,”and the “Executive Mansion.” It wasn’t until 1901, when Teddy Roosevelt had “The White House” printed on his official stationary that the name stuck. The first recorded time it is known to have been referred to as the “White House” is in 1811.
4. President Taft built the first Oval Office inside the West Wing. The black-clad men frequently seen pacing about on the roof are Secret Service snipers. When the President leaves the house by car, the motorcade usually assembles on the south driveway and consists of an army of city motorcycle police, Secret Service SUV’s, and an ambulance, which accompany the President’s heavily armored limousine, known as Cadillac One.
5. In the spirit of democracy, Jefferson gave half of the original White House south lawn back to the American people. The Ellipse is now the property of the National Park Service and open to the public. It extends all the way to Constitution Avenue. The Ellipse contains the Zero Mile-Marker which was intended to be the point from which all road distances in the U.S. would be measured.

George Washington (1732 - 1799) was born to a relatively wealthy estate owner and justice of the peace in Virginia. Little is known of Washington’s youth, but he did inherit land and enslaved people after his father’s death and after his half-brother’s death he inherited the estate that would be named Mount Vernon. Washington’s half-brother Lawrence and Lawrence’s father-in-law were important, surrogate father figures in Washington’s childhood. Mount Vernon worked to maintain and expand his Mount Vernon estate, increasing it in size to eight thousand acres where he cultivated tobacco and wheat. At the time of Washington’s death, three hundred enslaved people lived at Mount Vernon and following her husband’s will and wishes, his wife Martha freed them.

Having followed in his brother’s footsteps, Washington joined the Virginia militia as a commander, quickly rising to command the Virginia Regiment as colonel in conflicts that precipitated the French and Indian War. These early military conflicts instructed his later military tactics and his vision of a centralized government. Washington was elected to the Virginia legislature and through his continued trade business with Britain, he began to resent British taxation without Colonial representation.

Washington began leading protests and boycotts against British rule and was eventually selected to attend the First Continental Congress as a Virginia delegate. At the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, Washington was unanimously voted commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. Washington’s deft handling of the Revolution under extreme conditions lasted for over eight years before the war’s end in 1783, upon which Washington retired as commander-in-chief.

Although the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, George Washington did not take office as the United States’ first president until 1789 following the ratification of the Constitution two years prior. As the first president, Washington established many of the conventions that still hold true today, most notably the cabinet of the executive branch. His legislative record, which was heavily influenced by the rift between Alexander Hamilton’s Federalists and Thomas Jefferson’s Republicans, continues to be debated as the Founding Fathers’ legacies will perhaps always be.

A century separated the government’s original proposal to build a monument to the great war-hero Washington (1783) and its actual completion (1884). In 1832, the centennial of Washington’s birth, a group of concerned citizens formed the Washington National Monument Society. By 1836 they had raised enough money to announce a design competition.

A design by Robert Mills was picked as the winner. His design called for a tall obelisk with a nearly flat top surrounded by a 100-foot tall circular colonnade; on top of the colonnade would be a statue of Washington standing in a chariot. Inside the colonnade would be statues of 30 prominent Revolutionary War heroes. Mills’ plan would cost about $1 million, equivalent to more than $20 million today. With no federal funds allocated for construction, the monument would have to be built with private donations. With just $87,000 raised of the $1 million they would need, the society decided to start building the obelisk, but to forgo the colonnade until more money could be raised. The cornerstone was laid on Independence Day, 1848.

The state of Alabama offered to donate a memorial stone to the construction project. This offer led the society to encourage all the states and territories to donate stones to the project as a way to honor Washington and reduce construction costs. Later, the society extended the offer to Native American tribes, foreign countries, social and fraternal organizations (for example: the Masons, of which Washington was a member), local communities, trade unions, and individuals. Today, 194 memorial stones line the walls of the Monument’s interior stairwell, including stones from all 50 states, and several foreign countries. In 1854, donations for the Monument began to dry up. The Know-Nothings, an anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic party, then conducted a fraudulent election so they could take over the entire Society. Congress quickly rescinded the $200,000 that had been approved to help construction. The Know-Nothings retained control of the Society until 1858, adding 13 courses of the masonry to the Monument - all of which was of such poor quality that it was later removed. Unable to collect enough money to finish work, they increasingly lost public support. The Know-Nothings eventually gave up and returned all records to the original Society, but the stoppage in construction continued until after the Civil War.

Construction was halted at 176 feet and the monument remained that height for two decades. Even so, it was still a popular tourist destination. After visiting the city during the Civil War, Mark Twain called the Monument an eyesore that resembled an ungainly old sugar mill chimney. “It ought to be either pulled down or built up and finished,” he wrote.

As the nation prepared to celebrate its centennial year in 1876, Congress appropriated $2 million to finish the construction. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started on the second phase of construction, using stones from different quarries than the one that was used before the war. Thus, the two phases of construction are marked by a distinct change in shade of the marble facade stones about a fourth of the way up.

