The National Mall

Capitol Hill, Washington, DC –

“Let’s go to the Mall” has a different meaning in DC, where the National Mall brings in more than twenty-four million visitors a year – all without the help of an Apple Store.

Stretching from the Capitol Building on the east side to the towering Lincoln Memorial on the west, this historic two-mile stretch of grass, fountains, and sculptures is also home to some of the most iconic buildings and institutions in the District, including ten Smithsonian museums along its outer edge and the eponymous Washington Monument near its center.

Conspiracy theorists assert the entire area is steeped in hidden Masonic code – ranging from fun factoids about how star alignment determined the layout, to global paranoia à la Dan Brown – and recent discoveries suggest the site of the National Museum of the American Indian used to be the locale of Civil War-era Hall’s Bordello, the largest brothel in the District.

Though they don’t offer specifics, management officials do admit secret passageways abound within the Mall, and more than a few witnesses claim to have seen the ghost of James Smithson – creator of the initial Smithsonian endowment – wandering the grounds.

Ghosts and global control aside, the Mall hosts everything from afternoon picnics and movie screenings to massive political rallies, and the gravel path that encircles it is just as likely to be awash with young field trippers as it is photo-crazed families, groups of outdoorsy friends, and politicos on a lunch break.

Guided bike and Segway tours weave somberly through the Vietnam Memorial, while rowdier students kick soccer balls or launch Frisbees at the ducks in the two-thousand-foot Reflecting Pool, and book lovers take to the hundreds of tree-shaded nooks to while away the afternoon, occasionally interrupted by activists or street performers with dogma or donation jar in hand.

Several information booths provide free maps and directions, while dozens of white truck street vendors serve up refreshments and souvenirs.

Once the museums close and the sun goes down, the National Mall tends to get quiet, but come the next morning, it all starts again.