Village in the City: Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail

Discover a neighborhood celebrated for its cultural diversity and charming streets when you follow Village in the City: Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail. The trail's 17 poster-sized street signs combine storytelling with historic photographs and maps.

Find the first sign at 16th and Harvard streets, NW, three blocks from the Columbia Heights station on Metro’s Green line. The 90-minute, self-guided tour loops through the Mount Pleasant Historic District and ends at Mount Pleasant and Kenyon streets, NW.

Walk the trail at your own pace, sampling neighborhood character, businesses, and restaurants as you go. Pick up a free trail guide from merchants along the way.

For more information, email us at Trail@CulturalTourismDC.org [1] or call 202-661-7581.

What You'll See

With its main street, town square, and distinct boundaries, Mount Pleasant still feels like the village it once was. As the city grew around it after the Civil War, Mount Pleasant evolved into a fashionable streetcar suburb, sprouting businesses, churches, and elegant apartment buildings.

Later it became a working-class urban neighborhood, a haven for immigrants fleeing political turmoil, and the heart of DC’s Latino community.

Explore neighborhood highlights such as:

• Ingleside, Mount Pleasant’s oldest house, designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, architect of portions of the U.S. Capitol
• The site of the expatriate "Czech Row" community
• Canaan Baptist Church, the first African American place of worship on 16th Street, the grand avenue of churches
• Site of Mount Pleasant's first bodega, Casa Diloné, and several other Latino businesses

You’ll discover a thriving neighborhood with delightful ethnic markets and restaurants. Colonial Revival mansions, early apartment buildings, and rowhouses still stand remarkably intact, while the bordering Rock Creek Valley lends serenity to this bustling community.

Get Your Trail Booklet

Trail booklets providing additional information are available for free at the following local merchants and organizations:

• Bank of America, 3131 Mount Pleasant Street, NW
• Dos Gringos Café & Ice Cream Parlor, 3116 Mount Pleasant Street, NW
• Haydee's Restaurant, 3102 Mount Pleasant Street, NW
• Heller’s Bakery & Café, 3221 Mount Pleasant Street, NW
• Historical Society of Washington, D.C., 801 K Street, NW
• Mount Pleasant Pharmacy, 3169 Mount Pleasant Street, NW
• Pfeiffer’s Hardware, 3219 Mount Pleasant Street, NW
• Washingtoniana Division, Martin Luther King Memorial Library, 901 G Street, NW

Spanish-language guides are now available!

Download it Now

Download the trail map pdf [2].

Download the trail booklet pdf [3].

Download the Spanish trail booklet pdf [4].

You can also order your guide online (English version [5] or Spanish version [6])! A $5 shipping and handling fee applies.

District of Columbia Neighborhood Heritage Trails

Cultural Tourism DC initiated the District of Columbia Neighborhood Heritage Trails program with two goals in mind: helping visitors find their way around Washington's historic neighborhoods and promoting community pride.

Each trail is conceived with the active involvement of neighborhood organizations and residents. For Village in the City: Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail, the Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail Working Group and Historic Mount Pleasant served as local partners. Mara Cherkasky was Working Group historian. Design by side view/Hannah Smotrich.

Village in the City: Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail is a project of Cultural Tourism DC in collaboration with the Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail Working Group, Neil Richardson, chair; and Historic Mount Pleasant. Funding provided by District Department of Transportation, Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and U.S. Department of Transportation.