The Monument was finally completed in 1884 at 555 feet, 5 1/8 inches (about 170 meters). The Washington Monument was the tallest structure in the world until the Eiffel Tower (1,063 ft) surpassed it five years later. But the Monument is still today the world’s tallest free-standing masonry structure, meaning no mortar or metal holds the load-bearing interior blocks together. Instead, stones are grooved to form a perfect fit and are dry-stacked - though the exterior marble façade stones do have mortared joints. For extra support the foundation extends 36 feet below ground. The monument has a square base 55 ft 6 1⁄2 inches on a side and the height—555 feet 5 ⅛ inches--is exactly 10 times the width, which is actually the mathematical definition of an obelisk. An earthquake on August 23, 2011 caused minor damage to the monument and forced the monument to be closed while officials determined how best to repair the cracks that the earthquake created. A large four-foot crack can still be seen on the west side of the monument near the top. After years of renovations to its interior, the Monument reopened in 2019.

World War II was fought between 1939 and 1945 by almost every nation in the world and resulted in more loss of life than any other conflict in history. The United States officially entered the war following Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. The resulting conflict with Japan, Nazi Germany, and Italy created a radical change in American domestic life as well as new avenues for warfare, including the use of two atomic bombs. Estimated global death tolls range from 70 to 80 million with the majority being civilian casualties. During WWII, 16 million Americans served in the armed forces.

Friedrich St. Florian was the lead designer selected for the project. The design features 56 free-standing pillars bound by a bronze-sculpted rope, representing national unity, surrounding the Rainbow Pool in the middle. The pillars represent the existing states during WWII as well as the territories and the District of Columbia. Unlike today, Alaska and Hawaii were still territories, and the Philippines was a U.S. Commonwealth. The arrangement of the pillars alternates from one side of the Memorial to the other based on the order of the states’ entry into the Union. The first state, Delaware, is the first pillar to the left of the Freedom Wall, the second state, Pennsylvania, is the first pillar to the right and so on.

From one pillar to the next hang wreaths that alternate in composition from those made of wheat to those made of oak leaves. Wheat here symbolizes the immense productivity of American agriculture throughout the war years. The oak leaves symbolize the military strength made possible in large part by the feverish pace of U.S. industrial war manufacturing. Together, the wheat and oak represent America’s crucial role as the main supply line to the Allied forces—the “breadbasket of the world” and the “arsenal of democracy” in the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Each pillar also has a rectangular opening in the middle, which lends a more open view to the Memorial and symbolizes the loss of life experienced by each state and territory.

Two large pavilions are on either side of the memorial. The southern one represents the Pacific theater of the war, and the northern one represents the Atlantic theater. Inside each pavilion is a group of bronze American eagles that together hold a suspended victory laurel above the engraving on the floor which reads: “Victory on Land, Victory at Sea, Victory in the Air”. Quotes from the war’s great leaders— Presidents Truman and FDR, Generals Eisenhower, Marshall and MacArthur--appear on the walls around the plaza. At the front entrance to the memorial, closest to the street, are 24 individual cast iron bas-reliefs. Each depicts a different scene from World War II. Those on the North side correspond with the Atlantic theater of war (including the Lend-Lease Act, the Battle of the Bulge, and the invasion of Normandy) and those on the South side correspond with those related to the Pacific theater (including Pearl Harbor, a panel depicting warfare in the jungle, and ultimately, V-J Day). Note that the people are the main focus of these reliefs, honoring those who served America overseas and on the home front.

At the back of the memorial is the Freedom Wall, covered with gold-plated stars. The engraving below reads “Here we mark the price of freedom”. When a member of the armed services is sent into combat, the U.S. military sends their family a military service flag containing a stitched blue star. If the person is killed in service, the family then receives another flag with a gold star in place of the blue. During the war, military families would often prominently display the flags from their home, and a gold star flag appearing on a door or window signaled to neighbors the family had lost a loved one. Each gold star on the Freedom Wall represents 100 American deaths, and there are 4,048 in all. Over 405,000 Americans died in WWII with 670,000 wounded.

Dedicated on Memorial Day 2004, the memorial was actually opened to the public a month prior to the ceremony. This was done because American veterans of World War II were dying at a rate of 1,100 every week so there was a rush to get the veterans here to experience it before it was too late.

Fun Fact:

• The WWII Memorial is the only memorial with officially sanctioned graffiti. On the water pump closest to the Delaware and Pennsylvania pillars, there are carvings of Kilroy, accompanied by the words “Kilroy was here.” The origins of Kilroy, with his round head and long nose peeking over a wall, are unclear, but the doodle has a strong association with American popular culture through the late 1930s and 1950s. U.S. troops doodled it on equipment, and according to one story, Adolf Hitler found equipment with the doodle drawn on it and became convinced that Kilroy was the name of a high- ranking American spy. Josef Stalin reportedly saw it drawn in the bathroom at the 1945 Potsdam Conference and demanded to know who Kilroy was.

As you bike along the reflecting pool toward the Vietnam Veterans memorial there is another restroom stop as well as a water bottle filling station so you can stay hydrated on your ride.

The Vietnam War (1955 - 1975) was a very controversial conflict in our nation’s history. As the years continued and the war escalated with more and more young men being sent overseas, tensions and anti-war sentiment increased at home. With the advent of television news, this was the first war that folks on the homefront could witness the violence and the atrocities of war every night. Unfortunately, many Americans took their outrage and frustrations out on returning soldiers.

A young veteran and Maryland native named Jan Scruggs was attending graduate school at American University and was studying the social and psychological consequences of Vietnam military duties on soldiers. From his findings, he wanted to find a way to help these veterans heal. One of these ways was suggesting that the U.S. build a “national memorial as a symbol that the country cared about them.” Scruggs founded the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. (VVMF), which was authorized by Congress in 1980 to fund and build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial here in D.C. A design competition with a $50,000 prize was held and the VVMF formed an independent panel to select the winner from 1,421 entries. They chose a submission by Maya Lin, then a 21-year-old undergraduate architecture student at Yale University.

