Past POIs - Jefferson Memorial [Washington, D.C., United States]

Thomas Jefferson Memorial is part of the U.S. National Park Service and located in Washington, D.C. and is likely one of your stops while you visit Washington. The Memorial is dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the first Secretary of State for the United States of America.

In 1934, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission was created for creating a memorial for Thomas Jefferson with the original location being at Constitution and Pennsylvania. It was never built there and was instead moved to where it is now due to the initial area being too small.

Construction started in 1938 with architect John Russell Pope who designed the memorial with influences from two of Jefferson's most famous buildings, the Monitcello and the University of Virginia Rotunda. In 1939, there was a ceremony held for placing the cornerstone lead by President Roosevelt and within the cornerstone are several historic items including copies of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, among other things.

It was completed in 1943 and it was dedicated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on Jefferson's 200th birthday. The statue was created by sculptor Rudulph Evans and was actually originally made out of plaster. It was later changed to bronze due to World War II restrictions on the use of metal. Since then, it has undergone a few structural and appearance changes but the initial idea is still intact today.

Be sure to pay a visit when you are in Washington, I think the entire National Mall area is worth a walk through and try to hit the important places even if it is for a short period of time. The memorial is free to visit and is open all year around, 24 hours a day. For more information, visit the official website at https://www.nps.gov/thje/index.htm

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Past POIs - Lincoln Memorial [Washington, D.C., United States of America]

The Lincoln Memorial, located in Washington, D.C., in USA is a must visit while there and odds are, you won't miss it. It was made for Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, who was assassinated in 1865.

Initially, Congress in 1867 created the Lincoln Memorial Association to create a memorial dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, however, things stalled since then and construction did not begin until 1914 and completion happened in 1922.

The architect behind it is Henry Bacon and the memorial is built after the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. It is mostly made of marble and granite that are all sourced from United States. The memorial is 190 ft long, 120 ft wide, and 99 ft tall with 36 columns, one for each of the 36 states that were part of the Union at the time of Lincoln's death.

You will notice that above the columns, are a list of states, these are the 36 states that were part of the Union when the memorial was initially planned. Above this, you will notice a smaller section, this section has the 48 states that were part of the Union when the memorial was completed in 1922. The last two states (Alaska and Hawaii) have a plague created for their recognition near the steps. As well, since Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech was here, on the 18th step from the Lincoln statue is an engraving dedicated to it where Martin Luther King Jr. was when he gave the speech.

The Abraham Lincoln statue itself was carved by the Piccirilli brothers under the supervision of the sculptor Daniel Chester French. It is made out of 28 pieces of marble and it is 19 ft tall from head to foot and if standing, he would be 28 ft tall. It weighs 175 tons!

I wish I knew about the 'I Have a Dream' engraving, so make sure to have a look for it when you go!

If you want more information, visit the National Park Services site at https://www.nps.gov/linc/index.htm

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Past POIs - Washington Monument

During our trip to Washington D.C., a must see is the Washington Monument. While I felt that we just snapped some pictures and moved onto the next point of interest, it was pretty impressive to see.

Pierre L'Enfant was the person responsible for designing Washington D.C.'s streets and green space and in his plan, there was this space set aside for something to commemorate the first president of the United States, George Washington.

Work began on the Washington Monument in 1848, designed by Robert Mills, and was funded by a private group of individuals who had a vision of a 600-ft tall obelisk built with Egyptian style and surrounding it would be 30 100-ft tall columns. However, by 1854, the group of individuals could no longer fund the project and went bankrupt and after this, for almost 30 years, the monument was only partially built with a height of 156-ft.

It was later that Congress took over the project and in 1876 work continued and it was completed in 1884 under Thomas Casey and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They altered the plans a bit, making the Monument 555-ft tall in the end and replacing the 30 columns with a ring of flags. At the time of completion, it was actually the tallest building in the world!

If you look carefully, you will actually see the two phases of the project since you can see the change in colour in the Monument. It you like, you can actually go up the Washington Monument, to do so, you can order tickets online for free but with a $1.50 service charge per ticket or you can go line up at the lodge and hope to get tickets on the day of. When we went, we were told that they were out of tickets shortly after they opened, with people starting to wait in line as early as 6:00am! We didn't end up going up the Monument, but it is definitely worth a stop and it is hard to miss since a lot of the things that tourists want to see will be in the area.

Since its completion in 1884, it has undergone several restorations including the replacement of the interior elevator multiple times. Visit the official site https://www.nps.gov/wamo/index.htm for more information.

Come back next Friday for another Past Point of Interest!