We've pointed out some tours in the past, but here's one you can do from your computer (or your smart phone, as you actually tour the neighborhood). Curated by the National Archives and run through Historypin, a website that allows users to "share small glimpses of the past and to build up the huge story of human history," the tour invites you to "witness the past in modern-day Washington, DC."The map route you'll be following along with starts up north at 7th and K and works its way through Penn Quarter down to the National Archives.
Stops include the Carnegie Library, now the DC Historical Society; the Statue commemorating Louis Daguerre, on the grounds of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery; the home and office of Belva Lockwood, first woman admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court bar; the United States' first telegraph office, operated by Samuel Morse; the Old Patent Office, now the Smithsonian American Art Museum; Ford's Theater in Lincoln's Time; Clara Barton's Missing Soldiers Office; Photographer Matthew Brady's Studio; Center Market in the present-day location of the National Archives; the National Gallery of Art, before it was built; and the National Archives and Records Administration.
The tour superimposes the old pictures on top of how the sites look now, while giving you a wealth of information about its history. For example, check out this image of the commemoration of the Daguerre statue placed right on top of how the National Gallery looks today:
You can start the tour right now, here.
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