The planning committee had 4 requirements for designs entered in the competition. The selected design would have to 1) Be reflective and contemplative in character, 2) harmonize with its surroundings, 3) make no political statement about the war, and 4) contain all of the names of those who died or were still missing from the conflict.

Lin’s design consists of two walls, each nearly 246 feet long, meeting in the center at a 125-degree angle. Each wall consists of 72 panels of granite imported from Bangalore, India, and polished to a mirror-like finish so that you see your own reflection very clearly over the names of the dead. Lin suggested that the memorial “appear as a rift in the earth – a long, polished black stone emerging from and receding into the earth.” Her design proposes that the cost of war is human life, yet it also carves out a space for the public display of grief and pain which is essential to the healing process.

There is also a symbolic geometry to Lin’s design. The 125-degree angle at the center of the wall is oriented so that the east (right side) wall points directly toward the Washington Monument (which you face squarely as you exit the memorial), and the west (left side) wall points directly toward the Lincoln Memorial (behind you as you enter the pathway). Lin thus places the Vietnam conflict in historical context as the wall points to the defining events in the establishment of the American union (the Revolutionary War represented by Washington) and its preservation (the Civil War represented by Lincoln).

Another interesting aspect of the memorial is the order in which Lin chose to list the names. Lin said she envisioned the work depicting a passage in time, and instead of listing the names alphabetically, she chose to have them listed chronologically in the order in which each soldier was killed or declared prisoner or missing in action. Yet the list does not begin on the far left and end on the far right. Rather, they complete a circle, beginning and ending in the very center of the wall. From the middle, the first name appears just right of center, on the panel marked “1959.” The names proceed right, to the end of the east wall, then pick up again on the far left of the west wall and proceed back toward the center to the final name on the panel marked “1975.” Thus the names of the first and last soldiers killed appear on adjoining panels, completing the circle and no name appears more meaningful than another. Arranging the names this way has been described as a wound that is closed and healing.

The current total is 58,313, but was originally only 58,193 when the memorial opened; approximately 1,200 of those are Prisoners Of War or Missing In Action. Next to each name is either a cross or a diamond. Those that are known to have been killed have a diamond next to their name. Those that are still listed as missing in action have a cross next to their name. If you look closely, you can see that some of the crosses have been changed to diamonds as their deaths were identified—the edits are easy to spot, as they look more like four-pointed stars.

On both sides of the wall are two directories listing the names either in alphabetical order or by geographic location of the soldier’s home. In each directory you will find the name along with the panel and line number (every 10th line is marked by an engraved dot) where you can find the name you’re looking for on the wall.

Although Lin said she felt politics were irrelevant to what the memorial should stand for, her design became perhaps the most controversial and contested project ever on the National Mall. Objections to Lin’s design were numerous: it is the first black stone on the National Mall, it’s below the ground (like walking into a grave, some said), and the designer was female, Asian-American (her parents emigrated from China) and she was too young to have served in Vietnam. Ironically, the main objection—that it was nothing but names of the dead—was a design requirement by the memorial. Protests against her design reached a fever pitch among many objecting veterans as well as prominent government officials who insisted that Lin’s design be changed.

Many advocated for a more traditional memorial with a flagstaff and a statue of servicemen to give the memorial a human face and to represent the honor, heroism, and patriotism of those who served and those who survived and would visit the site. To address those issues, the “Three Servicemen” statue was added in 1984. Sculpted by Frederick Hart, the three bronzed infantrymen are depicted much as they would have looked emerging from the jungles of Vietnam: young, uniformed, carrying the equipment of war. This vivid depiction was the first time such modern weaponry had been presented in a national memorial (an M-16 in the left hand of one, an M-60 over the shoulder of another with ammo rounds draped over his chest). Like us, the men peer directly at the wall, scanning the names of their fallen comrades. The flagpole, placed on the grounds in 1983, stands 60 feet tall, contains the American flag as well as the POW/MIA flag, and at the base are the insignias of the 5 branches of the military.

Visitors bring countless gifts to the wall and leave them by the panel containing the name of a friend or loved one. Visitors started leaving items at the memorial from the day it opened, and possibly earlier. Legend has it that the tradition dates back to a man who threw his brother’s posthumous Purple Heart into the wet concrete of the foundation. Family members often bring flowers, wreaths, photographs, letters, and Father’s Day cards. Veterans occasionally leave items they brought home from the war: dog tags, combat boots, unopened cans of beer or a pack of cigarettes they were carrying the day a buddy was killed. In 1986, Army Chaplain Charles Liteky left the Medal of Honor he had been awarded in Vietnam along with a letter addressed to President Reagan protesting US foreign policy in Central America. Each day, Park Service Rangers gather the items (except for flags and perishables) and place them in a bag marked with the date and the number of the panel it was left at. All of the items are taken to a nearby storage facility in Maryland and are never destroyed.

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial

Designed by Glenna Goodacre and dedicated in 1993. The memorial pays tribute to the American women who served and lost their lives serving in the Vietnam War. About 265,000 American women volunteered for service in this conflict, most serving as nurses. Eight enlisted women perished in the war, along with fifty-nine civilians. The eight yellowwood trees surrounding the statue symbolize those military deaths. Three nurses represent a virtue:Charity (tends to the soldier), Faith (prays for him), and Hope (looking upwards for inspiration). It is the first monument on the National Mall dedicated to women’s military service.

Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865) had humble beginnings. Born in the midwest to a frontiersman father, Lincoln worked on a farm and dedicated himself to learning. He fought as a captain in the Black Hawk War, worked as a lawyer, and in the Illinois legislature. Though he and his wife Mary Todd had four children, only one son lived to adulthood. Though he lost against Stephen A Douglas in his bid for Senator, Lincoln gained a national profile in the election cycle, which led to his nomination for President in 1860.

He became the 16th President of the United States while Northern and Southern states were in a tense division about the direction of the country, particularly regarding slavery. As Lincoln did not support the expansion of slavery, the election signified the country’s future. Immediately after Lincoln secured the presidential victory and before he had even taken office, South Carolina seceded from the Union, prompting ten more states to follow suit. Thus, the Confederate States of America was founded and the bloodiest war in American history began and lasted for five years. In 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved people. Just five days after Robert E. Lee surrendered, Abraham Lincoln was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre.

During his administration, Lincoln was surprisingly not very popular with the American people. It wasn’t until years after his assassination in April 1865, that Lincoln started to become the American legend he is today. Through his fight to preserve the Union and to abolish slavery, Lincoln is regarded by the American people as a hero and one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history. Demands for a fitting national memorial were voiced shortly after his death, but it took several failed attempts before a bill was passed and followed through.

In 1913, Congress approved of a design and location chosen by the Lincoln Memorial Commission. Henry Bacon designed the memorial as a Greek doric temple, closely resembling the Parthenon. Since Lincoln is regarded as the preserver and expander of American democracy, Bacon wanted to reference Ancient Greece, the birthplace of democracy. The memorial was finished and dedicated on May 30, 1922.

There are 36 exterior Doric columns surrounding the building representing the 36 states that survived the Civil War and maintained the American Union in 1865. On the frieze above the structure, two tiers of states’ names appear around all four sides. The bottom tier displays the names of those first 36 states, beginning with Delaware—the 1st state—and continuing around in the order in which they were admitted to the Union. The top tier of names represents all 48 of the U.S. states existing at the time of the memorial’s construction and lists them again in order of their entry but beginning at the back right side of the building. There was no appropriate space on the building to carve the names of Alaska and Hawaii when they achieved statehood in 1959, so instead their names are found on the large engraved stone on the ground just above the first set of steps.

Inside the memorial is Daniel Chester French’s statue of Lincoln, perhaps the most famous statue in the world by an American sculptor. The sculpture is 19 feet from head to foot. If Lincoln were standing, he would stand at about 27 feet. Below the arms of Lincoln's chair (or throne) appear the Roman fasces, a bundle of birch twigs bound together by ribbon to form a cylinder. They are regarded as a symbol of power and authority, suggesting strength through unity.

On the left-hand wall, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, delivered a few months after the battle, is short and very powerful. The Lincoln Memorial has also been a popular spot over the years for protests, demonstrations, and other large public events. The occasion that drew the largest crowd ever was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered here in 1963.

The Korean War, fought between June 1950 and July 1953, has been called “The Forgotten War” since the conflict is sandwiched between the memories of World War II and the high-profile controversy of Vietnam. Visitors occasionally comment that they were unaware of U.S. involvement in Korea or that they only ever heard of it on the T.V. series M*A*S*H. Thus, this memorial serves to reintroduce the Korean War in the collective American memory by honoring the 1.5 million Americans who served in Korea. The memorial was dedicated on July 27, 1995, on the 42nd anniversary of the armistice. It was designed by a team of architects from State College, PA, though it was altered significantly by the Cooper-Lechy architectural firm.

Near the end of World War II, the U.S, and Soviet Union divided the Korean peninsula on a line of latitude known as the 38th parallel. The purpose was to ensure a Cold War buffer zone between the Soviet-supported, communist North Korea and the democratic, American-occupied South Korea. In 1950, intent on reuniting the peninsula under communist control, North Korea invaded across the 38th parallel into the South.

After the North Korean invasion, the United Nations voted to aid South Korea in the U.S.-led counter attack on the grounds that a threat to democracy anywhere constituted a threat to democracy everywhere. This served as the first test of U.N. authority when the organization was barely 5 years old. Twenty-two U.N. member nations provided supplies and medical support and fifteen of those also sent their own troops. The two sides pushed each other back and forth over the 38th parallel several times before reaching a stalemate near the 38th before the war ended in 1953. Coincidentally, the war also lasted 38 months. And once again the 38th parallel--the demilitarized zone (DMZ)--was agreed upon to divide the North and South.

The Korean War is technically not a “war”. It was a U.N. “peacekeeping action”. For the United States to be officially at war, Congress needs to declare war. The last time they did that was in 1941 after the Pearl Harbor attack when they declared war on Germany and Japan. Though not officially titled a war by Congress, the resulting death from the conflict was enormous. In just over three years, over 36,000 Americans were killed in Korea. As a comparison, in Vietnam, a little over 58,000 Americans were killed or missing in sixteen years.

