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Roots Earth in Washington DC: audio stories about 52 places

Roots Earth has audio stories about 52 places in Washington DC, United States, in North America. The Washington DC stories are in all seven Roots Earth languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The app needs no account: open Washington DC, pick a place on the city's map of places and play. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection. The stories are written by local people.

The 52 places are listed below in the order the app shows them, and again further down with their coordinates. The lists were taken from the Roots Earth catalogue on 15 September 2026.

Published 16 September 2026. Markdown: washington-dc.md

The 52 places in Washington DC with audio stories

In the order the app shows them.

  1. United States Capitol
  2. White House
  3. Lincoln Memorial
  4. Washington Monument
  5. National Mall
  6. Jefferson Memorial
  7. World War II Memorial
  8. National Gallery of Art
  9. Smithsonian Institution Building (the Castle)
  10. National Air and Space Museum
  11. National Museum of Natural History
  12. National Museum of American History
  13. National Museum of African American History and Culture
  14. Library of Congress
  15. Supreme Court Building
  16. Washington National Cathedral
  17. Vietnam Veterans Memorial
  18. Korean War Veterans Memorial
  19. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
  20. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
  21. Tidal Basin
  22. National Archives Building
  23. Ford's Theatre
  24. Union Station
  25. National Portrait Gallery
  26. Smithsonian American Art Museum
  27. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
  28. National Museum of the American Indian
  29. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  30. National Museum of Asian Art
  31. Arlington National Cemetery
  32. The Pentagon
  33. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
  34. National Building Museum
  35. Lafayette Square
  36. Eastern Market
  37. Georgetown
  38. Dupont Circle
  39. Adams Morgan
  40. U Street Corridor
  41. Rock Creek Park
  42. Ben's Chili Bowl
  43. Congressional Cemetery
  44. United States National Arboretum
  45. Meridian Hill Park
  46. The Wharf
  47. Union Market
  48. Old Stone House
  49. Chinatown
  50. Theodore Roosevelt Island
  51. Shaw
  52. Dumbarton Oaks

Is there an audio guide for United States Capitol?

Yes. United States Capitol has its audio stories in the Roots Earth app: a short introduction and a deeper story, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian.

It is place 1 of the 52 Washington DC places in the app, at 38.88972, -77.00889. Every one of the other 51 places in the list above has the same two stories.

Roots Earth is not a guided tour: you choose the place on the city's map of places and play its story yourself.

How to use Roots Earth in Washington DC

Open Roots Earth and choose Washington DC. The city has its own map of places with all 52 of them on it. Tap the place you are standing in front of, or any other, and play its short introduction or its deeper story. You decide what to listen to and in which order.

You can listen in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian, and there is no account. Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection.

In full

All 52 places in Washington DC, in the app's order, with their coordinates.

All 52 places in Washington DC, with coordinates

Every place below has a short introduction and a deeper story in the Roots Earth app, in English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian. The names, the coordinates (latitude, longitude) and the one line descriptions are the app's own catalogue values of 15 September 2026; a place without a line here has none that this page can print.

1. United States Capitol

Coordinates
38.88972, -77.00889
In one line
The United States Capitol crowns Capitol Hill as the meeting place of Congress. Begun in 1793 in American Neoclassical style, its great cast-iron dome and the Statue of Freedom stand among the most recognized symbols of American democracy.

2. White House

Coordinates
38.89778, -77.03639
In one line
The White House has served as the official residence and workplace of every American president since 1800. Designed by James Hoban in a restrained Neoclassical Georgian style, its white facade and curved porticoes embody the executive branch of the United States.

3. Lincoln Memorial

Coordinates
38.88928, -77.05014
In one line
The Lincoln Memorial honors Abraham Lincoln in the form of a Greek temple. Designed by Henry Bacon and dedicated in 1922, its 36 columns and the great seated marble statue by Daniel Chester French have made it a gathering place for the civil-rights movement.

4. Washington Monument

Coordinates
38.88944, -77.03528
In one line
The Washington Monument honors the first president as a towering marble obelisk. Designed by Robert Mills and completed in 1884 after a long pause, it was once the tallest structure on earth and still dominates the National Mall with its clean Egyptian-style shaft.

