Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens
Search results
Monuments and memorials, eclectic neighborhoods, true local flavor – Washington, DC is a place unlike any other. It’s your home away from home with free museums, award-winning restaurants and more. Plan your trip by checking out all the things to do, places to eat and ways to stay. We’ll see you soon.
- All Things to Do
Things to Do. You can find all the best things to do right...
- Events
You can find amazing events all year long in Washington, DC....
- Travel Trade
Plan a family reunion, a multi-team sporting event, a school...
- Members
Destination DC is the official destination marketing...
- Plan Your Visit
Washington, DC Visitor FAQs. We've compiled a list of the...
- Why DC
Designing an event experience that exceeds the expectations...
- Venues & Resources
Host your meeting in one of DC’s exceptional venues,...
- Services
When you book an event in Washington, DC, we are here every...
- International
Washington, DC is the number one city in the U.S. for...
- All Things to Do
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly called Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east.
- United States
- 0 ft (0 m)
- 409 ft (125 m)
- 20001–20098, 20201–20599, 56901–56999
- 0.5 miles to city center. 1 to 2 hours. TIME TO SPEND. If you've never been to Washington, D.C. before, plan to spend some time along the Tidal Basin, an approximately 107-acre pond encircled by a 2.1-mile loop trail.
- 0.6 miles to city center. Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Free, Monuments and Memorials, Sightseeing. TYPE. 1 to 2 hours. TIME TO SPEND.
- 1 mile to city center. Address: 2 Lincoln Memorial Circle NW. Free, Monuments and Memorials, Sightseeing. TYPE. Less than 1 hour. TIME TO SPEND.
- 0.5 miles to city center. Address: 1750 Independence Ave. SW. Free, Monuments and Memorials, Sightseeing. TYPE. Less than 1 hour. TIME TO SPEND.
- Overview
- Character of the city
- City site
- Climate
Washington, D.C., city and capital of the United States of America. It is coextensive with the District of Columbia (the city is often referred to as simply D.C.) and is located on the northern shore of the Potomac River at the river’s navigation head—that is, the transshipment point between waterway and land transport. The state of Maryland borders the District of Columbia to the north, east, and west, and the state of Virginia borders the District on the southern shore of the Potomac River.
In 1790 the U.S. Congress established a 100-square-mile (260-square-km) territory to serve as the permanent seat of the federal government. (The territory was later named the District of Columbia, within which the city of Washington was built.) The location for the new territory was centralized among the Eastern Seaboard states and was about 90 miles (145 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean on land ceded by Maryland and Virginia. In the mid-19th century the land south of the Potomac River that had been ceded by Virginia was returned to the state, reducing the District to its present-day size.
Washington is an extraordinary city, one with multiple personalities: a working federal city, an international metropolis, a picturesque tourist destination, an unmatched treasury of the country’s history and artifacts, and a cosmopolitan centre that retains a neighbourly small-town ambience. The role Washington plays as the capital of the United States often overshadows its lively local history and its complex political, economic, and social issues. About half the land in Washington is owned by the U.S. government, which pays no taxes on it. Several hundred thousand people in the D.C. metropolitan area work for the federal government.
Britannica Quiz
Capitals of North America and South America Quiz
During the last half of the 20th century, “suburban flight” of the middle class contributed to the city’s loss of more than one-fourth of its population. As new jobs, especially those in the high-technology industries, were created in Maryland and Virginia, the population of the suburbs increased as much as 50 percent per decade. By the first decade of the 21st century, however, Washington’s population began to increase as younger workers moved into revitalized city neighbourhoods. Despite these shifts in population, the economies of the District and those of nearby Maryland and Virginia remain interdependent.
The city of Washington was built on a gently undulating, low, wide peninsula of land bounded by the Potomac River and its tributary, the Anacostia, in the belief that the location would develop into an important commercial port. (Potomac is an Algonquian word meaning “trading place,” and Anacostia is derived from the name of a local people, the Nacostines, who traded on that river.) Encircling the city are a series of terraces that in certain areas rise to about 400 feet (120 metres) above sea level, where Washington’s neighbourhoods were gradually built. Part of a shallow, long ravine—what is now Rock Creek Park—separated Washington from the old port city of Georgetown; development to the north and west of this ravine was slow until the end of the 19th century, when the ravine was bridged and public transportation was made available.
Students save 67%! Learn more about our special academic rate today.
Washington has a temperate climate with high humidity levels. Precipitation throughout the year is evenly distributed, averaging between 3 and 4 inches (75 and 100 mm) per month. Winters are damp, and extremes in temperature and heavy snowfalls are not typical. The infrequent wet, light snow often melts quickly, as average winter daytime temperatur...
Founded on July 16, 1790, Washington, DC is unique among American cities because it was established by the Constitution of the United States to serve as the nation’s capital. You can read the actual line at the National Archives.
Feb 28, 2024 · Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States of America and the seat of its three branches of government, as well as the federal district of the U.S. The city has an unparalleled collection of free, public museums and many of the nation's most treasured monuments and memorials.