To represent the 38th parallel, the sculptor Frank Gaylord originally intended to place 38 statues of soldiers walking together on patrol. Unfortunately though, the space allotted for the memorial couldn’t accommodate that many so Gaylord instead used a total of 19 stainless steel statues. The 19 statues are then reflected in the granite wall behind them, bringing the total to 38 and symbolizing the memory of the fallen. The statues accurately represent the branches of the U.S. military in proportion to the numbers that served in the war: 14 are Army soldiers (identified by their unbuckled chin straps), 3 are Marines (with their chin straps fastened), 1 is a Navy corpsmen (he carries a kit), and 1 is an Air Force observer (wearing a soft cap and an antenna on his radio). The soldiers march ahead toward the U.S. flag and the separated granite wall where the engraving reads: “Freedom Is Not Free.”

The statues’ facial expressions appear ghostlike, weary, shocked, horrified. Notice as you walk through that the direction each soldier faces alternates so that wherever you stand inside the memorial, one soldier will be looking toward you.

The soldiers appear to be wading among the low- lying juniper bushes surrounding them, and a bar of granite lies in front of them. This represents the extreme difficulties troops faced in Korea: patrols often had to wade through rice paddies (which may have held sunken land mines) to reach a destination. The rugged mountains of the peninsula were a major impediment to transport and brutal winter temperatures often fell to 30 degrees below zero, causing frostbite and thousands of deaths. Some estimates say as many as half the total casualties were caused by hypothermia. The rate of casualties was among the worst in U.S. military history.

On the ‘Academy Black’ granite wall, which were mined in California, among the statues’ reflections are etchings which, from a distance, may appear like mountains, reflecting the Korean terrain. Walking closer, the etchings are actually images of people sandblasted into the granite: they are the support personnel, the thousands of men and women who served as doctors, nurses, cooks, mapmakers, drivers, and chaplains. Though not on the frontlines, their service is nevertheless crucial to the war effort. The images are derived from actual photographs in the Korean War archives. On the low granite wall by your left heel as you enter the memorial appear the names of the 21 U.N.-member countries that provided support in the conflict. The stone at the end, beside the flagstaff, lists the total number of casualties and wounded. South Korea suffered the overwhelming majority of U.N. casualties— over half a million. The pool at the top of the memorial is known as “The Remembrance Pool.”

The newest section as of July 2023 is the Wall of Remembrance, which lists the names of those who were killed in Korea by rank and branch of the military.

The Lincoln Memorial is another great stop for a rest break if you need it. Not only are their refreshment stands on either side of the memorial but there is also a mini museum underneath the memorial! In the museum you can learn the history of the memorial and take a restroom break.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968) was born in Atlanta Georgia to a Baptist pastor and is the grandson of a Baptist pastor on his mother’s side, both preaching at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Though the King family was comfortably middle-class, the country was prejudiced. At age six, Martin Luther King Jr. went to a segregated school and was told by a white neighbor that they were no longer allowed to play together, a painful memory that King often alluded to in his later speeches.

Before entering Morehouse College on a scholarship program at age 15, King worked a summer job on a tobacco farm in Connecticut and was surprised to find northern racial relations to be much more peaceful in the integrated north than they were in the segregated south. Though he studied law and medicine, King turned to the family business of ministry instead. Under the guidance of his mentor Benjamin Mays, King learned more about activism and the fight for racial equality and against complacency in the face of injustice.

After graduating from Crozer Theological Seminary where he was president of a predominantly white student body, King pursued his doctorate from Boston University, graduating in 1955. While in Boston, he met and married Coretta Scott in 1953 and the couple had four children together. King began his tenure as a preacher at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. In response to Rosa Parks’ arrest for refusing her bus seat to a white passenger on a segregated transit system, a group of civil rights activists formed the Montgomery Improvement Association to boycott the system with King chosen as their leader.

As a gifted orator, Martin Luther King Jr. gave speeches in support of their efforts which lasted over a year before the transit system integrated. Following this success, King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to seize the momentum and bring his cause national. In October of 1960, King was arrested while participating in a sit-in demonstration in a Georgia department store. Though those charges were dropped, it led to his prison sentence for a minor traffic violation. King’s imprisonment and fears for his safety caused an uproar and then-presidential candidate, John F Kennedy, helped secure his release.

King’s star rose as he utilized non-violent protest tactics and the medium of television to spread his anti-racist message and to urge desegregation. In 1963, police dogs and fire hoses were used against protestors in Birmingham, Alabama and King was arrested along with hundreds of fellow demonstrators - a large portion of them children. In jail, King penned his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail. On August 28th, 2963 Martin Luther King Jr. delivered one of the most famous speeches in American history in front of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of over two hundred thousand attendees of the March on Washington. The centerpiece for King’s memorial is based on a line from his "I Have A Dream" speech: "Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

King continued to be an active and important, sometimes controversial figure in the civil rights movement until his assisination in 1968. The idea of building a memorial to Dr. King on the National Mall was immediately discussed but gained more momentum when his birthday became a national holiday in 1986. The main force behind the efforts to build the memorial was the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha, which King was a member of. President Clinton signed the proposal to construct a national memorial in 1996 and a groundbreaking ceremony occurred in 2006, but construction did not begin until 2009. The result is a 30 foot-high relief of Martin Luther King Jr. named the “Stone of Hope,” which stands past two other pieces of granite that symbolize the "mountain of despair." Visitors literally "pass through" the Mountain of Despair on the way to the Stone of Hope, symbolically "moving through the struggle as Dr. King did during his life." A 450 foot long crescent-shaped inscription wall includes excerpts from many of King's sermons and speeches spanning from the time of the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott to his final sermon delivered just a few miles from here at the National Cathedral, just four days before his death. This memorial is the first on the Mall or in its vicinity to be dedicated to an African-American, and only the fourth to be dedicated to a non-president. The others are John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer; John Paul Jones, Revolutionary War Admiral and “Father of the Navy”; and George Mason, Founding Father:

Fun Facts:

The official address of this memorial is 1964 Independence Avenue, to commemorate the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The placement of the memorial is intended to create a visual "line of leadership" from the Jefferson Memorial to FDR and then to the Lincoln Memorial, on whose steps King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.

