All About our Nation’s Capital

Washington, District of Columbia, was established at the capitol of the United States on July 16, 1790 on one hundred square miles of land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia. This tract of land sits astride of the Potomac River and juncture with the Anacostia River. In 1846 the Virginia portion was returned to that state and is presently the cities of Alexandria and Arlington in Fairfax County, VA. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French-born architect, engineer and city-planner was retained to design the city, which features broad boulevards radiating out from central circles or squares. The architectural styles represented by the central city core of government buildings and monuments represent all types, but emphasis is on neo-classical, Georgian, gothic and modern as displayed by: The National Cathedral, The Capitol Building, The Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials and the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial. The District of Columbia is made up of "areas" represented by Georgetown, the Northwest, Northeast, Southwest and Southeast. The Georgetown District of DC was established as a community before the District and thus represents the oldest architectural style in the area. Because of limits on building heights established by the U. S. Congress, the city is sprawling and has a dearth of residential hi-rise housing, that forced a migration to the suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. The resulting sprawl causes major traffic problems on the roadways leading into the city, the suburban commute being necessary to supply workers to the governmental agencies and professional business sectors of the economy. The Capitol Mall, a park-like area set between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials on one end and the U. S. Capitol building on the other, is circled by the building of the Smithsonian Institution and several museums. The Smithsonian is comprised of buildings housing: The National Museums of Natural History, Air and Space, Art, National Portrait, American History, American Indian, Sackler and Freer Galleries of Asian Art and Culture. Other museums around the Mall are: The Hirschorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, S. Dillon Ripley Center and the National Geographic Museum. Culture and the arts abound. Performing arts venues include the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, home to the National Symphony, Opera and Ballet. The District is one of the few sports venues with every major league sport represented: The NBA Wizards; NFL Redskins, NHL Capitols, MLB Nationals, MLS DC United and WNBA Mystics. Basketball, Football, Hockey, Baseball, Soccer and Women's Basketball, in that order. Every type of cuisine is found in Washington, DC, from the seafood houses along the Potomac River by the Washington Marina docks, to the large Chinatown, to upscale Italian, Indian, Spanish, Mexican, throughout the city-center and into the neighborhoods and out into the suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. Seafood is a huge item with the nearby Chesapeake Bay providing fresh blue crabs, oysters and Rockfish (Striped Bass). Maryland crab cakes are world renowned, as are the steamed crabs, soft-shelled crabs and fillets of Rockfish. Educational facilities are in abundance in the Greater Washington DC Metropolitan Area: George Washington University, Georgetown University, American University, Catholic University, Howard University, Alluded University and the University of the District of Columbia. Also around the beltway are The University of Maryland in College Park and George Mason University in Fairfax County, VA. For more information on Washington, DC visit http://washingtonmicroblog.com and http://microblogwashington.com