How to Organize a Walk Around the National Mall Memorials

When visiting the National Mall memorials in Washington, D.C., a simple map layout will make the trip much more manageable. The Washington Monument, the tallest building and only actual monument in the city, serves as a visitor’s landmark. The western section of the National Mall, from the monument to Lincoln Memorial, has been reserved for memorials of great men and great wars. There are six notable national memorials here: Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Korean War, Abraham Lincoln, the Vietnam War and World War II. Several smaller memorials are positioned and can be noticed along the walk.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Good walking shoes
• Map
• Water
• Camera

Managing a National Memorial Walk

1. Travel into Washington, D.C., from any of the Virginia or Maryland Metro stations, and utilize the ample parking areas. Purchase a Metro card at the station for at least $20 to cover the cost of the trip and parking. Metro employees are available for assistance. Leave the Metro at the Smithsonian Station and walk toward the Washington Monument.Opting to drive into the city requires an early departure to beat rush-hour traffic. If you must drive: Enter the city via Interstate 66 from the west, Interstate 395 from the south, or Georgia, Wisconsin, Connecticut or New Hampshire Avenues from points north. All of these roadways lead to the National Mall.

2. Plan an early breakfast and be at the kiosk in front of the Washington Monument at 7:30 a.m. A line will form for tickets into the Monument. The National Park Service distributes tickets from the kiosk at 8:30. Visitors can get up to six. Ask for tickets for noon; three hours is ample time to visit the memorials. Ask if the noon Walk-down Tour will be given that day; an added bonus on the ticket.

3. Face the reflecting pool and the Lincoln Memorial at the monument’s court area after getting the tickets. A memorial walk can proceed in a counterclockwise direction around the tidal basin and back to the monument. Take a direct left and walk in a southerly direction toward 15th Street, the tidal basin and the paddle boats.

4. Walk around the tidal basin among the cherry trees, which blossom pink in the spring. The Jefferson Memorial is second in size only to Lincoln’s. It encloses a substantial figure of Jefferson in bronze, with quotes and documents inscribed in the walls encircling the statue.

5. Continue around the basin to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial. In respect for his disability, the memorial is at ground level. Gushing water and soft pools complement various events of 1930s America.

6. Walk in a northwesterly direction toward the Lincoln Memorial. Just south of the Lincoln, the Korean Memorial rests at an angle. Statues of a heavily fatigued, larger-than-life soldier battalion trudge through a jungle, covered in raincoats and carrying heavy guns and equipment. A southern wall, with sandblasted etchings, leads to a reflecting pool.

7. Continue up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. From there, the image of both the monument and the Capitol can be seen, and inside, the famous pose of a sitting Lincoln on a throne amid Greek columns. His speeches are etched in the walls.

8. Continue northeast on a walkway that is in direct alignment with the Vietnam Memorial. The walkway sinks along a wall of names of those who died in the war. At its greatest depth, the walkway emerges, also in direct alignment to the Washington Monument.

9. Plan to have lunch--early, if necessary--at Constitution Gardens, a pond area that includes a snack shop.

10. Walk back toward the reflecting pool and visit the World War II Memorial; two impressive fountains divide the European and Pacific Theaters of War with symbolic wreaths lifted in stone and honoring the states and territories that lost soldiers during various wars.

11. Return to the Washington Monument at approximately noon and begin that tour.

Resources

• The National Park Service D.C. website