About us
Our tours take place in Washington, D.C.--Lafayette Square, Capitol Hill, Georgetown, et al.--Alexandria, Virginia, and other historic sites such as Civil War battlefields in Antietam, Maryland. The tours last about 2 hours, and typically cost about $20 per person.
Washington, D.C. and nearby towns like Alexandria, Virginia drip with history and political intrigue--from colonial times to the present day. This is a group aimed at those eager to explore the often-violent and scandalous past of the nation's capital and its surroundings--its wars, espionage rings, assassination attempts, mayhem and misbehaviors, as well as more uplifting events--against its backdrop of architectural splendor and breathtaking vistas.
Detailed itineraries!:
Lafayette Square--White House, Andrew Jackson statue, Stephen Decatur House, slave annex, Dolley Madison House, St. John's Church, Frederick Douglass bank, Lafayette statue, Blair-Lee House, Renwick Gallery, Treasury Dept., Eisenhower Executive Office Building...Learn about: The assassination attempt on a President-one block from the White House!…The war-hero congressman who murdered his wife’s lover…The tragic suicide of the wife of America’s most esteemed author…The brutal stabbing of a Secretary of State…The ruthless spy who lost the U.S. Army a major battle…The scandal that caused the entire presidential Cabinet to resign!..And much more! And it all happened in Lafayette Square, across from the White House in Washington, D.C.
This tour starts and ends at the Andrew Jackson statue.
Old Town Alexandria, Virginia--the Torpedo Factory, the John Carlisle mansion, the Stabler-Ledbetter pharmacy museum, Lawrence Washington's House, George Washington's town house, Founder's Park, the City Hall, the John Wise tavern, Gadsby's Museum and restaurant, Christ Church, Robert E. Lee's boyhood home, the Lee-Fendall House, the old cotton mill, the Presbyterian Meeting House.
This tour typically starts at the Torpedo Factory and ends at Christ Church.
Capitol Hill--the Supreme Court, the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Library of Congress, the 9/11 memorial, the Anne Frank memorial, the Peace Memorial, the President Garfield statue, the Inauguration steps, the Ulysses S. Grant memorial, the Frederick Law Olmstead grotto, the Sullivan Brothers memorial, the hidden cornerstone of the Capitol.
This tour starts at the Supreme Court Building and ends at the Ulysses S. Grant memorial.
What We Do--"Walking history seminars": walking group tours of the most historic venues in Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Virginia, and other towns.
Where We Go--We tour historic, atmospheric neighborhoods and sites such as Lafayette Square, the Capitol Building grounds, Georgetown, Old Town Alexandria, the Navy Yard area, and the Antietam Civil War battlefield.
Upcoming events
5
Secrets of Embassy Row: Mysteries Behind the Mansions!
Dupont Circle, 1 Dupont Circle, Washington, DC, DC, USSecrets of Embassy Row: Mysteries Behind the Mansions!--DC, Friday, April 24, 5:30 pm
Founded as D.C.’s neighborhood for the wealthy, and long the sites of foreign embassies and espionage, Embassy Row and Dupont Circle are a center of architecture, statesmanship—and intrigue. Take a walk into the exciting past and alluring present of this world-renowned locale!
We'll explore the sites featured in our Embassy Row-based spy thriller, Femme Fatalité, and tell many other astonishing tales:
https://www.amazon.com/Femme-Fatalité-Lizzy-Thorne-Novel-ebook/dp/B0F4945MR5/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0MEET at the Dupont Circle fountain, 21 Dupont Cir NW Washington, DC 20036.
When: Friday, April 24, 5:30 pm!
Length: c. 2 hours.
Fee: Starts at $22.Pre-Register and Pre-Pay at—
Eventbrite:
Or PayPal, sending $23 to: paypal.me/EMoser460
Or pay $22 in cash at the start of the tour.
Nearest metro stop: Dupont Circle.
We’ll draw from this action-packed itinerary!:
· How American agents stole intel from an enemy embassy
· Vanished, and preserved, mansions of the Gilded Age
· The site of the worst terrorist attack in D.C. history
· The first steamboat voyage—in Rock Creek Park!
