October 17, 2011

This year, our country marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, and naturally DC will play a key role in the commemoration. Experience the the Civil War in Washington with Cultural Tourism DC's Civil War to Civil Rights: Downtown Heritage Trail.

Walk in the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Walt Whitman, and other great Americans whose lives were intertwined with the history of the nation and its capital city. The trail focuses on Washington's experiences during the Civil War as well as the continuing challenge to realize the American dream of equal rights for all citizens.

Cultural Tourism DC now has 12 self-guided heritage trails for people to experience the distinct neighborhoods of Washington, DC. Watch as Sam Edelstein, Cultural Tourism DC intern, visits sites along the Downtown Heritage Trail and highlights the exciting and fun places and people you will meet along the way.

Along the way, you'll see:

• A former boarding house frequented by the Lincoln conspirators
• The alley down which John Wilkes Booth fled after shooting President Lincoln
• The home and office of famed Civil War nurse and American Red Cross founder Clara Barton
• A church that was used as a hospital during the Civil War
• The city's oldest synagogue, now a museum of Jewish history
• A Renaissance palace style office building-turned-building museum
• The hotel where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put the finishing touches on his “I Have a Dream” speech