The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. honors those who fought and died in the Vietnam War. The memorial consists of two granite walls engraved with the names of over 58,000 soldiers, listed in chronological order of death. Visitors can see their own reflections in the polished black granite alongside the names, representing both the past and present. The memorial was controversial for its unconventional V-shape design, but serves as a somber tribute to those lost in the war.
4. Governor’s Palace
Virginia’s Governor’s
Palace was completed in
1772 and instantly became
one of the most elegant
and impressive buildings
in Colonial America. The
palace was a statement of
power, with impressive
gates , gardens and
weaponry hung on the
walls. Governors who
lived in the palace
included Thomas
Jefferson, Patrick Henry,
Alexander Spotswood and
others.
5. Gardens and grounds
were
designed to impress.
The back garden even
contains a maze.
6. Weaponry Displayed in Entry
• Demonstrates wealth
• Impressive to colonists
• Actually used in battle
7. Coffee Shop
At the colonial coffee shop, the reenactments by the volunteers were
very humorous and informative. The manager of the coffee shop
talked a lot about the people who came there and who it served. My
brothers were told to sit in the corner because he couldn’t waste a
chair on them.
8. Children would not be served and would, to put it nicely, be
quickly ushered from the building. Women never came to the
coffee shop because it was just not dignified. The manager
explained if they did, he most definitely serve them as long as
they could pay. Money, after all, was all that mattered; any man
who could pay for a cup of Joe would certainly be welcomed into
the shop. However, the average person usually couldn’t afford to
stay at the coffee shop and pay for the expensive non-necessity, so
most of the people there tended to be quite well off.
Most of the businesses
had signs that were
pictures, like the coffee
shop shown here, to
show what their
business was because
many colonists
couldn’t read.
9. Clothier
The colonial clothier was a
very different place than
where we purchase our
clothes today. The lady
working at the colonial
clothes shop was appalled
to hear how we nowadays
go to a large building,
searching through endless
racks of clothes, trying to
find something we like
and that fits.
She was completely baffled that we would do this. She explained to us how
people in her time ordered their clothes. A long fitting was the first step in the
process, followed by picking the fabrics out, choosing exactly the style and color
you wanted. Then there was obviously a long wait while the seamstress created
your uniquely styled and colored dress.
10. Stays
Another interesting fact explained by the
clothier was the idea of stays. Stays were a
type of corset for children, hoping to give
them good posture. Boys wore stays from
the time they began walking, up to 8 years
old when they changed from wearing
dresses to pants. Girls continued to wear
them. The clothier insisted that they were
not uncomfortable.
11. Boarding House
One of the most interesting facts I learned at the boarding house was about
fixed rates. No boarding house had the right to decide how much a room or
floor space cost. The *government* decided every price set at boarding houses,
from food to a place for your horse. Because of this, the house would have
many men share one room (all paying the designated rate). Two men would
sleep in a twin bed like the one above and as many as 16 men would sleep in a
room with just two beds and a fireplace, many sleeping on the ground.
12. Apothecary
In colonial times the apothecary did much more than
simply sell drugs.
An apothecary:
• Provided medications
• Prescribed medicine
• Trained apprentices
• Performed surgery
• Served as mid-wives
13. Revolutionary City
In the Revolutionary City, actors portrayed different characters and acted
out different scenes from history. When we visited, we watched a
conversation between slaves and saw a visit by Martha Washington. When
Martha arrived, an angry townsperson came forward and complained to her
about wounded soldiers not getting their due compensation. Martha listened
and told him she would most definitely be checking into the situation.
15. Jamestown Settlement is a few miles from the
original Jamestown. It is a living history re-
creation of the original settlement.
16. The Godspeed, The Discovery, and The Susan Constant were
the first three ships who voyaged their way to Virginia with
English colonists riding along. The boats are recreations of
the original three colonial ships.
17. The original ships sailed from London on December 20,
1606, headed for Virginia. The ships carried 105
passengers and 39 crew members. There were 71 people
aboard the Susan Constant, 52 on the Godspeed, and 21
on the Discovery. All three ships were extremely hot and
crowded. They not only had all the people aboard but
animals, luggage and materials for building their new
home in Virginia.
18.
19. Indians living near Jamestown played a huge role in
the lives of the colonists. It is true that, at first, the
natives were not the friendliest of neighbors to the new
settlers but after awhile they began to warm up
to them. The Indians’ way of life helped the colonists
immensely, to live better lives.
20. Native Americans had a very intricate way of making their houses
with branches and twigs. The colonist never used this technique for
building because they already had their own way of building strong
log cabins. The Indians taught colonists to skin animals and to
preserve an animal, putting everything to good use. Seashells were
used to skin the fur off the hide of an animal such as a deer or elk.
