George Washington

In the historic society of Washington, there has always been a woman at the top. Sometimes she rules with an iron fist, sometimes it’s with charm, but she does rule. And the very first of these ladies was Marcia Van Ness. This future “heiress of Washington” got her start as Marcia Burnes, the daughter of David Burnes, a stubborn Scottish farmer. In 1790, the new location for the capital was chosen, George Washington got to know Mr. Burnes very well. Possibly too well, in the president’s opinion.

Benjamin Banneker was already a practiced mathematician and astronomer when he was approached in February 1791 by his friend Andrew Ellicott to survey the land staked out for the new United States capital. A free black who grew up in Maryland as a farmer, Banneker was more than a laborer. Though his formal education ended at an early age, he continued to study science and physics and would later write a series of best-selling almanacs. He designed and built a striking clock at age 22 that kept perfect time for forty years until it was destroyed in a fire. But, perhaps him most long lasting mark was the unique role he played in the development of the nation's capital — a job that went far beyond what Ellicott originally had in mind.

Just within sight of the Washington Monument is a little stone house not open to the public. Used for National Park Service storage today, this house is the last remnant of one of the biggest mistakes in municipal planning in the District’s history: the Washington City Canal.

Thousands of people drive on it everyday, but sometimes we forget that the George Washington Memorial Parkway is not just a commuter highway. It's a national park. And like our other national parks, the Parkway tells a story about our nation's past.

Apparently Hungerford’s Tavern in Rockville, Maryland was the place to be. Constructed around 1750, it was one of America’s first real taverns and hosted a number of big shots including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry. In Rockville, it was a favorite watering hole for news, entertainment, business… and to fan the flames of Revolution.

The nation’s capital is chock full of statues, memorials, monuments, historic markers, and museums. Some are world-famous, some have been controversial, and some have been forgotten altogether. Horatio Greenough’s sculpture of George Washington has been all of these things – and more.

December 14th marks the anniversary of George Washington's death from an unknown illness, which came on quickly. Centuries later, historians still debate what killed the first President and doctors are weighing in. So, how exactly do you diagnose an illness of a patient who died over 200 years ago? Very carefully.

Was the father of our country a deadbeat book borrower? Apparently so. In April of 2010, a New York Society Library employee stumbled across the long lost fourteen-volume collection, Common Debates but, the collection was missing a volume. A check of the old circulation ledger proved that volume #12 had last been checked out by George Washington October 5, 1789 — and never returned.