Washington Monument Tour

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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 Washington Monument.

The National Mall➤

The National Mall stretches from the Capitol to the Potomac River. It serves as “America’s Front Lawn” and its premiere civic and symbolic space. Originally in the L’Enfant plan for the city, the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit of the NPS protects iconic monuments and memorials and over 1,000 acres of greenspace.

Washington Monument➤

After leaving Constitution Gardens, we headed to the Washington Monument for our reserved tour time. We had booked tickets on Recreation.gov to take the elevator to the top—something we had never done before. A park ranger rode up with our group, sharing stories about the monument’s construction and restoration as the elevator climbed 500 feet in under a minute.

Soon after George Washington’s death in 1799, Congress proposed building a memorial to honor the nation’s first president. For decades, the effort stalled due to lack of funding. In 1833, the Washington National Monument Society formed under Chief Justice John Marshall to raise money. Volunteers went door-to-door across the country collecting donations. Construction finally began in 1848 but stopped six years later when funds ran out. The project remained unfinished through the Civil War.

Work resumed in 1877, and the monument was finally completed and dedicated in 1885. The change in marble color about 150 feet up marks the 23-year gap in construction, when builders had to switch to stone from a different quarry. The obelisk was topped with a nine-inch aluminum capstone—then the largest single piece of aluminum ever cast. An exhibit inside the monument shows the ceremony installing this final piece.

From the top, we walked through small museum exhibits that illustrate key moments in the monument’s history, including soldiers drilling beside the unfinished structure during the Civil War. Out the windows, we enjoyed sweeping views of Washington, D.C.—the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Tidal Basin all visible below. Seeing the city from that height offered a new perspective on the places we had just walked, tying together a full day of exploring the National Mall.

2024 DC Trip Posts➤

Location: 2 15th St NW, Washington, DC
Designation: National Monument
Date designated/established: October 15, 1966
Date of my visit: October 24, 2024