Another animal that was used quite regularly was fish. Fish were used
for fertilizer and were one of the main reasons the natives could grow
such good crops. The colonists from England were very lucky to have
the Native Americans to help them survive in this new land.
21. Historic Jamestowne is the actual site of the first English settlement in
America. It is now a National Park.
22. Unfortunately, the settlers chose to stop and build their settlement
right next to a swamp. Swamps were not a very good thing to be living
by. They brought bugs which brought diseases. There's no fresh water
in a swamp, the land near swamps is extremely hard to grow crops in,
and it was hard to move through when traveling and hunting. If the
new settlers of what is now Virginia had only moved a mile farther
inland, they would have found a much better place to build their
home.
23. The Jamestown church is the only surviving seventeenth-century
building in Jamestown. The church below is actually the second
church built in Jamestown. The first was burned down, though
the original foundation remains.
24. Pocahontas and John Rolfe were married in the second church.
This church was not one you would come to once a week like is
common in our time. It had a congregation present at least twice a
day, every day of the week. Men and women were separated to
different sides during church and sat on straight-backed, wooden
pews.
26. Many battles were fought near
the fort of Yorktown; and to fight
those battles you needed soldiers
and those soldiers needed a place
to sleep, eat, and train. Hence
came army camps. Army camps
were not usually the nicest of
places. The tents to the right,
believe it or not, were shared by
six full grown men! And when
there weren’t enough tents, more
men squeezed in, sometimes
adding up to ten men stuffed
inside one tiny tent. The cramped
atmosphere wasn’t the only
tough aspect of camp.
27. The food could be whatever was found
that day and/or leftovers from weeks
before. Meats, beans, and vegetables
were sloshed into pots with some water
and no spices for flavor.
Hardtack was served on a daily basis,
if you could eat it. Hard tack was bread
dried out to the point that it didn’t even
crumble. It had virtually no taste and
could take quite a while to swallow.
Beans were served when they had them
but were almost never fully cooked.
“Can I have some more please?”
28. In the army camps for the colonial
soldiers, many camps practiced
different ways of punishing wrong-
doers. One of the most common
punishments was wearing signs
stating what crime or sinful thing you
had done. They would say things like
“THIEF”, “LIAR”, “CHEATER”, or,
like the picture of my brother to the
right, “DESERTER”.
29. Another popular form of punishment was ‘the horse’. A wooden horse whose
back was about 5 feet from the ground was used as a cruel way of
punishment. It had a back usually only and inch or two wide which made it
very uncomfortable to straddle. To make it even worse, victims usually had
weights tied to their legs to add to the pain.
30. A colonial farm house in Yorktown would be quite simple. There
was usually a bottom and top floor. The top floor was usually
dedicated as the dining room area, bedroom, and sewing and
recreational area. The top floor was usually used as the sleeping area
for the children and a storage area for wood, cloth, food, etc.
31. The dining table was usually handmade and very simple. Nicer dishes would
be made from pewter and less nice made from wood. Forks had not been made
so the family only ate with a spoon or knives.
The adult beds were a lot shorter than the ones we have today because people
slept sitting up with their back against the wall. It was thought that sitting up
helped air flow through your body, not trapping toxins in your lungs. The
family toilet was placed downstairs usually by the parents’ bed. This “toilet”
was really just a pot that was emptied every morning. The upstairs of the
farmhouse didn’t contain much. The children usually didn’t have beds, but just
slept on pallets stuffed with straw. The rest of the space was mostly used for
storage.
32. In Yorktown we saw a rare
broadside printing of America’s
Declaration of Independence,
dating to July 1776.
This document was printed after
the Declaration was adopted but
before the handwritten version
was signed by members of
Congress on August 2, 1776.
The official printing, with the
names of all of the signers, was
authorized by Congress several
months later, in January 1777.
33.
34. White House Facts
•The white house has approximately
6000 visitors a day.
• There are 132 rooms, 32 bathrooms
and 6 levels.
• In various times in history the
White house has been known as the
President’s Palace, President’s
House, and the Executive Mansion.
• The White House requires 570
gallons of paint to cover the outside
surface.
•The White House wasn’t always
white; they painted it white after the
British tried to burn it down.
•Barack Obama was the first
president to have a computer in the
Oval Office.
35. We were surprised to learn that the White House was right in
the middle of the city. Pictures always make it looks like it’s off
by itself (and larger than it looks in person). This building, under
construction, is directly to the right of the White House. It was
actually much fancier than the White House. (The “patriotic” hat
belongs to our tour guide who wore it so we wouldn’t lose track
of him in the city.)
