New for 2010!   A different walk every Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m. featuring lesser-known D.C. neighborhoods, off-the-beaten-path, and local cafes and shops.  Many walks include sites located along District of Columbia Neighborhood Heritage Trails produced by our partner, Cultural Tourism DC. 

JULY 31
MOUNT PLEASANT
With its main street, town square, and distinct boundaries, Mount Pleasant still feels like the village it once was. As the city grew around it after the Civil War, Mount Pleasant evolved into a fashionable streetcar suburb, sprouting businesses, churches, and elegant apartment buildings. Later it became a working-class urban neighborhood, a haven for immigrants fleeing political turmoil, and the heart of DC’s Latino community.

Led by Amy

Highlights “Village in the City” Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail

Meet in front of  Capital City Public Charter School(3047 15th Street, NW)  Closest Metro is Columbia Heights one block west.

AUGUST 7 RESCHEDULED TO OCTOBER 30
KALORAMA
Joel Barlow named the estate he purchased in 1807 Kalorama for the expansive views to be had from its place overlooking today’s Rock Creek Park. No more exquisitely beautiful enclave exists in America’s capital. Kalorama has always been a prime residential area, its glory the urban mansions located on the high ground between Massachusetts and Connecticut Avenues. We’ll start by ascending the “Spanish Steps” to reach the heights where Washington’s diplomatic community is evident everywhere you look, many of the original single family homes now occupied by ambassadors or embassy offices. Former police and fire call boxes punctuate the neighborhood as imaginative works of public art as does a brightly colored panda. See if you can identify the oldest house in the District and discover the Woodrow Wilson House. Wilson was the only U.S. president to retire in D.C. Like him, once you’ve sampled the architectural and natural radiance that is Kalorama, you won’t want to leave! 

Led by Carolyn

Highlights Sheridan-Kalorama Art on Call

Meets at the corner of 22nd Street and Decatur Place, NW--by the former police and fire department call boxes

AUGUST 14
ANACOSTIA RIVER AND KENILWORTH AQUATIC GARDENS
This walk through far northeast D.C. travels through the quiet, settled 1950s neighborhood Eastland Gardens and past historic 1930s apartment buildings, following the eastern bank of the Anacostia River. A highlight is the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, the only U.S. National Park devoted to aquatic plants. Founded in the late 19th century as a hobby for a government worker, the gardens have grown to become one of the most beautiful and least known attractions in Washington, D.C. Besides seeing its famous water lilies, you’ll stroll the boardwalk over river wetlands, looking out for herons and dragon flies.

Led by Hayden

Meets outside MINNESOTA AVENUE METRO STATION at the entrance to the Kenilworth Avenue exit tunnel

AUGUST 21

LOGAN CIRCLE

Few Washington neighborhoods have witnessed the dramatic change and breathtaking renaissance of Logan Circle, the city's only unaltered Victorian residential district. It evolved from rural obscurity to an enclave of architectural splendor, home to wealthy white and later African-American residents. If you're a fan of Second Empire or High Victorian Gothic homes, this walk is for you. If you're fascinated by the dynamics of urban neighborhoods, consider the residents of Logan Circle: Their tenacity and vision preserved the historic district when it teetered on the brink of decline. Today it is one of the most sought-after addresses in Washington. Impressive restoration and renovation continue; cool restaurants and shops multiply. 

Led by Carolyn

Meets outside McPHERSON SQUARE METRO STATION’s 14th Street exit

AUGUST 28
MARCHING ALONG WITH JOHN PHILIP SOUSA

If you can hum the theme song to the iconic television show Monty Python’s Flying Circus, you already know something about John Philip Sousa.  Fall in step with Washington Walks guide Dwane Starlin, in character and in uniform as D.C. native son, John Philip Sousa.  Born to immigrant parents from Portugal and Bavaria, Sousa grew up beneath the shadow of the U.S. Capitol dome.  At the age thirteen he attempted to run away with the circus, but (fortuitously) was persuaded to join the U.S. Marine Band as an apprentice musician.  Eventually he became its conductor, taking the band to the highest musical and performing standards ever attained by an American military band and serving under five U.S. Presidents.  Sousa enjoyed an equally successful career after leaving the Marine Band, touring the world with his own band. (The group logged over a million travel miles!)  A legendary composer, he wrote over 135 marches, "Stars and Stripes Forever" and "The Washington Post March" being two of the most famous.  Here’s a chance to discover sites associated with Sousa’s life and times. 

Highlights “Tour of Duty” Barracks Row Heritage Trail

Meets outside EASTERN MARKET METRO STATION

SEPTEMBER 4
HISTORIC TENLEYTOWN

Tenleytown started as a little village and we’ll look for vestiges of all its various phases: a house from about 1800 and another from 1850, a pre-Civil War cemetery, a Victorian-era bungalow development, and the old city orphanage—not to mention some really interesting modern stuff. We'll also look up at the only radio tower in the trans-American network of the 1930s designed by a licensed architect.

Led by Hayden

Highlights “Top of the Town” Tenleytown Heritage Trail

Meets outside TENLEYTOWN/AU METRO STATION’s Wisconsin Avenue west side exit

SEPTEMBER 18
GEORGETOWN WATERFRONT
Georgetown was originally a bustling tobacco port, a gritty place with wharves and rowdy taverns. After the Potomac River silted up, however, the tobacco trade dwindled and Georgetown’s economy required a new engine to drive it. This came in the forms of mills constructed along the waterfront. You’ll see what has become of them on this walk. First, though, stroll past the little houses resided in by the waterfront inhabitants. Lock #3 of the C & O Canal comes next, followed by a panoramic view from the edge of the Potomac River. A tiny neighborhood once called “Brickyard Hill” now boasts a luxury hotel constructed around a former incinerator. Alley life is revealed with a trek into Cherry Hill. Then peek inside what was once Georgetown’s public market. We’ll conclude with a walk through Cady’s Alley, Georgetown’s enclave for swank home design and furnishings.

