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DC Trip 2024➤

Our congressman came through with tickets to visit the White House in October of 2024. So my husband and I took a long weekend to visit Washington, DC. He hadn’t been to many of the sites, so we spent a few days visiting the various National Park Service units. We toured several memorials, monuments and other sites, including the White House.

The East Wing➤

Visitors can tour select public rooms of the White House in the East Wing and Residence. These rooms include the Vermeil Room, Library, China Room, Blue Room, Red Room, Green Room, and the State Dining Room. Guests also see the White House Kennedy Garden during the tour. The experience is self-guided and usually lasts 30 to 45 minutes. Along the route, Secret Service Officers stand ready to answer questions about history, art, and furnishings. They also explain each room’s current use. The tour entrance is at Sherman Park, at 15th Street NW and Alexander Hamilton Place NW. However, the West Wing, including the Oval Office, remains closed to the public.

The White House➤

The White House became the president’s residence in 1800 when John Adams moved in after the capital shifted to Washington, D.C. Over time, the neoclassical mansion changed and adapted. In 1814, the British set it on fire during the War of 1812. President Monroe returned to the rebuilt residence in 1817. Later, the West Wing was added, and President Theodore Roosevelt moved offices there in 1901. In 1909, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and built the first Oval Office. By 1948, the wooden beams had weakened, so President Harry S. Truman ordered a major renovation. Workers dismantled the interior, rebuilt it with a steel frame, and added the Truman Balcony.

Ground Floor➤

After passing through security, we entered the East Wing past a sukkah erected for Sukkot. We followed a hallway of exhibits on the history of the White House past the Jacqueline Kennedy Gardens. Lady Bird Johnson dedicated this garden to Jacqueline Kennedy in 1965. Next we entered the lower level with it’s three rooms open to the public: The Library, The Vermeil Room and the China room.

The White House Library contains more than 2,700 volumes on American history, biography, and literature, many donated by the American Booksellers Association in the 1930s. Furnished in the Federal style, the room features period furniture, portraits, and decorative arts. Presidents have used it for small meetings, interviews, and even televised addresses. During the Truman renovation in the late 1940s, the space was rebuilt and given its current role as a library. A display highlights Mountain at Bear Lake – Taos by Georgia O’Keeffe which hangs above the mantel.

The Vermeil Room, located on the ground floor of the Residence, displays an extensive collection of gilded silver, known as vermeil. Most of the pieces came from a gift by Mrs. Margaret Thompson Biddle in 1956. The room is decorated with Federal-style furniture and portraits of First Ladies, with wood paneling made from timbers salvaged during the 1948 Truman renovation. Once used for small receptions and teas, it remains one of the most elegant spaces on the tour.

The China Room highlights the White House collection of state china services used by presidents from George Washington to the present. Displayed in glass cabinets, the pieces showcase changing styles and tastes throughout American history. First Lady Edith Wilson designated the room in 1917. From our vantage point, I couldn’t get a clear picture of the display cases.

2024 DC Trip Posts➤

• WWI Memorial
• The White House
• White House Tour Pt 1
• White House Tour Pt 2
• Lockkeeper’s House
• Martin Luther King Memorial
• FDR Memorial
• Jefferson Memorial
• Korean War Memorial
• Lincoln Memorial
• Constitution Gardens
• Washington Monument
• Mary McLeod Bethune Council House
• Rock Creek Park
• Supreme Court
• Capitol
• Library of Congress
• Theodore Roosevelt Island
• George Washington Parkway
• LBJ Memorial Grove
• Ford Theater
• Belmont-Paul
• Frederick Douglas

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Location: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC
Designation: National Heritage Site
Date designated/established: November 1, 1800
Date of my visit: October 24, 2024