5. National Mall

Coordinates
38.89, -77.02361
In one line
The National Mall is a long open parkland stretching from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. Rooted in the 1791 plan of Pierre Charles L'Enfant, this green civic stage links the nation's monuments and museums and hosts its great protests and ceremonies.

6. Jefferson Memorial

Coordinates
38.88139, -77.03653
In one line
The Jefferson Memorial honors Thomas Jefferson beneath a domed marble rotunda on the Tidal Basin. Designed by John Russell Pope in the Roman Neoclassical style Jefferson loved, its circular colonnade and bronze statue glow among the capital's famous cherry blossoms.

7. World War II Memorial

Coordinates
38.88944, -77.04056
In one line
The World War II Memorial honors the 16 million Americans who served in the war. Designed by Friedrich Saint Florian and dedicated in 2004, its 56 granite pillars, twin Atlantic and Pacific arches and fountain-filled plaza sit at the heart of the National Mall.

9. Smithsonian Institution Building (the Castle)

Coordinates
38.88875, -77.026
In one line
Built of red sandstone and finished in 1855, the Smithsonian Institution Building, known as the Castle, was the original home of the Smithsonian. Designed by James Renwick Junior in a Norman Revival style, its towers anchor the National Mall.

10. National Air and Space Museum

Coordinates
38.88833, -77.02
In one line
Opened in 1976, the National Air and Space Museum displays the Wright Flyer, the Spirit of Saint Louis, and the Apollo 11 command module. Designed by Gyo Obata in marble and glass, it ranks among the world's most visited aerospace museums.

11. National Museum of Natural History

Coordinates
38.8913, -77.0259
In one line
Opened in 1910, the National Museum of Natural History holds over 145 million specimens, among the largest collections on Earth. Its Beaux-Arts rotunda frames a towering African elephant, while the Hope Diamond and dinosaur halls draw millions each year.

12. National Museum of American History

Coordinates
38.89111, -77.03
In one line
Opened in 1964, the National Museum of American History preserves the nation's story in objects, from the original Star-Spangled Banner to the ruby slippers. Designed by McKim, Mead and White, it gathers icons of American political, social, and cultural life.

13. National Museum of African American History and Culture

Coordinates
38.89111, -77.03278
In one line
Opened in 2016, the National Museum of African American History and Culture is the first national museum devoted to the Black American experience. David Adjaye's bronze corona facade crowns galleries that descend deep underground from slavery to the present.

14. Library of Congress

Coordinates
38.88861, -77.00472
In one line
Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the largest library on Earth, holding over 170 million items. Its Beaux-Arts Thomas Jefferson Building, completed in 1897, dazzles with a soaring Great Hall, mosaics, and a domed Main Reading Room.

15. Supreme Court Building

Coordinates
38.89056, -77.00444
In one line
A gleaming neoclassical temple of white marble across from the Capitol, completed in 1935. Home of the nation's highest court, its west pediment carries the famous promise: Equal Justice Under Law.

16. Washington National Cathedral

Coordinates
38.93056, -77.07083
In one line
A vast Gothic Revival cathedral begun in 1907 and finished in 1990, crowning a hill in the city. The sixth-largest cathedral in the world, it holds state funerals, a moon-rock window, and a Darth Vader gargoyle.

17. Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Coordinates
38.89111, -77.04778
In one line
A V-shaped wall of black granite, dedicated in 1982 and designed by student Maya Lin. Its polished panels list more than 58,000 names of Americans killed or missing in the Vietnam War, mirroring the faces of those who read them.

18. Korean War Veterans Memorial

Coordinates
38.88778, -77.04722
In one line
Dedicated in 1995, this memorial honors the often-forgotten Korean War.

19. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

Coordinates
38.88611, -77.04417
In one line
Dedicated in 2011 beside the Tidal Basin, this memorial honors civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. A 30-foot figure emerges from a Stone of Hope, drawn from his most famous speech, ringed by a wall of his words.

20. Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

Coordinates
38.88389, -77.04444
In one line
Dedicated in 1997 along the Tidal Basin, this sprawling memorial unfolds as four open-air rooms, one for each of Franklin Roosevelt's terms. Waterfalls, bronze sculptures, and carved quotations trace the Depression and World War.