Led by Carolyn

Meets at THE LITTLE PARK LOCATED AT 28th STREET AND PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW—NEXT TO THE GAS STATION

SEPTEMBER 25

Please join us for Walkingtown DC Fall Edition

OCTOBER 2
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S WASHINGTON
As a young man, Abraham Lincoln “feared of achieving nothing that would make men remember him.” A single gunshot ensured that he would never be forgotten. He served as U.S. president during the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict to have occurred on American soil. Washington, D.C. was the crucible in which Lincoln’s momentous years in office were cast. Although downtown adjacent to the White House has retained little of its Civil War-era character, if you know where to look, the events of Lincoln’s time in the city come to life, whether you are studying a 20th century office building or a Victorian row house. The busy streets filled with Washingtonians going about their business and slow-moving, congested traffic are not that different today than they would have been in the 1860s, when the president himself made his way--except that 21st century Washingtonians benefit from sidewalks to upon which to tread and paved thoroughfares on which to drive. In Lincoln’s day it would have been a muddy slog. However you make your way, the climax of the Lincoln’s Washington story was tragic: he was the first American leader to be assassinated.

Led by David

Highlights “Civil War to Civil Rights” Heights Trail 

Meets outside McPHERSON SQUARE METRO STATION’s White House exit

OCTOBER 9
MOUNT PLEASANT
With its main street, town square, and distinct boundaries, Mount Pleasant still feels like the village it once was. As the city grew around it after the Civil War, Mount Pleasant evolved into a fashionable streetcar suburb, sprouting businesses, churches, and elegant apartment buildings. Later it became a working-class urban neighborhood, a haven for immigrants fleeing political turmoil, and the heart of DC’s Latino community.

Led by Amy

Highlights “Village in the City” Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail

Meet in front of  Capital City Public Charter School(3047 15th Street, NW)  Closest Metro is Columbia Heights one block west.

OCTOBER 16
CAPITOL HILL AND EASTERN MARKET
Although the outside world may associate the term Capitol Hill solely with the U.S. Congress, those who make Washington their home conjure up a very different image: a vibrant neighborhood spread across one of the largest historic districts in the country filled with quaint row houses, leafy parks, shops and cafes, churches and schools. A stroll through residential Capitol Hill is akin to visiting a small town. Pride of place is evident in the careful restoration and loving upkeep bestowed upon the 19th century homes, their postage stamp-sized gardens adorned with flower beds and shrubs. Although many of the stately row houses seen on this walk were not built until after the U.S. Civil War, Capitol Hill is nonetheless one of Washington’s oldest neighborhoods, first developed during the late 1790s just as the federal government prepared to locate here permanently. This exploration includes the remains of a 1795 estate, a watering hole famous for its jazz singers, an alley that once teemed with 100 residents and a park teeming with young children and dog lovers. We’ll finish at beloved Eastern Market, considered by many to be the heart and soul of “The Hill.” (Sponsored by Washington Walks and Cultural Tourism DC) 

Highlights “Tour of Duty” Barracks Row Heritage Trail

Meets outside EASTERN MARKET METRO STATION

OCTOBER 23
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS
The 14th Street corridor between Irving Street and Park Road was one of Washington’s most important shopping and entertainment destinations outside downtown. That is until April 4, 1968, when riots following the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sparked extensive looting and burning of commercial property. For decades afterwards, boarded-up businesses and empty lots marred the formerly vibrant Columbia Heights. Nearly 40 years later, change has swept the area once more: the opening of the Columbia Heights Metrorail station in 1999 spurred construction of apartment buildings, row houses, and the massive shopping complex D.C. USA. 

Led by Brian Kraft, lead researcher of  "Cultural Convergence:  Columbia Heights Heritage Trail"

Highlights “Cultural Convergence: Columbia Heights Heritage Trail”

Meets outside COLUMBIA HEIGHTS METRO STATION’s north exit by the Columbia Heights Heritage Trail sign

OCTOBER 30

KALORAMA (rescheduled from August 7)
Joel Barlow named the estate he purchased in 1807 Kalorama for the expansive views to be had from its place overlooking today’s Rock Creek Park. No more exquisitely beautiful enclave exists in America’s capital. Kalorama has always been a prime residential area, its glory the urban mansions located on the high ground between Massachusetts and Connecticut Avenues. We’ll start by ascending the “Spanish Steps” to reach the heights where Washington’s diplomatic community is evident everywhere you look, many of the original single family homes now occupied by ambassadors or embassy offices. Former police and fire call boxes punctuate the neighborhood as imaginative works of public art as does a brightly colored panda. See if you can identify the oldest house in the District and discover the Woodrow Wilson House. Wilson was the only U.S. president to retire in D.C. Like him, once you’ve sampled the architectural and natural radiance that is Kalorama, you won’t want to leave! 

Lead by Carolyn

Highlights Sheridan-Kalorama Art on Call

Meets at the corner of 22nd Street and Decatur Place, NW--by the former police and fire department call boxes