What we’re about
We are a touring club in the Washington, DC area focused on walks in and around historical, cultural, and scenic locales. Especially the towns and neighborhoods of Capitol Hill, Alexandria, Lafayette Square, Georgetown, Annapolis, downtown Washington, et al. The excursions are led by a author-historian.
We add to the pleasure of a sociable outing the discovery of the cultural and historical aspects of the wayside along the routes, roads, and trails we tread. While benefiting from an invigorating hike or walk, time is taken for guests to share their knowledge of the architecture, human history, and natural history, of the area with the group.
Our current focus has been on the rich political and cultural history of the Capitol region.
Upcoming events (3)
See all- Tour of Historic, Scenic Alexandria Virginia, Monday, June 23, 5:30 pm!Christ Church, Alexandria, VA
Tour of Historic Alexandria, Virginia, Monday, June 23, 5:30 pm!
A walk through Alexandria’s cultural & historic core. It drips with an astonishing dense array of famous persons and historical events. Especially those involving the American Revolution and George Revolution (in George Washington's hometown), and the Civil War. Accompanied by a historian, immerse yourself in these epic events, and in one of America’s most fascinating towns.
Meet at Christ Church Columbus St. entrance., Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Fee: Prices start at $21.
About 2 hours in length.
Pre-register and Pre-pay--
Via Eventbrite at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tour-of-historic-scenic-alexandria-virginia-monday-june-23-530-pm-tickets-1411005538549?aff=oddtdtcreator
Or send $21 to PayPal at: 191.EP.JM.56@proton.me
Or pay $21 in cash at the start of the tour.Packed itinerary will select from:
• George Washington, teenaged town surveyor
• Civil War street fights and fires
• The noted architects behind the city’s stunning architecture
• Hometown of famous Founding Fathers
• Locale of the biggest slave escape in U.S. history
• George Washington’s secret townhouse
• Locale of a famous Confederate, and Union Army, sculpture
• The site of the first six Presidential inaugural balls
• The nation’s narrowest houses
• Rebel graves and Underground rails
• Where the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were hatched
• The first civil rights sit-down strike
• What did GW do for fun? Violent horse races & crazed drinking bouts from back in the day.
• A World War Two munitions factory, and spy nest
• Conflicting loyalties of a Civil War town
• How GW started a world war
• The horrific attack on a Revolutionary War hero
• A Navy tragedy
• The real “Father” of his country
And more!Your guide is a former “Tonight Show” writer, an ex-Presidential speechwriter, & author of the new 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 a book on the wild history of the Capitol Building:
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Capital-Tumultuous-Congress/dp/1493055909
And a crime novel set in Old Town:
https://www.amazon.com/Old-Town-Horror-Americas-Historic/dp/B0CYN3HRY6/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
And his newest, Femme Fatalité, 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.
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.htmlThink history’s dull? Think again!
Free street parking. Bus trolley available from the King St. metro station.
MEET at Columbus St. side of Christ Church
- Independence Day Tour of Thomas Jefferson’s Wild Life & Times, DC!George Mason Memorial, Washington, DC$22.00
A Walking Tour of Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Times, Washington D.C., Friday, July 4, 11 am, George Mason Memorial!
Held along the scenic Tidal Basin, the National Mall & the White House’s Lafayette Square, on 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 eventful stay in the then-new Executive Mansion. And of his friends & rivals Alexander Hamilton, George Mason, James Madison, 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 4, 11 am.
MEET at the GEORGE MASON memorial near the Jefferson Memorial.
$22.
Length: 2.5 hours.
Nearest metros: Smithsonian & Metro Center.PRE-REGISTER and Pre-Pay at—
Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/walking-tour-of-thomas-jeffersons-revolutionary-times-washington-dc-tickets-1413512406659?aff=oddtdtcreator
Or pay $22 in cash at the tour's start.We’ll walk from the Mason & Jefferson Memorials to the White House & Lafayette Square. And discover:
• The mysterious Jefferson Pier
• The man who reconciled Hamilton and Jefferson
• A traitor’s attempted overthrow of Jefferson’s Lewis & Clark expedition
• 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!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 nove, set in Georgetown, Femme Fatalité:
https://www.amazon.com/Femme-Fatalité-Lizzy-Thorne-Novel-ebook/dp/B0F4945MR5Also 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.meBring your walking shoes, and perhaps water and sunscreen.