· The home of a cursed diamond
· The architect of Dupont Circle, and the Lincoln Memorial
· A new spy novel set along Embassy Row and Georgetown
· Dueling statues of a great imperialist and a great anti-imperialist
· The first airplane pilot
· The murderer who impersonated an Iraqi general
· The inventor who revolutionized farming
· Where the Attorney General, and a future President, were nearly bombed to death
· The site of the murder of a ranking foreign diplomat
· The astonishing influence of the DuPont family on American history
· Cavalry duel--General Sheridan vs General Stuart
· The traitorous spy of a valued ally
· The secret espionage tunnel
· George Washington’s private club
· And Washington, D.C.’s even more exclusive club
· Dupont Circle’s craziest house
· The lady mogul of the media
· The Confederacy’s retirement home
· Statues of famed leaders from Turkey, Czech Republic, India….
· America’s greatest hero—and villain
· The suicide that spun off from a great tragedy
· A President’s ghost
· Museum of a brewer who outlasted Prohibition
· The most qualified man to be President--who was never elected
· And more!Your guide is a former writer for the “Tonight Show”, and ex-White House speechwriter, and author of the new historical novel, based on actual World War II espionage in Embassy Row and Georgetown, Femme Fatalité:
https://www.amazon.com/Femme-Fatalité-Lizzy-Thorne-Novel/dp/B0F5NPSKDS/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0
He is also author of the book The White House’s Unruly Neighborhood:
https://www.amazon.com/White-Houses-Unruly-Neighborhood-Lafayette-ebook/dp/B082ZVDCD7/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0
And a forthcoming book on the history of Georgetown.MEET at the Dupont Circle fountain, 21 Dupont Cir NW Washington, DC 20036.
The Dupont Circle metro is nearby.Think history is boring? Not on this tour!
Join us on the tour of a neighborhood steeped in history, beautiful buildings, and foreign intrigue!2 attendees
Special 250th Independence Day Tour! Thomas Jefferson’s Wild Life & Times, D.C.!
Willard Hotel, Willard Hotel, 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., Washington, DC, USSpecial 250th Independence Day Tour! Thomas Jefferson’s Wild Life & Times, Washington D.C.
Friday, July 3, 2026, starting from the Willard Hotel!
Held in and around the White House’s Lafayette Square, on the 250th anniversary weekend of Independence Day, this tour will examine the accomplishments of, and many crises faced, by Jefferson—D.C.’s first two-term President--during the American Revolution, in Europe, and during his eventful stay in the then-new Executive Mansion. And of his colleagues & rivals Alexander Hamilton, George Mason, Benjamin Banneker, James Madison, Aaron Burr, George Washington, & John Adams, and others, all of whom left a significant mark on the capital, and America, from the first July 4th and thereafter.
Friday, July 3, 5:45 pm.
MEET in the lobby of the Willard Hotel
1401 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20004
Length: 2 hours.
Nearest metros: Length: Farragut North or Farragut West
Lafayette Square next to the White House has dozens of sites related to the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson, Alexandria Hamilton, et al.Discover:
• A traitor’s attempted overthrow of Jefferson’s Lewis & Clark expedition
• The man who reconciled Hamilton and Jefferson
• The other Jefferson memorial--outside the White House
• George Mason’s battle against—the U.S. Constitution
• The Marquis de Lafayette’s amazing & perilous associations with multiple American Presidents
• Inventor of farm, kitchen, and spy apparatus
• The secret language of the Jefferson Memorial
• The undeclared naval war, and declared trade war, that nearly wrecked Jefferson’s second term
• Sally Hemings and Maria Cosway
• Disputes over the Jefferson Memorial
• Rollercoaster relationship with John Adams
• “The room where it happened”
• The “miracle mansion” of TJ’s militia chief
• The scoundrel who betrayed Jefferson, killed Hamilton, and tried setting up his own country—with the head of the U.S. Army!
• Architect-in-Chief: Did TJ secretly design the White House?
• When Jefferson was almost hanged
• How Mason & Jefferson ended the slave trade—from Minnesota to the Mediterranean!
• President Jefferson’s “First Lady”
• Did Jefferson plagiarize Mason?
