Follow the signs on this self-guided Cultural Tourism DC Neighborhood Heritage Trail to learn more about Shaw, the crossroads neighborhood at the edge of downtown Washington.

Midcity at the Crossroads: Shaw Heritage Trail's 17 poster-sized, illustrated signs combine storytelling with historic images. The Shaw neighborhood you will discover is one of the city's oldest, where traces can be found of nearly every group that has called Washington home.

The first sign is located at Seventh Street and Mt. Vernon Place, NW, at the front of the Washington Convention Center. The two-hour self-guided tour proceeds north up Ninth Street, down Seventh Street, and east along M Street, before returning to end a block from where it started.

Walkers are encouraged to follow the trail at their own pace, sampling neighborhood character, businesses, and restaurants along the way. For more information, email us at Trail@CulturalTourismDC.org or call 202-661-7581.

What You'll See

Shaw has always been “a place between places,” where races and classes bumped and mingled as they got a foothold on the city. It has been home to the powerful seeking a convenient location, immigrants and migrants just starting out, laborers in need of affordable housing, men and women of God – and people living on luck, both good and bad.

The riots following the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968 partly disfigured Shaw. Yet much of its rich past remains for you to see. The Shaw Heritage Trail points you to the legacies of daily life in this Midcity neighborhood between downtown and uptown.

Along the way you'll see:

• Carnegie Library, one of the few public spaces in Washington never to have been segregated
• The home of Carter G. Woodson, the celebrated scholar who originated Black History Month
• The church where Arena Stage got started
• One of the city's earliest roads and commercial arteries, Seventh Street
• The origins of DC's Jewish Community Centers

Get Your Free Trail Booklet

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

• Azi's Café, 1336 9th Street, NW
• First Cup Café, 900 M Street, NW
• DC Guest House, 1337 10th Street, NW
• Feker Sound, 1924 9th Street, NW
• Gregg's Barber Shop, 1909 7th Street, NW
• Habesha Market & Carryout, 1919 9th Street, NW
• Heavenly Salon and Spa, 705 Florida Avenue, NW
• Historical Society of Washington, D.C., 801 K Street, NW
• Johnnie's Florist, 9th Street and Florida Avenue, NW
• Lettie Gooch Boutique, 1911 9th Street, NW
• Lumsden Insurance Agency, 1525 9th Street, NW
• Modern Liquors, 1200 9th Street, NW
• Nahom Records, 1918 9th Street, NW
• Salon Revive, 1942 9th Street, NW
• Simply Fit Fitness and Pilates Studio, 1539 7th Street, NW
• Wanda's Hair Studio, 1851 7th Street, NW
• Warehouse Theater, 645 New York Ave 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.

Download the trail booklet pdf.

Download the Spanish trail booklet pdf.

You can also order your guide online (English version or Spanish version)! 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 was conceived with the active involvement of neighborhood organizations and residents. For Midcity at the Crossroads: Shaw Heritage Trail, the Shaw Heritage Trail Working Group served as a local partner. Paul K. Williams, Kelsey & Associates, Inc., served as working group historian.

Midcity at the Crossroads: Shaw Heritage Trail is a project of Cultural Tourism DC in collaboration with the Shaw Heritage Trail Working Group, Denise Johnson, Chair.

Funding provided by the District Department of Transportation, Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, and U.S. Department of Transportation. Support provided by Washington Convention Center Authority's Historic Preservation Fund, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Shaw Main Streets.