The lead sculpture, Lei Yixin, is Chinese, and many objected to a sculpture from a communist country creating an American memorial. Much of the granite used also came from China, creating further controversy.

This is a great stop on your ride to refill your water, take an A/C break and use the restroom. On the opposite side of the street from the memorial you will find the MLK Jr. Memorial Gift shop. Here you can find history pamphlets and purchase souvenirs.

This memorial is dedicated to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd and longest serving president of the United States. In 1955, Congress established the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Commission to choose a design and a location for the memorial. The winning design and architect Lawrence Halprin was chosen in 1974. However, funds to build the memorial weren’t fully secured until the 1990s, so the memorial didn’t open until May 2, 1997. Halprin’s design consists of 4 large, open-air rooms (the walls of which are made of red South Dakota granite), each representing a term of office for FDR–our only 4-term President. (The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution now limits the presidency to 2 four-year terms.) In addition to representing FDR himself, the memorial also serves as a virtual walk through history, covering two of 20th century America’s most dramatic and important periods: The Great Depression, and World War II.

Prologue Room

There was a later addition of a “Prologue” room (opened in 2001) to the memorial, which we are standing in now. It features the life-sized statue of FDR in his wheelchair. During planning for the memorial, controversy arose over whether to include a statue of FDR in a wheelchair since he would have ordinarily appeared during his presidency. The memorial planners originally decided against such a statue, mainly due to FDR’s insistence that the public never see his disability. In 1921, at age 39, FDR was diagnosed at the time with polio and he was soon completely unable to walk unaided. (More recently, however, his symptoms are determined to be more consistent with Guillain-Barré syndrome, and autoimmune neuropathy.) During his political career, FDR feared public attitudes about the disabled and worried that his physical disability would be associated with his ability to lead the country and that Americans would never elect him. As president, FDR frequently appeared in newsreels and papers giving his speeches while standing—after Secret Service agents had bolted his podium to the floor and attached a metal bar at the back for the President to hold for support. He also had what was referred to as a “gentleman’s agreement” with press photographers to never take his picture when the wheelchair would be visible, and they never did (imagine how unlikely it would be for a president today to receive such a favor). FDR went to such great lengths to conceal his wheelchair that many referred to his crafted self-image as “The Immaculate Deception.”

The quote behind FDR’s statue is by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The quote talks about how his disability actually gave him the strength and courage to be such a powerful leader. All the other quotes throughout the memorial are from FDR himself. The Prologue Room is mainly the result of advocacy by the National Organization on Disability, which raised $1.65 million for the additional construction, and successfully proposed that Americans in the 21st century were now prepared to see and ultimately accept the image of a president with a disability.

Room One

Entering Room One, the American eagle appears on The Presidential Seal in the corner on the right and the engraving on the ground stone marks the years of FDR’s first term, 1933-1937. He took office in the darkest days of The Great Depression, set off by the stock market crash in 1929. Before the depression hit, the U.S. unemployment rate was roughly 4 to 5%. By 1933 it had soared to a staggering 25 to 30% (15 million jobless Americans). Construction and factory production virtually ground to a halt, banks were closing as panicked customers rushed to withdraw their investments, and farms across the country were forced into foreclosure.

Thus FDR’s first term was a test of his ability to right the American economy. It was in FDR’s acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President in 1932 that he announced his ambitious plan: The New Deal. Notice the quote: “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” FDR sought to stimulate demand and provide work and relief for the impoverished by re-structuring the U.S. financial system, establishing minimum wages and prices, encouraging unions, and cutting farm production so that prices would rise. FDR kept his pledge by taking immediate action: in his first 100 days in office FDR coaxed a record number of bills through Congress which created a wide range of new federal programs: the Federal Reserve System, Rural Electrification, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, Social Security and many more. There were so many new programs that they were often referred to just by their initials (FDIC, REA,TVA, CCC, WPA) in what was called the “Alphabet Soup”. Naturally, government spending soared to unprecedented levels, as did the federal deficit. Notice the mural showing FDR in his motorcade after his inauguration, when he delivered the famous line: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

The waterfall here is the simplest of the four you will see in the Memorial (which also helps dampen some of the air traffic noise)—it’s a single, even fall which may be seen to represent the abrupt crash of the stock market. The theme of water also connects to FDR’s life: he was born and raised in Hyde Park, NY on the banks of the Hudson River, was a lifelong avid sailor, served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War I, and loved swimming, especially after his paralysis when bathing in natural hot springs was considered a recovery aid for polio victims. Halprin initially wanted the public to wade and play in the waterfalls. Within just a few days after the memorial’s opening, the National Park Service banned this practice, fearing the accidents it would cause.

