DC’s Most Obscure Monuments

Not all monuments are created equal. Here are some of our favorite unknown, funny, and outright ridiculous monuments in the District:

🚒 Monument to a Ran-Over Fireman (Glenwood Cemetery)

This unfortunately realistic monument is the grave of Benjamin C. Grenup who was run over by a hand-pulled fire water wagon. I, for one, would rather my headstone not depict exactly how I died.

🍺 Temperance Fountain (Penn Quarter)

In 1882, a wealthy dentist - Dr. Henry Cogswell - thought if people could get free cold water, they wouldn’t be tempted by saloons. Despite local dissent, he had the fountain installed. Surprise, surprise, no one stopped drinking booze, and the costly routine of filling the fountain with ice quickly fell to the wayside.

🎩 Washington Mini Monument (National Mall)

There’s a 12-foot-tall replica of the Washington Monument under a manhole beside the real one. Technically, it’s a Geodetic Control Point that’s used to synchronize maps. Usually these are simple rods, but this one was built in the 1880s to mirror its next door neighbor.

🚢 John Ericsson Memorial (Tidal Basin)

This memorial for the inventor of the screw propeller is Bill Nye’s favorite spot in D.C. “Think of all the propellers in your life. Your dishwasher has an impeller. Motorboats have propellers, airplanes run on propellers. It’s amazing. Every time I go to that thing, man, I just get chills,” he told us.

🏅 Boy Scout Memorial (The Ellipse)

This sculpture of a hulking, shirtless man following a young boy is undeniably a little uncomfortable. But despite appearances, the statue commemorates the Boy Scouts of America, not avatars landing on Earth.

💌 First Air Mail Marker (Tidal Basin)

This nondescript stone commemorates the U.S.’s first attempt to deliver mail by aircraft. The pilot went the wrong way twice, then needed an emergency landing just 25 miles from D.C. Luckily, the rock doesn’t depict this rather embarrassing event.