Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

Known simply as FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt guided America through the Great Depression and World War II as our nation's 32nd president.

It traces 12 years of U.S. history through a sequence of four outdoor rooms and gardens (one for each of FDR's terms of office), animated by water, stone, and sculpture. As one moves from room to room, the waterfalls become larger and more complex, reflecting the increasing complexity of a presidency marked by the vast upheavals of economic depression and world war.

Twenty two quotations from Roosevelt's presidency are engraved in the red South Dakota granite walls of the memorial.

Fala, the Scottish Terrier, was quite possibly America’s favorite presidential pet. So popular, in fact, that his statue receives a prominent position next to the statue of his owner, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in the third room of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The bronze statue of Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, Fala’s full name, is the only presidential pet honored in such a way.

This memorial is located between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, along the tidal basin. Metro Stations: Foggy

Bottom, Smithsonian

DC War Memorial

Chances are you pass it at least once during your time in DC. It doesn’t stick out, there are never large crowds around it; it doesn’t look anything like the massive memorials and monuments you have been visiting. But just steps away from Independence Avenue, surrounded by a grove of trees, sits the DC War Memorial - a DC hidden gem.

Officially named the District of Columbia War Memorial, it commemorates the 26,000 citizens of Washington, D.C., who served during World War I. The domed peristyle Doric temple made of Vermont marble stands as the only memorial on the National Mall dedicated to local residents.

Inscribed in the base of the memorial are the 499 names of Washingtonians who lost their lives during World War I. The structure was intended to serve as a bandstand and is large enough to accommodate the entire U.S. Marine Band. In 1931, President Herbert Hoover dedicated the memorial in an address at 11 am. That was the same hour—the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month—the war ended, otherwise known as Armistice Day- or the official end of the World War.

After many years of neglect, the memorial was restored and reopened in November 2011, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

Located on the National Mall just west of 17th Street. Metro Station: Smithsonian Free admission.

The DC War Memorial was the first memorial on the Mall to list women and African Americans with white men.