21. Tidal Basin

Coordinates
38.88417, -77.03917
In one line
An artificial inlet completed in the 1890s to flush the Washington Channel, this 107-acre basin is now ringed by famous memorials and Japanese cherry trees, drawing huge crowds each spring for the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

22. National Archives Building

Coordinates
38.89278, -77.02306
In one line
A monumental Neoclassical temple completed in 1937 by architect John Russell Pope, this building safeguards the nation's founding documents and stands behind a colonnade of towering Corinthian columns on Constitution Avenue.

23. Ford's Theatre

Coordinates
38.89667, -77.02583
In one line
The site where John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, this restored nineteenth-century playhouse now serves as both a working theatre and a museum tracing Lincoln's life and assassination.

24. Union Station

Coordinates
38.89731, -77.00626
In one line
Opened in 1907 to a Beaux-Arts design by Daniel Burnham, this grand railway terminal still serves travelers beneath a barrel-vaulted Main Hall, its ceiling soaring ninety-six feet above marble floors and allegorical statuary.

26. Smithsonian American Art Museum

Coordinates
38.8978, -77.0233
In one line
Sharing the Greek Revival Old Patent Office Building, this Smithsonian museum holds one of the world's largest collections of American art, spanning the colonial era to today across more than seven thousand artists.

27. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Coordinates
38.8882, -77.023
In one line
A bold cylindrical drum raised on four piers, this Smithsonian museum of modern and contemporary art opened in 1974, designed by Gordon Bunshaft around the collection of financier Joseph H. Hirshhorn.

28. National Museum of the American Indian

Coordinates
38.8883, -77.0166
In one line
A flowing limestone building shaped like wind-carved rock, this Smithsonian museum opened in 2004 to present the histories and living cultures of Native peoples through their own voices and perspectives.

29. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Coordinates
38.88667, -77.0325
In one line
Near the Washington Monument, this national memorial and museum documents the Nazi genocide of European Jews. Dedicated in 1993 and designed by James Ingo Freed, it pairs a chronological permanent exhibition with the hexagonal Hall of Remembrance.

30. National Museum of Asian Art

Coordinates
38.888, -77.0268
In one line
The Smithsonian's national museum of Asian art on the Mall unites the Freer Gallery, opened in 1923, and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, opened in 1987. Together they hold roughly 45,000 works spanning ancient to contemporary Asia.

31. Arlington National Cemetery

Coordinates
38.87917, -77.07222
In one line
Established in 1864 on Robert E. Lee's confiscated estate, this 639-acre military cemetery in Virginia holds approximately 400,000 graves. It is home to the guarded Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and President Kennedy's eternal flame.

32. The Pentagon

Coordinates
38.87083, -77.055
In one line
Headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, this vast five-sided building in Virginia was built in just 16 months and completed in 1943. Each outer wall runs 921 feet, enclosing 17. 5 miles of corridors and a five-acre courtyard.

33. Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Coordinates
38.93333, -77.00056
In one line
The largest Catholic church in North America, this Neo-Byzantine and Romanesque basilica was begun in 1920 and largely completed by 1959. Its mosaic-covered domes, more than 80 chapels, and towering form crown the campus near Catholic University.

34. National Building Museum

Coordinates
38.8975, -77.0181
In one line
Housed in the Renaissance Revival former Pension Building, completed in 1887, this museum of architecture and design is famed for its Great Hall and eight colossal Corinthian columns. It was founded as a museum in 1980.

35. Lafayette Square

Coordinates
38.89953, -77.03656
In one line
A seven-acre public park directly north of the White House, named in 1824 for the Marquis de Lafayette. At its center stands Clark Mills' 1853 equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson, the first bronze statue cast in the United States.

36. Eastern Market

Coordinates
38.88639, -76.99667
In one line
Eastern Market is the last survivor of Washington's original public markets, a brick Italianate hall on Capitol Hill where vendors have sold fresh meat, produce, and crafts since 1873. It remains the neighborhood's lively weekend heart.

37. Georgetown

Coordinates
38.90944, -77.065
In one line
Georgetown is Washington's oldest neighborhood, founded in 1751 as a Potomac tobacco port four decades before the capital itself. Its cobbled streets, Federal rowhouses, canal towpath, and busy M Street shopping district make it a beloved riverside enclave.

38. Dupont Circle

Coordinates
38.90944, -77.04333
In one line
Dupont Circle is a landmark traffic circle and park where three grand avenues meet, centered on a 1921 marble fountain. Ringed by Gilded Age mansions and embassies, the surrounding neighborhood is one of Washington's liveliest cultural quarters.

