On December 6, 1884, an 8.9-inch aluminum pyramid was placed atop the capstone of the Washington Monument. At the time, it was the largest piece of aluminum ever cast. The tip was briefly displayed at Tiffany’s in New York City before being sent along to D.C. for the Washington Monument’s eventual completion.

The Korean War Memorial — dedicated to those who served overseas in the conflict between 1950 and 1953 — features 19 stainless steel statues depicting soldiers of the armed forces. Of those 19 individual monuments, 14 are dedicated to members of the Army, three to the Marines, one to the Navy, and one to the Air Force.

Located to the southeast of the White House is a giant bronze equestrian statue dedicated to Civil War-era General William Tecumseh Sherman. This site was chosen for the memorial because it was said to have been the location where Sherman stood while reviewing returning Civil War troops in 1865. The memorial was officially dedicated by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1903.

Until recently, there was no official World War I memorial located on the National Mall. That changed in 2021, when a memorial opened on the former site of Pershing Park, named after World War I-era General John J. Pershing. A 58-foot-long sculpture titled “A Soldier’s Journey” is set to open as the memorial’s centerpiece in 2024.

President James Garfield served less than four months as Commander-in-Chief, but he was forever enshrined in a memorial near the Capitol that opened in 1887, six years after his death. The memorial features a nine-foot-tall statue of Garfield plus smaller representations of other roles he held throughout his life, such as a scholar and Major General during the Civil War.

The statue of Abraham Lincoln on display at his D.C. memorial was first carved in the Bronx in New York City. The project was undertaken by the Piccirilli brothers, a group known for creating the city’s Washington Square Arch. The brothers carved Lincoln’s likeness out of 28 individual blocks, which were assembled like a puzzle upon arriving in Washington.

Nestled between the Vietnam and World War II Memorials is Constitution Gardens, dedicated to the 56 individuals who signed the Declaration of Independence. The gardens contain an artificial lake, which in turn contains a memorial island at its center. On this island sits a stone bearing the etched signatures of the 56 men who signed that indelible document.

A 47-foot-tall marble monument, the District of Columbia War Memorial is dedicated to the 499 D.C. residents who have perished in battle since World War I. The structure was built at a diameter of 44 feet, making it large enough to accommodate the U.S. Marine Band.

Measuring 252 feet long, 71 feet wide, and 44 feet high, the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial features a statue of Grant atop his, flanked by other statue groups representing Cavalry and Artillery. Located at the edge of the U.S. Capitol’s Reflecting Pool, the massive statue is considered the largest equestrian memorial anywhere in the country.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial features the names of over 57,000 service members who lost their lives during the Vietnam War. This solemn site was designed by Yale architecture student Maya Lin, who conceived of the over 70 panels that now make up the wall’s “V” shape. It was dedicated in 1982, with a Vietnam Women’s Memorial added in 1993.

Located at the northern end of the National Mall, the White House has undergone several renovations during its existence. One such substantial effort was led by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who, in 1962, hosted an Emmy-winning television tour of the building titled “A Television Tour of the White House with Mrs. John F. Kennedy.”

Dedicated in 1878, 13 years after the American Civil War’s completion, the National Mall’s Peace Monument is specifically dedicated to naval deaths suffered during America’s darkest hour. The 44-foot-tall, white marble Peace Monument is located just adjacent to the U.S. Capitol, though it was initially intended to be built in Annapolis, Maryland, before D.C. became its permanent home.

The Stone of Hope sculpture stands 30 feet tall at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial — the first monument to a Black American on the National Mall. Commissioned by King’s college fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha in 1996, the memorial bears a line from his “I Have a Dream” speech: “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”

Dedicated in 2004, the World War II Memorial is divided into separate sections honoring America’s wartime efforts on both the Atlantic and Pacific fronts. The monument is highlighted by over 4,000 gold stars, each of which individually represents 100 of the some 405,399 Americans who lost their lives during the war.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial became one of the more recent additions to join the National Mall on September 17, 2020. The impressive memorial was designed by prominent architect Frank Gehry and features two distinct sculptures: one on the left depicting Eisenhower as President, and the other featuring Ike as a general during World War II.

The site of the Jefferson Memorial was originally a popular D.C. beach that was closed in 1925. After the beach’s closure, a competition was held to determine the architect of a future monument to honor Theodore Roosevelt. However the project ultimately fell through, and in 1934, FDR requested that a monument dedicated to Jefferson be built on the site instead.

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial contains four open-air “rooms,” each of which represent one of FDR’s four terms as President. The monument’s design features FDR sitting alongside his beloved pet dog Fala, who has a sculpture of his own. The memorial opened in 1997 featuring an elegant flowing design — a notable departure from the National Mall’s many monolithic structures.

In 1903, the Wright Brothers made history by taking flight for the first time in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and the aircraft they used on that day is on display at the National Mall’s National Air and Space Museum. The first manned flight on the Wright Flyer was a 12-second journey that spanned a distance of 120 feet, changing the course of aviation forever.

The Smithsonian Institution operates 10 individual museums found along the National Mall; however, the Postal Museum is not one of them. There are an additional four Smithsonian-run museums within 1.5 miles of the mall, and three other establishments in the surrounding vicinity accessible by public transport. These historic and educational institutions capture the history of America through their informative exhibitions.

The National Mall is a massive grassy expanse in downtown Washington, D.C. Its borders are largely formed by the U.S. Capitol to its east and the Lincoln Memorial to its west — the distance between those two sites is about two miles. The National Mall extends northward to the White House, and the Jefferson Memorial sits toward its southern end.