In 1955, Marjorie Merriweather Post purchased Arbremont, a Georgian Colonial estate. She later decided it would be perfect for a museum. Here, visitors can find a collection of Russian imperial art, a collection of 18th-century French decorative art, and 25 acres of gardens and natural woodlands. Now known as Hillwood, the mansion was built in the 1920s and opened to the public in 1977.

In 2019, D.C.’s oldest synagogue was literally moved down the block from its previous location to make room for the Capitol Crossing development. The Adas Israel Synagogue was constructed in 1876 and is now home to the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Visitors who love architecture will gape at the National Cathedral. Not only is the structure the sixth largest cathedral in the world and the second largest in the U.S., it also has a sense of humor. On the west tower, there is a sculpture of Darth Vader. Why? Why not.

Built in 1765, this Georgetown house is known as D.C.'s oldest unchanged building. After a renovation by the National Park Service in the 1950s, the site was converted into a museum. In 1973, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

There are plenty of D.C. area cemeteries worth visiting for history buffs, and this is one of them. Founded in 1808, this cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It was a combination of two separate cemeteries: the Female Union Band Cemetery and the Methodist Burying Ground. After 1849, it predominately served African Americans.

The Heurich House, otherwise known as the Brewmaster's Castle, was built around 1892 for German-American immigrant and brewer Christian Heurich. Heurich’s brewery produced 500,000 barrels of beer every year. The home’s first two floors have been preserved along with many of its original furnishings as part of a house museum.

This small structure was constructed around 1836 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It is the last remaining lock-keeper's house for the old James River and Kanawha Canal system. In December 2016, repairs began on the original stone.

This theater was where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865. It first opened in the 1860s and was subsequently used as a warehouse and an office building. In 1968, it reopened as a theatre. The Ford's Theatre National Historic Site includes the Petersen House across the street.

Built in the early 20th century, this Beaux-Arts structure was the first public library in Washington, D.C. as well as the first desegregated public building in the city. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. For almost 70 years, it served as the District's central public library before Mies van der Rohe's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library was built downtown. It now serves as a flagship store for Apple and houses the Historical Society of Washington.

This historic house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974. It is now a museum dedicated to women's suffrage and serves as the headquarters of the National Women's Party. Named after suffragists and National Woman’s Party leaders Alva Belmont and Alice Paul, the house was constructed around 1800.

While the Library of Congress certainly attracts big crowds, it's still a worthy choice for any history buff’s tour of the nation’s capital. The library officially serves Congress and is the de facto national library of the U.S. It’s also the oldest federal cultural institution in the U.S. as well as the largest library in the world. The library was established in 1800.

This "living museum" was established in 1927 by an act of Congress. It spans 446 acres and offers a library with 11,000 volumes focused on botanical literature. Along with public artworks, the area also showcases the old East Portico of the Capitol building as well as a nearly four-century-old bonsai tree that survived an atomic bomb.

This piece of public art once served as an advertisement for a furniture store. Located in Anacostia, it stands about 19-feet high and weighs between 4,000 and 4,600 pounds. Since its installation in 1959, it has been recognized in the community as a geographic marker.

In Anacostia, visitors can discover the former home of Frederick Douglass, the African-American social reformer and abolitionist who famously wrote an autobiography. Established in 1988 as a National Historic site, the home, also known as Cedar Hill, is now preserved as a museum.

When this building was first constructed around 1918, it served as a torpedo factory before. Then it was converted into government storage in 1945, housing artifacts from the Smithsonian. The City of Alexandria bought the building in 1969, and it was later renovated to become an art center with studio spaces for artists.