Washington DC - Smithsonian/Museums

Well, where do I start with the Smithsonian Museums? There are 15 or 16 individual museums ranging from american history to modern art. We knew we couldn't hit them all so we tried to see the ones we thought we'd be the most interested in. I guess the best place to start is with the Smithsonian Castle. The castle is the Institution's original home and the easiest landmark to find on the National Mall. James Smithson was a wealthy English scientist who devoted his life to research. Although he had never visited the United States, in his will, Smithson bequeated his estate to found an establishment in Washington, D.C., dedicated to "the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Smithson not only left his fortune to this purpose, but also a collection of minerals, as well as his scientific library. On July 4th, while Nancy, George and I were waiting for the fireworks to take place, we visited two of the more popular museums - the Museum of National Air and Space and the National Museum of Natural History. Since the National Air and Space Museum opened in 1976, it has been the most-visited museum in the world. The museum tells the story of flight from the earliest days of balloon flight, to the sands of Kitty Hawk, to the current explorations of space. Here we saw lots of "firsts" - the Spirit of St. Louis in which Charles Lindbergh completed his first solo nonstop transatlantic flight; the Apollo 11 command module, Columbia, that carried home the astronauts from the first landing on the Moon, and SpaceShipOne, the first privately built, piloted vehicle to reach space.

The National Museum of American History was closed due to renovations and will be reopened in the summer of 2008 but they did move several of their most popular exhibits over to the Museum of Natural History so we got to see some of those. One exhibit that we looked at was Dorothy's ruby red slippers and the scarecrow costume from the Wizard of Oz. We learned that in the original book, Dorothy's slippers were silver, but to show up better in the movie on the yellow brick road, they were changed to ruby red. Ray Bolger wore the patchwork outfit as the Scarecrow. The sponge rubber mask, resembling burlap, became stifling under the hot lights and frequently had to be replaced.

We also saw the Hope Diamond! What a disappointment! I thought it was going to be this huge diamond and instead I saw a blue diamond made into a necklace. It was beautiful, but not what I was expecting to see at all. I'll let you be the judge of whether it is what you would have expected.In addition to the Treasures of American History that were on display, the Natural Museum of History focuses on wonderful displays of animals, plants, fossils, rocks, minerals and cultural artifacts. The total area of the museum is more than 18 football fields.

The National Museum of the American Indian is home to one of the largest and most diverse collections of American Indian art and cultural objects in the world. The 250,000 square foot museum showcases objects including beadwork, pottery, textiles, paintings, sculptures and more. One of the highlights were the beaded dresses, there were 55 in all.A different type of museum for us, was the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It is dedicated to exhibiting american crafts from the 19th to the 21st centuries. The permanent collection features works of contemporary American craft in glass, ceramic, metal, wood and fiber. This was Washington's first art museum. We thought the "Game Fish" was quite unique as it is made up entirely of things children play with such as yoyo's, dolls, balls, etc.

We also visited the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. The eye-catching architecture sets it apart from the other museums on the National Mall. It was a bit too "far out"for our tastes, but we felt we should be subjected to a little of everything.

The last museum we visited was the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture. This building includes the National Portrait Gallery which houses impromtu pictures of all the presidents as well as formal portraits and the Smithsonian American Art Museum which is paintings and sculptures which captures the aspirations, character and imagination of the American people over three centuries. More than 7,000 artists are represented in the museum's collection. To lift the spirits of the American people after the war, President Roosevelt commissioned the piano to be painted and moved to the White House.We saw several other monumental places, such as Ford's Theatre where on the night of April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. At approximately 10:15 p.m., when only one actor, Harry Hawk, was on stage and the audience was laughing, John Wilkes Booth entered the Presidental box and shot Lincoln.

After stabbing Major Rathbone in the left arm, Booth made good his escape by jumping to the stage. As he jumped, Booth got entangled in the decorations for the Presidential box and landed off balance on the stage and broke a small bone in his left leg. He hobbled across the stage, mounted his horse in the back alley and escaped from the city. The unconscious President was carried across the street to 453 Tenth Street and laid in the back bedroom. His wife, Mary, and son, Capt. Robert Todd Lincoln, waited in the front room. Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m., April 15, 1865.John Wilkes Booth, a well known actor, was a Southern sympathizer who saw Lincoln as the source of the South's problems. In late 1864 he began laying plans for kidnapping Lincoln. An early recruit was John Surratt. His mother, Mary Surratt, ran a boardinghouse where most of the conspirators' meetings took place. By 1865, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and Lewis Powell had joined Booth's band. An attempt to seize Lincoln on March 17 failed. After Lee's surrender, Booth put together his final desperate plan, Powell would kill Secretary of State William Henry Seward, Atzerodt would shoot Vice President Andrew Johnson, and Booth would assassinate Lincoln. Only Booth was successful. When the pain in his left leg became unbearable, Booth rode to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd to have it set. On April 26 while Booth and Herold hid in a tobacco barn near Port Royal, VA., pursuing Union troops surrounded them. After Herold surrendered, Booth was shot and killed while still in the barn, which had been set on fire by the soldiers in an effort to force Booth out. The other conspirators were soon arrested; their trial began May 10 and ended June 29, 1865. Atzerodt, Herold, Powell, and Mrs. Surratt received death sentences and were hanged July 7, 1865. Arnold and O'Laughlin who were involved in the inital kidnapping conspiracy, were given life sentences as was Dr. Mudd. Ed Spangler, a stage hand at Ford's who held Booth's horse, received six years of hard labor. All four were sent to Fort Jefferson in Florida to serve their sentences. O'Laughlin died of yellow fever in 1867 and President Andrew Johnson pardoned the others in 1869.

As you can see, there is no shortage of things to do, see and learn in this city. Each evening when we got home, we were exhausted,not only physically but mentally as well. Stay tuned, there is still more on the horizon. We've got three more days before we leave and we want to make the most of it. Though our feet and knees are feeling the strain, our minds are still wanting to learn more! Wish you were here with us to experience this great city and meet some of the wonderful occupants. Everyone is very helpful and willing to give directions at a moment's notice. Life truly is good!