The tour will end well before the Independence Day fireworks and bbqs.Think history is boring? Not on our tours!
- “The Annual British Conquest and Burning of Washington Tour Aug 24 DC!”InterContinental the Willard Washington D.C., an IHG Hotel, Washington, DC
“The Annual British Conquest and Burning of Washington Tour, August 24 DC!”
Special Anniversary Event!
August 24, 1814 may have been the worst day in the history of Washington, D.C., and perhaps of America. When much of the nation’s Capital was burned to the ground by a rampaging British Army, during the darkest period of the War of 1812!
This unique walking tour will detail the conquest of the D.C by the British, and their burning of the Capitol, the Treasury Building, War & Navy Departments, and the White House, military actions in Alexandria and Baltimore, and the general course of “America’s Second War of Independence”.
Meet in the historic lobby of the Willard Hotel, 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.
August 24, 5:00 pm.
Length of tour: About 2 hours. Prices start at: $22.
Nearest metro stops: Metro Center and the SmithsonianPre-Register and Pre-Pay at—
Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-annual-british-conquest-and-burning-of-washington-tour-august-24-dc-tickets-1419284731839?aff=oddtdtcreator
Or, PayPal, sending $22 to 191.EP.JM.56@proton.me
https://www.paypal.com/us/home
Or, pay $22 in cash at the start of the tour.Some of our action-packed itinerary!:
• The burning of the Capitol, Supreme Court, and Library of Congress.
• The dramatic events at the Marine Barracks and Navy Yard.
• The wild Battle of Bladensburg, Maryland
• The unsung hero who saved the original Constitution and Declaration of Independence.
• How First Lady Dolley Madison bravely faced the approach of the British.
• The brave doctor who treated the wounded, and gave up his house to the British!
• President Madison, the only Chief Executive to lead America's troops in battle.
• The cowardly Secretary of War, and how an esteemed diplomat took over the War Department!
• How the ruse of an Irish washerwoman gulled an English admiral
• The dilemma the war posed slaves: how African-Americans fought in the conflict.
• How the war nearly triggered the secession—of the North!
• The amazingly motley army behind Andy Jackson's stunning victory at the Battle of New Orleans.
• The Washington Typhoon!
• The original war hawks, and doves.
• How volcanoes in Iceland affected the course of the conflict!
• The 1812 Navy hero of Lafayette Square, killed by a fellow Commodore!
• How a Renaissance Man saved the invaluable inventions at the Patent Office.
• The formidable British commanders that day
• The mysterious Curse of the Washington Woman
• Looting along Pennsylvania Avenue, and in the White House!
• The only nation to beat the U.S. in war twice
• The epic, follow-up Battle of Baltimore
• And more!Your guide is a former writer for the “Tonight Show”, and ex-White House speechwriter, and author of a book, The Lost Capitol, on the history of the Capitol Building, including a chapter on its burning in 1814:
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Capital-Tumultuous-Congress/dp/1493055909/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&asin=1493055909&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1Ed is also author of the book The White House’s Unruly Neighborhood, on the wild past of the area we’ll walk through:
https://www.amazon.com/White-Houses-Unruly-Neighborhood-Lafayette/dp/1476674868/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1555118270&sr=1-1-catcorrAnd his latest, a spy thriller set in Embassy Row, Femme Fatalité:
https://www.amazon.com/Femme-Fatalité-Lizzy-Thorne-Novel/dp/B0F5NPSKDS/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0And The Two-Term Jinx, a presidential history:
https://www.amazon.com/Two-Term-Jinx-Presidents-Washington-Theodore-Roosevelt-ebook/dp/B01K0NT0CK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=Think history is boring? Not on this tour!
Meet in the historic lobby of the Willard Hotel, 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.