Room Two

Room Two is much larger and consists of two portions. First we approach three sculpture sets by George Segal that depict the hardship Americans faced through the Great Depression. On the left of the free-standing partition wall is “The Rural Couple.” Clearly a farming family, we can imagine the couple as victims of the Dust Bowl, which only added to the social woes of the depression years with a series of major dust storms in the Great Plains that caused severe agricultural and ecological damage. The disaster was brought on by a severe drought combined with drastic erosion from decades of poor farming practices. The Dust Bowl displaced half a million Americans.

Immediately to the right is “The Breadline,” a dreary depiction of five men waiting in line. Breadlines were a common scene in the depression years, particularly in urban areas, where the unemployed and hungry came to wait for the possibility of a job offer or food rations. Notice the beginning of FDR’s quote above the statues: “I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished...”

At the back of the center partition wall are five copper murals by Robert Graham, each featuring a patchwork of images depicting the American worker back on the job in the economic upsurge of the New Deal. Machine workers, welders, farmers, and artists appear in some of the squares while the initials of several New Deal agencies and even Braille appear in others (owing to the assistance to and inclusion of the disabled in New Deal programs, such as Social Security). Standing within the room also are five copper columns; look closely, the same images from the mural appear again here. The columns were formed by duplicating each of the wall murals and rolling the panel backwards, creating an exact negative of each image. Graham’s design may be interpreted as a symbol of factory production (“rolling” out on the assembly lines) and the new wave of American industrialization generated by the New Deal, or perhaps a symbol of the myriad New Deal programs being rolled out (like a printing press).

Room Three

In 1941, FDR entered his third term as the nation was getting back on its feet economically but a grave new threat was fast approaching: a world once again at war. The burgeoning industrial prowess that the New Deal spending brought to the U.S. was employed to the utmost during World War II. Notice the quote to the right: “We must be the great arsenal of democracy.” And indeed it was American industry that served as the Allies’ primary supply line for weapons, ammunition, tanks, ships, and other material throughout World War II. Even the enormous rise in federal spending during the New Deal paled in comparison to the war years. Factories across the country were converted for wartime production and operated around the clock. But it was not until the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, that the U.S. was drawn officially into World War II.

The design of Room 3 reflects the aftermath of a bombing. Granite blocks are strewn haphazardly across the floor by an aerial bombing, and water spews violently from the wall, perhaps like the waters of the Pacific flooding into the torpedoed hulls of U.S. Navy ships at anchor that day. The next day Congress declared war, and widespread mobilization of U.S. military forces ensued. Notice FDR’s quote to the right of the waterfall: “I have seen war...I hate war.” The final words—“I hate war”--are repeated twice more among the blocks that cover the floor. As commander-in-chief, FDR viewed war as a last resort and had initially kept the U.S. from direct involvement in World War II. But a direct attack on U.S. soil left the President with no choice.

On the platform to the left of the waterfall is the one statue of FDR the planners originally had in mind for the memorial. Neil Estern’s larger-than-life statue presents the wartime President seated but with his legs mostly hidden behind a cloak, as was his usual attire during press briefings and public meetings. To many he appears weary, as he looks into the distance beyond to the day when peace will be restored. Notice the atrophy of the quadriceps muscle on his partially exposed left leg. Amidst the debate over an FDR statue including a wheelchair, Estern chose a disguise but with a somewhat sneaky addition: peek behind the right side of the statue and see the tiny castor wheels attached to the legs of the chair. To the left is FDR’s beloved canine companion Fala, a Scottish terrier and the only pet to be honored in a presidential memorial. Fala was the first Presidential pet to enjoy nationwide fame and he routinely traveled with the President, even occasionally to major events. Almost every president since FDR has continued the tradition of having a pet in the public eye. FDR’s successor Harry Truman once said, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” FDR once gave a famous televised speech known as the Fala Speech. Republicans, in an attempt to denounce FDR’s federal spending habits, had accused him of leaving his dog on the Aleutian Islands after a conference, then funding Navy cargo ships to retrieve the dog. This wasn’t true, and in the speech, FDR called the Republican party out for their lies.

Room Four

And finally, Room Four is the largest. As we enter, the sentence on the wall to the right further points out FDR’s abiding desire for lasting peace: “More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars.” FDR’s words here foreshadow what would later become a primary aim of the newly formed United Nations. But FDR didn’t live to see the beginnings of it: he suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage at his retreat in Warm Springs, GA, only a few months into his fourth term in April 1945. The complication was related to polio, a gradually degenerative disease.

Down the pathway, the wide stone mural of “The Funeral Procession” symbolizes a nation deep in mourning. Thousands cried in the streets and walked limp with heads bowed behind the procession as the casket was drawn down Pennsylvania Avenue. The stillness of death is marked by the small pool below the mural, the only still water in the memorial.

The size of the room and the waterfall (the largest of the four) partly signals the period of great uncertainty Americans faced with FDR’s passing even before World War II had been completely resolved (Germany surrendered a month later, and Japan fought on until that August). The beloved President had guided the nation through nearly thirteen of the most difficult and momentous years of the twentieth century. The spaciousness of Room Four may also be seen to represent the palpable void created in FDR’s absence and the enormity of his legacy as one the greatest of presidents in U.S. history, as well as the great unknown America was about to enter as a superpower on the world stage.

