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By Theodore
Fischer, Washington Sidewalk
Beall-Dawson House/Stonestreet
Museum of 19th Century Medicine,
103 W. Montgomery Ave., Rockville, Md., (301) 762-1492.
Early-19th-century home and late-19th-century doctor's office in the heart
of Rockville. Bonus attraction: the graves of F. Scott and Zelda
Fitzgerald in the cemetery of nearby St. Mary's Catholic Church (Rockville
Pike and Veirs Mill Road).
Bethune
Council House,
1318 Vermont Ave. N.W., Washington, (202) 673-2402. The Logan
Circle Victorian town house of African-American activist Mary McLeod
Bethune hosts exhibitions and events on black women's history.
Collingwood Library of and Museum on Americanism, 8301 E.
Boulevard Dr., Alexandria, Va., (703) 765-1652. Originally part of
George Washington's River Farm estate and, for the past 20 years, a quirky
tribute to "Americanism."
Fairfax Station Railroad Museum (pictured at top of page), 11200
Fairfax Station Rd., Fairfax Station, Va., (703) 425-9225. All aboard
for displays on local railroading, a decommissioned Norfolk & Western
caboose and an exhibit on supernurse Clara Barton (who plied her trade
nearby).
George Washington Masonic National Memorial, Shooters Hill, 101
Callahan Dr., Alexandria, Va., (703) 638-2007. It's hard to miss the
333-foot tower at the west end of Old Town. It displays the first
Freemason's memorabilia – including his Masonic apron and the silver
trowel he used to lay the U.S. Capitol's cornerstone.
NASA-Goddard Visitors Center, Greenbelt Road and Soil
Conservation Road, Greenbelt, Md., (301) 286-8981. Telescopes,
rockets, interactive gadgetry and climb-aboard spacecraft at a facility
built in 1959 to launch America's space program.
Lillian and Albert Small Jewish Museum, Third and G
streets N.W., Washington, (202) 789-0900. The transplanted home of
D.C.'s first synagogue displays a small (in both name and amplitude)
collection on Washington's Jewish community.
National
Cryptologic Museum,
National Security Agency, Fort Meade, Md., (301) 688-5849. The
NSA's revealing gallery traces the history of spookology, from the Civil
War to the Cold one.
NRA National Firearms Museum, National Rifle Association
Headquarters, 11250 Waples Mill Rd., Fairfax, Va., (703) 267-1600. Lock
and load and hold tight to withstand the spin that infuses this
celebration of Second Amendment rights.
Surratt House and Tavern, 9119 Brandywine Rd., Clinton, Md.,
(301) 868-1121. The Confederate underground safe house and country
home of Mary Surratt, the Lincoln assassination co-conspirator who was the
first woman executed by the U.S. government. |