• How TJ came to write the Declaration of Independence, and its hidden coda
• And more!Pre-Register and Pre-Pay via--
Eventbrite, at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/special-250th-independence-day-tour-thomas-jeffersons-wild-life-times-dc-tickets-1602841434879?aff=oddtdtcreator
Or PayPal, sending $26 to paypal.me/EMoser460
Or pay $25 in cash at the start of the tour.We’re highly rated on TripAdvisor:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g28970-d12791843-Reviews-Lafayette_Square_Tour_of_Scandal_Assassination_Intrigue-Washington_DC_District_of.htmlYour tour guide is a former speechwriter to the President of the United States, a former writer for Jay Leno’s “The Tonight Show”, & author of the newly published spy novel, set in Georgetown, Femme Fatalité:
https://www.amazon.com/Femme-Fatalité-Lizzy-Thorne-Novel-ebook/dp/B0F4945MR5
Also the hidden history of Lafayette Square—The White House’s Unruly Neighborhood!:
https://www.amazon.com/White-Houses-Unruly-Neighborhood-Lafayette-ebook/dp/B082ZVDCD7/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
And:
https://www.amazon.com/Patriots-America-Things-American-Should-ebook/dp/B076MR3XS3/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
And, The Lost History of the Capitol--
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Capitol-Tumultuous-Congress-ebook/dp/B099JBSN9Q/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=Questions?: [191.EP.JM.56@proton.me](mailto:191.EP.JM.56@proton.me)
Bring your walking shoes, and perhaps water and sunscreen.
3 attendees
USA 250--George Washington & American Revolution, Alexandria, VA, July 4 2026!
The Lyceum: Alexandria's History Museum, 201 South Washington Street, Alexandria, VA, USUSA 250--George Washington & American Revolution, Alexandria, VA, July 4 2026!
To mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, take a walk through historic Alexandria’s core, to examine the epochal life of "The Founder of His Country."
Old Town Alexandria has an astonishing dense array of famous persons and noted events related to George Washington's life and times. Especially those involving the American Revolution, in what was George Washington's home away from home, just miles from Mt. Vernon.
Accompanied by a historian/author, immerse yourself in this special tour on a special day, taking place in one of America’s most fascinating towns.MEET outside the Benjamin Delaney House, 223 South Saint Asaph Street (corner of Duke Street) , Alexandria, VA 22314
About 2 hours in length. Fireworks on the waterfront afterwards.Fee: Prices start at $24.
Pre-register and Pre-pay--
Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/george-washington-american-revolution-alexandria-va-july-4-2026-tickets-1964530877739?aff=oddtdtcreator
Or:
PayPal, sending $25 to savvyveteran@gmail.com
https://www.paypal.com/us/home
Or pay $24 at the start of the tour.Our packed itinerary will select from:
• George Washington, Old Town surveyor
• Lafayette's triumphant reunion tour to America, and his stay in Alexandria
• The noted architects behind the city’s stunning architecture
• Martha Washington's school
• The Alexandria houses and taverns where GW stayed
• John Adams, George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and other Founders in town
• Lafayette, first abolitionist
• The site of the first six Presidential inaugural balls
• The nation’s narrowest houses
• Where GW passed by on the way to the battle of Yorktown
• Where the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were hatched
• What did the Founding Fathers do for fun? Violent horse races & crazed drinking bouts from back in the day.
• A World War Two munitions factory, and spy nest
• How GW started a world war
• The horrific attack on a Revolutionary War hero
• "Give me liberty or give me death!"
• The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier--of the American Revolution
• The sea battle of Alexandria, 1776
• The real “Father” of his country
• GW's fistfight
And more!Your guide is a former “Tonight Show” writer, an ex-Presidential speechwriter, & author of a crime thriller set in Alexandria that draws on its rich history:
https://www.amazon.com/OLD-TOWN-HORROR-Americas-Historic-ebook/dp/B0BX27RWYG
His book on D.C.’s history, The White House’s Unruly Neighborhood: Crime, Scandal & Intrigue in the History of Lafayette Square:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-white-houses-unruly-neighborhood-edward-p-moser/1131103788
And his latest, a spy thriller set in Georgetown:
https://www.amazon.com/Femme-Fatalité-Lizzy-Thorne-Novel-ebook/dp/B0F4945MR5/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0Plenty of excellent restaurants in the area for afterwards before the July 4 fireworks on the riverfront at sundown.
Your host's tours are rated more highly than the Eiffel Tower or the Great Wall of China!:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g28970-d12791843-Reviews-Lafayette_Square_Tour_of_Scandal_Assassination_Intrigue-Washington_DC_District_of.htmlMEET outside the Benjamin Delaney House, 223 South Saint Asaph Street (corner of Duke Street) , Alexandria, VA 22314
Every 250 years, let's celebrate America's Independence!
1 attendee
Past events
300