And in the small alcove stands the Neil Estern statue of Eleanor Roosevelt, herself one of the most admired Americans of the 20th century, and the person most responsible for carrying on FDR’s great legacy. Eleanor revolutionized traditional notions of a “First Lady” as merely an overseer of domestic affairs at the White House and instead focused her efforts on wide-ranging advocacy to promote civil and women’s rights. For instance, she was instrumental in setting up the concert for African-American opera singer Marian Anderson after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to allow her to sing to an integrated audience at Constitution Hall. And her active involvement in New Deal policies made her a key figure in the day-to-day operations of her husband’s administration. Some even said that Eleanor shared a nearly equal involvement in the presidency with her husband. She was sometimes called “the eyes and ears” of the President, and would often visit locations that FDR’s disability kept him from visiting such as mines and factories. And in 1946, President Truman appointed Eleanor as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, where she played a key role in drafting the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (notice the UN seal on the wall behind the statue). Eleanor died in 1962.

Fun Fact:

This is actually the second memorial dedicated to FDR.On the corner of 9th Street and Pennsylvania, NW there is a smaller single stone unveiled in 1967 (on the grounds of the National Archives). FDR confided in his close friend Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, "If they are to put up any memorial to me, I should like it to be placed in the center of that green plot in front of the Archives Building. I would like it to consist of a block about the size [of this desk]."

At the front of the memorial, in the Prologue Room you will find a gift shop plus mini museum, showcasing the history of the FDR Memorial. This is also the only memorial with 2 sets of restrooms, one in the gift shop as well as just past room 4 at the other end of the memorial.

Another amazing feature in the memorial is the ADA Accessibility. Not only is it fully wheelchair accessible, there are also plaques with textured reliefs of the rooms and audio descriptions for the visually impaired.

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826) served as the first Secretary of State, the second Vice President, the third President of the United States, and as Foreign Minister to France during their Revolution. Born in the Virginia Colony, Jefferson went on to study at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg before becoming a law clerk under George Wythe. Though he primarily handled land and title cases, he gained respect as a legal scholar. When Jefferson entered the Virginia legislature, he became a staunch opponent to the British Parliament’s taxation policies. After his writing on the subject was published, he gained a reputation as an advocate against Great Britain’s authority over the colonies and was appointed as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress.

Though Jefferson was, by many accounts, a shy man who stayed silent throughout those important meetings in Philadelphia, he was steadfast in his beliefs. After breaking into a committee that included John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, Jefferson was tasked with drafting a resolution. The resulting document was the bulk of the Declaration of Independence, which went through a round of revisions in the assembly. However, Thomas Jefferson’s immortal words remain untouched from his first document:

We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Thomas Jefferson laid the groundwork for the United States of America to exist as an independent nation, free to self govern. His words have inspired generations of freedom seekers globally, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, who sought to memorialize Jefferson’s achievements. The memorial was completed in 1943 while the United States was in the midst of WWII and was dedicated on April 13, on Jefferson’s 200th birthday.

This memorial is a testament to Jefferson’s many accomplishments. The dome resembles the Pantheon in Rome, which is fitting because Jefferson, himself an architect, used the Pantheon as a model for his own home, Monticello. Above the entrance is a bas-relief sculpture showing the “Group of 5” sitting around a table, with Jefferson standing. They are the men in his committee who drafted this critical document (from left to right): Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson (standing), Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston.

His statue inside the rotunda stands 19 feet tall with the Declaration in his hand. The marble, granite, and limestone all come from the Midwestern States that were part of the Louisiana Purchase - a fifteen million dollar land deal President Jefferson made with Napoleon Bonaparte. In doing so, he bought out France’s claims in the US and tripled the size of the nation. This remains the largest land deal in U.S. history.

In recent years, Jefferson’s life and work has been scrutinized. Though he was the author of arguably the most consequential treatise on freedom in history, he owned over 600 enslaved people during his lifetime, freeing only 10 people. He fathered children with the enslaved Sally Hemings and was the first president to bring enslaved people to the White House, which itself was built on the backs of enslaved workers. Jefferson’s legacy today is seen differently compared to FDR’s time and his memorial stands at the crossroads of how one’s legacy is remembered.

In his 1791 plan for the future city of Washington, D.C., Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant envisioned a garden-lined "grand avenue" approximately 1 mile in length and 400 feet wide, in an area that would lie between the Capitol building and the area where the Washington Monument is now. This “grand avenue” was never constructed. By the turn of the 20th century several naturalistic parks had been built in the area now occupied by the Mall but they lacked cohesion. The overall plan for what we now see as the Mall was developed in 1901 by the McMillan Commission, named after the senator who chaired it, James McMillan of Michigan.

The McMillan Plan followed L’Enfant’s original ideas, but replaced his “grand avenue” with a 300 foot wide vista containing a long and broad expanse of grass. This vista would be lined with trees and on the other side of the trees would be buildings housing cultural and educational institutions-- the modern Smithsonian museums. The area to the west of the Washington Monument was originally marshland and considered of little value. The McMillan Plan called for this land to be incorporated into the larger National Mall and for a monument of some kind to anchor its western terminus. The marshy land would eventually be filled and the Lincoln Memorial would serve the function of the anchoring monument. The Mall extends 2.4 miles between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial; all together it covers approximately 309 acres of land.

Fun Fact

• The term “mall” is originally known as an area to play pall-mall, a game similar to croquet, which was usually played on a rectangular grass lawn. By the mid-1700s, the term came to mean a tree-lined park where people went to walk and socialize.