36. Concepción Picciotto has protested nuclear war by living in a tent
across the street from the White House since 1981. I thought our
tour guide was joking when he said she’d been there for 30 years,
but he wasn’t. Her husband used to camp with her, but he passed
away. (Note: The lady outside the tent is not Concepcion. She is
talking to Concepcion who is quite elderly.)
37. The Smithsonian
The Smithsonian Institution is a museum and research complex of 19
museums and galleries. There are more than 30 million visitors to
the Smithsonian every year. The total number of objects , works of
art, and specimens at the Smithsonian is estimated at 137 million.
We had a VERY brief stop at the Museum of American History and
the Museum of Natural History.
38. Lincoln Memorial
Located at the Western end of the
National Mall in Washington DC,
The Lincoln Memorial
commemorates the 16th president of
the Unites States, Abraham Lincoln.
The writing behind the statue says;
“IN THIS TEMPLE AS IN THE
HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE FOR
WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION,
THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM
LINCOLN IS ENSHRINED
FOREVER.”
The north wall of the memorial
shows writings of Lincoln’s second
inaugural speech. The south wall
has the complete Gettysburg
Address on it. Above that is a mural
showing the angel of truth freeing a
slave.
39. The Lincoln Memorial is
huge! You can either enter on
the bottom side and take an
elevator up, or walk up the
stairs at the front.
You have a great view of the
National Mall from the Lincoln
Memorial, but it was dark by
the time we got there. To the
right is the Washington
Memorial at night.
40. FDR Memorial
Dedicated in May 1997, the Franklin Delano
Roosevelt Memorial honors the man who served
nearly four terms as president of the United
States and has been called one of America’s
greatest leaders. Sculptures of FDR show him
sitting with his dog Fala in a wheelchair (though
it's hard to tell it's not a regular chair unless you
look at the back).
The FDR memorial is the only presidential
memorial with the president’s wife in it.
41. A timeline of dates showing important events in
Roosevelt's life can be found in the plaza area. Famous
quotes by the president cover the walls. Sculptures
depict a Depression-era breadline, a man listening to one
of Roosevelt's famous fireside radio chats, and a rural
American couple.
42. The memorial is huge and covers 7.5 acres. Each term of Roosevelt’s
presidency is represented by an outdoor “room”. The memorial is accessible
to handicapped people since FDR was handicapped. The picture above shows
a tactile relief wall with braille writing. However, it was criticized because
the dots weren’t spaced properly and the reliefs are too high for a person to
actually feel.
Each “room” has a waterfall, growing from smaller to larger. The waterfalls
depict how FDR’s presidency grew more complex over time.
43. Martin Luther King’s memorial was definitely my favorite memorial because
of the meaning of everything in it. At the entryway, two stones are parted
and a single stone wedge is pushed forward toward the water; the missing
piece of what was once a single boulder as you can see from the picture
below.
MLK MEMORIAL
44. On one side of the stone, the
theme of hope is written, with
the writing from King's famous
1963 speech written into the
stone: "Out of the mountain of
despair a stone of hope." On the
other side are inscribed the
words: "I was a drum major for
justice, peace and righteousness”, a
statement said by Dr. King
when describing how he would
like to be remembered. The
memorial’s meaning shows that
the boulder is the Mountain of
Despair, through which every
visitor will enter, moving
through the struggle as Dr. King
did during his life, and then be
released into the open freedom
of the plaza.
45. The stone is the Stone of Hope, from which Dr. King’s image sits, gazing over the
water toward the horizon, seeing a future society of justice and equality for which
he encouraged all citizens to strive. Many beautiful trees and quotes line the walls
around the memorial.
I was interested to learn that Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Memorial, was
asked to bid on the MLK Memorial as well, but declined because of all the
criticism she got about the Vietnam Memorial.
46. Vietnam Memorial
With the addition of 6 names in 2010 there
are a total of 58, 272 names listed.
Approximately 1200 of these names are
listed as a missing person. The names
arranged on the wall are in chronological
order by the date of causality and names
are in alphabetical order for the the date
they were reported missing.
The statue of three soldiers across from
the wall were dedicated after the wall
was. Many people had a problem with
the layout of the wall and they said it
was a disgrace. More about the Vietnam
design on the next page.
47. The Memorial Wall is made up of two walls. The highest tip is 10.1 ft. and
the taper to 8” at each end. When a visitor looks at the wall they can see
their reflection along with the engraved names. This symbolizes the past
and present together. Each wall lists names of those who were KIA or
MIA, in chronological order. Visitors can walk along the wall and take
pencil rubbings of the names. The wall also symbolized a wound that is
healing.
