You have 30 minutes to spare. Sure, you could waste it turing on the TV, doing some homework, washing your hair. But, come on, you live in Georgetown, one of the most historic neighborhoods in America. There are sights right outside Healy Gates that people come from around the world to see?and you don’t even know they’re there. You don’t need to visit a museum to see a piece of history. If you’re ready to have you’re own little adventure, button up your polar fleece, tighten your walking shoes, turn off the cell phone and put up your Away Message. There is a lot to learn about the area you call home for nine months of the year.
Stoddert House 3400 Prospect
This home was built in 1787 by Benjamin Stoddert, the first Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of War. The house’s tunnel served as a hiding place for escaped slaves fleeing the South. Legend has it that many slaves died in the basement from fatigue after swimming across the Potomac to reach the tunnel that led to the basement of the house.
A later owner of the house, Albert Adsit Clemon, supposedly harbored a strange fear that he would die if he did not continue to build onto or into the house. The house is now a maze-like structure with many useless rooms. The house’s garden was designed by Pierre L’Enfant, the man responsible for designing Washington, D.C.
Dumbarton Oaks 1703 32nd
Dumbarton Oaks is an estate filled with one of the city’s best gardens, reflection pools and parks and is an excellent place to read a book, take a walk or go on a date. Its grounds open to the public from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. The estate houses collections of art and a library. The most famous event held here was Franklin Roosevelt’s Dumbarton Oaks Conference that led to the United Nations Charter. It also served as the home of South Carolina Senator and Vice President John C. Calhoun and his wife.
Elizabeth Taylor’s House 3230 S
Elizabeth Taylor married John Warner (one of Taylor’s seven husbands) in 1976 and helped him get elected to the Senate. They lived in this townhouse from 1976 until 1981, when they separated and filed for divorce.
Laird-Dunlop House 3014 N
This was once the home of Robert Todd Lincoln, President Abraham Lincoln’s son and one of American history’s figures of bad, bad luck. Robert Lincoln happened to be near or at all three presidential assassinations during his lifetime (Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley).
Katherine Graham’s House 2920 R
Katherine Graham was the powerful publisher of The Washington Post and a Pulitzer Prize winning author. Anyone who was anyone in Washington, D.C. was invited to Graham’s elegant dinner parties. The house is currently for sale for around $8 million.
Oak Hill Cemetery 30th and R
This is the final resting place of some of Washington’s influential figures: Lincoln’s Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton; Andrew Jackson’s wife, Peggy O’Neil Eaton; Congressman James G. Blaine; John Howard Payne, the composer of “Home Sweet Home;” and former Secretary of State, Dean Acheson. If you’re interested, plots are still available. If you’re looking for things to do on Halloween …
Daw’s Musket Fence 2803-2811 P
This war monument is a fence featuring musket barrels from the Mexican-American War of 1848. Although many believe that its eccentric builder, Reuben Daw, picked up the muskets while fighting in the war himself, he actually bought them from a pawnshop.
Alexander Graham Bell House and Laboratory 1525 35th and 3414 Volta
Alexander Graham Bell bought this house on 35th Street for his parents in 1891 and set up his laboratory in the houses carriage house, now on Volta Place. It was in this laboratory that Graham Bell perfected his disk-graphophone technology and worked on his ideas to help the hearing impaired.
Old Stone House 3051 M
This house, built in 1765, is thought to be the oldest standing building in Washington, D.C. Over the years it has been used as a private residence, a boarding house, a tavern, a house of prostitution, a craftsman’s studio and several shops. This is known as one of Georgetown’s most haunted sites because of the frequent ghost sightings there.
The Kennedy Clan
Georgetown was once the stomping ground of both the families of John and Robert Kennedy. They were known for blocking off their section of N Street for touch football games and for livening up the streets of the neighborhood.
The First JFK House 3271 P: After being married on Sept. 12, 1953, John and Jackie Kennedy lived here until 1954.
The Last JFK House 3307 N: The Kennedy family lived in this house during the 1960 presidential campaign. Press conferences to announce Kennedy’s cabinet members were held in front of this house.
Jacqueline Kennedy’s House 3017 N: After the assassination of JFK, Jackie moved into this home. The house soon became a shrine to Camelot as hoards of tourists and prying paparazzi visited the house. The family soon relocated to New York City to find a little more anonymity.
