Welcome back to National Parks and other public lands with T!
DC Trip 2023➤
Washington, DC possesses the largest concentration of National Park Service units of any metropolitan area. I decided to use one of my long weekends in April to visit DC and check a few units off my list. I toured several memorials, monuments and other sites, including the Lincoln Memorial.
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. From the WWII Memorial, I walked along the reflecting pool towards the Lincoln Memorial. I also visited during a night tour of various monuments.
Lincoln Memoral➤
The Lincoln Memorial was built to honor Abraham Lincoln in 1922. Fifty-seven years after the Civil War ended and Lincoln was assassinated, this memorial was dedicated to the 16th president of the United States.
The memorial features a Greek temple design, a 19 foot statue of Lincoln and inscriptions of his famous Gettysburg Address on the walls. Because of Lincoln’s role in abolishing slavery, the memorial became a symbolic location for the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King Jr delivered his ‘I have a dream’ speech here in 1963.
It stands across the Reflecting Pool from the Washington Monument in the National Mall. On my previous visit in 2007, I got some good shots of the Washington Monument reflected in the water. This time, the park service had drained the pool for Spring cleaning. Some puddles ran down the center and kids walked in the water to cool off. When filled, the pool contains four million gallons of water.
My night tour stopped at the Lincoln Memorial. I walked up the steps to see the massive statue of Lincoln. There is an elevator in the back of the bookstore behind the stairs.
2023 DC Trip Posts➤
- Eisenhower Memorial
- Smithsonian Castle
- Washington Monument
- WWII Memorial
- Lincoln Memorial
- Vietnam Memorial
- The White House
- Constitution Gardens
- WWI Memorial
- Fords Theater
- Mount Vernon Mansion
- Mount Vernon Grounds
- Korean War Memorial
- Hampton House
Location: 2 Lincoln Memorial Cir NW, Washington, DC
Designation: National Memorial
Date designated/established: May 30, 1922
Date of my visit: April 6, 2023