Maya Lin, a 21 year old, Harvard student, won a blind competition to
design the wall. She felt that, had the competition not been “blind”, she
wouldn’t have won. Her design was criticized for being underground and
too plain. It was even called “a black gash of shame”. The Secretary of the
Interior even refused to issue a building permit for it! Now, however, it’s
become a well-loved tribute.
In 1984, The Three Soldiers statue was placed across from the Memorial
Wall. The statue shows three soldiers; Caucasian, African American and
Hispanic. The statue is arranged so that the soldiers appear to be looking
at the wall.
48. Korean Memorial
The mural wall consists of 41 panels stretching 165 feet. Over 15,000
pictures of the Korean War were collected from the National archives to
create the mural. Photographs were enhanced by computers to develop a
uniform lighting effect. When viewed from afar the mural also depicts the
mountain ranges of Korea.
50. Next to the wall, are 19 sculpted
statues by Frank Gaylord. They
are approximately 7’3 and consist
of 14 Army soldiers, 3 Marines, 1
Navy, and 1 Air Force. They
represent an ethnic cross section of
America, with 12 Caucasian, 3
African American, 2 Hispanic, 1
oriental, and 1 Native American. The statues are very realistic with
ponchos and weapons, men hunched
over, creeping through the woods.
51. Washington Monument
George Washington was elected
unanimously as the first president
of the united states of America in
1789, he has been called the
“father of our country.” The
Washington monument was
created as a show of gratitude to
George Washington in helping to
create a new form of government
and promoting equal treatment
under the law. The monument can
be seen from all over D.C.
•Year started: July 4th 1848 In 1854 construction came to a halt
•Year completed: December 6 because of lack of money. 25 years later
1884 the government took over and finished
• Cost: 1,187, 710 the rest of the monument with marble
•Designer: Robert Mills from a different quarry. This is why the
•Style: Neo Egyptian marble changes color toward the bottom.
52. Marine Corps War Memorial
Iwo Jima Memorial
The Marine Corps War Memorial is just outside Arlington National
Cemetery. There is an ongoing rumor that the statue has 13 hands instead
of 12 (two for each soldier) and that the 13th hand represents other Marines
or the hand of God. The sculptor denies that there are 13 hands.
53. Arlington National Cemetery
In 1864, US Secretary of
War, Edwin M. Stanton
officially designated
Arlington Mansion and
two hundred
surrounding acres as a
United States military
cemetery.
Today over 300,000
thousand are buried
there.
54. The requirements for burial
eligibility are:
• An active member of the
United States armed forces.
• Any veteran who is a retired
active military veteran.
• Any veteran honorably
discharged prior to October 1,
1949 for medical reasons and
who received a rating of 30% or
greater disabled.
• The president of former
president of the united states
• Any veteran who was awarded
a prestigious medal such as the
Purple Heart or Medal of
Honor.
55. JFK Memorial
President John F.
Kennedy was buried in
Arlington National
Cemetery on November
25, 1963. Within three
years, more than 16
million people had
visited his gravesite. To
better accommodate the
large number of visitors,
cemetery officials and
Kennedy family
members decided to
create a better site. The
final resting place was
completed on July 20,
1967.
56. The 3.2 acre site is located on the slope below Arlington House. For the
gravesite, the family selected Cape Cod granite paving stones, which had been
quarried in 1817 from near the president's home. Clover and sedum were
planted around the memorial to look like his old plants that were in his home
town in Massachusetts.
At the wish of Mrs. Kennedy, an eternal flame, inspired by the one in Paris,
sits at the head of the grave.
57. Changing of the Guard
The Changing of the Guard takes place every hour or half hour, depending
on the season. It is a very formal and elaborate ritual.
The guards keep watch at the Tomb of the Unknowns and it is a great
honor. They honor service members who are “Known But to God”. The
tomb is guarded 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
58. The Pentagon
Head Quarters for the Department of Defense, the Pentagon, is one of the
world’s largest office buildings. The Pentagon is virtually a city in itself;
23,000 workers contribute to the planning of the safety of our country.
Daily workers in the pentagon travel 30 miles through access highways ,
drive past 200 acres of lawn to park approximately 8, 770 cars in 16
different parking lots; climb 131 stairways or ride 19 escalators to their
offices. The ground was broken for the construction of the pentagon on
9/11/41. Exactly 60 years after that, the pentagon was hit by a commercial
plane in a terrorist attack on the day most refer to as 9/11.
59. The Capitol
•The Capitol is one of the most visited federal building in the united states
• No one is buried in the capitol; a tomb was made for George
Washington, but Washington expressed his wishes to be buried at Mt.
Vernon and so he was.
•The top of the Capitol is 209 ft lower than the top of the Washington
Monument.
•The building was completed in 1928 after six years of construction.
• Since it was completed, the building has overcome three different
earthquakes and cost 120 million dollars for repairs.