39. Adams Morgan

Coordinates
38.92261, -77.04266
In one line
Adams Morgan is Washington's bohemian, multicultural quarter, named for two once-segregated schools that merged in the 1950s. Centered on 18th Street and Columbia Road, it pulses with immigrant restaurants, murals, music venues, and the city's most spirited nightlife.

40. U Street Corridor

Coordinates
38.917, -77.0288
In one line
The U Street Corridor was once Washington's "Black Broadway," a thriving hub of jazz, theaters, and Black-owned businesses that nurtured Duke Ellington. Devastated in 1968 and reborn after 1991, it is now a vibrant nightlife and cultural district.

41. Rock Creek Park

Coordinates
38.9575, -77.045
In one line
Rock Creek Park is a vast wooded valley running through northwest Washington, established by Congress in 1890 as one of America's oldest urban national parks.

42. Ben's Chili Bowl

Coordinates
38.9172, -77.0288
In one line
Ben's Chili Bowl is a beloved U Street institution serving its famous half-smokes since 1958. Founded by Ben and Virginia Ali, it survived the 1968 riots, fed presidents and stars, and remains an enduring symbol of Black Washington.

43. Congressional Cemetery

Coordinates
38.88139, -76.97778
In one line
Founded in 1807, this 35-acre burial ground holds over 65,000 graves, from John Philip Sousa to J. Edgar Hoover. Its sandstone cenotaphs honor lost members of Congress, and dog walkers now keep it alive.

44. United States National Arboretum

Coordinates
38.91028, -76.96722
In one line
Established in 1927, this 451-acre living museum in northeast Washington gathers azaleas, ancient bonsai, and Asian gardens. Its hilltop row of 22 Corinthian columns, salvaged from the old Capitol, draws visitors across an open meadow.

45. Meridian Hill Park

Coordinates
38.921, -77.0357
In one line
Opened in 1936, this Italianate park crowns a hill north of the White House with a 13-basin cascade, North America's longest. Known locally as Malcolm X Park, it hosts a beloved Sunday drum circle dating to the 1960s.

46. The Wharf

Coordinates
38.87939, -77.0247
In one line
Opened in 2017 along the Washington Channel, this waterfront district blends piers, restaurants, and music halls with the Municipal Fish Market, which has sold seafood here since 1805, the nation's oldest open-air fish market.

47. Union Market

Coordinates
38.9086, -76.9974
In one line
Rooted in a 1931 wholesale terminal market, this northeast Washington food hall reopened in 2012 with dozens of vendors selling oysters, gelato, and local fare, anchoring a fast-changing district near Gallaudet University.

48. Old Stone House

Coordinates
38.90556, -77.06056
In one line
Built in 1765 in Georgetown, this fieldstone dwelling is the oldest unchanged building in Washington. A false legend that George Washington worked here once saved it from demolition; the National Park Service now preserves it.

49. Chinatown

Coordinates
38.8998, -77.0217
In one line
Centered on H Street since the 1930s, this small district is crowned by the Friendship Archway, painted with 272 dragons. Gentrified and shrinking, it still keeps Chinese signage and a handful of restaurants.

50. Theodore Roosevelt Island

Coordinates
38.89722, -77.06417
In one line
An 88-acre wooded island in the Potomac, reachable only on foot, honoring the 26th president. Forest trails and tidal marsh surround a formal memorial plaza with a towering bronze statue and granite tablets carved with his words.

51. Shaw

Coordinates
38.91114, -77.02192
In one line
A historic Northwest neighborhood that grew from freed-slave settlements into the heart of Black Washington. Home to Howard University, the U Street corridor, and figures like Duke Ellington, it has weathered riot, decline, and reinvention.

52. Dumbarton Oaks

Coordinates
38.9142, -77.0633
In one line
A Georgetown estate and research institute renowned for its Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art, its terraced gardens by Beatrix Farrand, and the 1944 conference that helped shape the United Nations. Now part of Harvard University.

Roots Earth in short

Roots Earth has audio stories about 5,665 places in 130 cities, 25 countries and 6 regions, written by local people.

  • No account
  • Download a city's audio, then it plays without a connection
  • Audio stories in English and German in every city, and in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch and Albanian in 126 of the 130 cities

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