PLEASE, if you are ever in the surrounding DMV area, visit this museum. Walking through the…read morecountry's most active slave and sex trafficked houses for Black Americans was MOVING! To say the least. It only took about an hour and a half in time, including speaking to the staff of additional information and it should 100% be visited.

Visiting the Freedom House Museum is important if you call the D.C. area home or live anywhere in…read morethe U.S. Once the country's most active trading post that trafficked thousands of Black Americans, the museum tells the story of America's most evil element while honoring the people who fell victim to it. Open Thursday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday and Monday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., the museum cost $5 for non-Alexandria residents and non-veterans. A staff member will give you a brief overview of the museum and let you experience the three floors of exhibits. The main exhibit talks about the history of the building, but in a way that focuses on the people trafficked and their impact on the community. The second floor showcases impactful Black Alexandrians throughout the decades. The top floor has an art exhibit and a reflection room for those who want to process the museum's history. It's a powerful museum and one worth taking seriously. Park for free on the street outside and get ready to learn and have your heart broken for the evil humans put on fellow humans.

Back at the Heurich House for the Bock Release and it is delicious! The Marzen is great too. Love…read morebeing a member of this museum. Will be back again soon!

Really great vibe and scenery in the Biergarten! I was there on a Thursday evening when it was…read morechilly, so not too many people around. When the weather is perfect, expect this place to be packed, though. Among their beer and wine selection, they have the Anxo Liberty Apple Cider, which is good if you're okay with hoppy things. Staff was nice and quick with service. We arrived just as the sun was setting, so the Biergarten gave off a romantic, warm glow. With lights strewn about, the mood into the night was just as lovely. It's great place to chill out, but only until 8pm. I wish they were open at least an hour later!

The museum exhibit starts from history of the community digs on its (Lee Street) past which also…read morestarted the background of The City of Alexandria became a leader in historic preservation. We found a hidden gem that located on the 3rd floor of Torpedo Factory Art Center which provides historical stories in a quaint space. Not only that, it's also can be an interesting short archeology field trip for certain ages kids. The museum gift shop available as the museum time. Come and check it out, you won't be disappointed!

On the third floor of Alexandria's Torpedo Factory, an old torpedo factory that's now the country's…read morelargest collection of working-artists' open studios, is a one room-museum about the city's history and archaeology. With free admission, take the time to read about Alexandria's archaeology and look at some historic artifacts. There's a small store and several interactive exhibits that teach kids about archaeology. They even have free coloring pages for kids!

Selma & Karen were awesome at this museum, and I had to take the time to highlight them!!…read more This museum is small, but so mighty! $3 for out of state residents to come (free for those located locally), and I took about an hour and a half here.. between talking to the staff and reading the facts in the 2-rooms included and browsing the gift shop. PLEASE take the time to visit and support your local and farther out museums, it's so important!

Recently reopened after a three-year closure for renovations (and the pandemic), the Alexandria…read moreBlack History Museum is a small, yet powerful museum that's open Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. After visiting on a Friday afternoon, here's my experience. 1) Admission: It's free for Alexandria residents, Blue Star families and Key to the City holders and $3 for everyone else. No need to reserve tickets ahead of time. Just walk in. I had the museum to myself. 2) Exhibits: The museum has two small rooms with exhibits. The first one is mainly reading with some artifacts about the history of Black Alexandria. There's a small area for kids with a scavenger hunt and a craft. The second room talks about Alexandria's response to the murder of George Floyd. The museum has a small bookstore worth exploring, especially if you like reading books. 3) Space: It's housed in a library for Black residents during segregation that was built after a sit-in at another library. 4) Neighborhood: There are many other historical sites nearby as well as cafes and restaurants. 5) Parking: There's no parking lot, but free street parking is usually easy to find nearby.

For those fascinated by history, the Dr. Samuel A Mudd House Museum is a wonderful site to visit…read more After having read the well researched book "American Brutus" I was already fascinated by the motivation & details regarding the John Wilkes Booth assassination of Abraham Lincoln. But I had no idea that I was staying near the area where he fled for treatment of the broken leg he received when he jumped from the Presidential Box in Ford's Theater to the stage below. In Charles County, MD for wedding showers in La Plata & Port Tobacco, I was staying at a convenient Residence Inn in Waldorf. Imagine my delight when the Mother of the Bride suggested a tour of the nearby Mudd House. The historical events I had read about were all around me. The docent we had at the Mudd House was extremely knowledgeable & interesting. She pointed out that some of the furnishings were original to the house, including the sofa on which John Wilkes Booth lay injured. Her knowledge, beginnings with Booth's history as an actor in Baltimore, validated the research in the fascinating book I read. Although Mudd had been seen in Washington with 3 of Booth's conspirators, no connection to the plot was ever found. Booth had fled Dr, Mudd's house the following day into Virginia. Nonetheless Dr Mudd was found guilty of conspiracy & imprisoned, finally being pardoned by President Andrew Johnson. He died in 1883 & is buried at St. Mary's Church in Charles County, There are many Mudd descendants remaining in the area. Some I met at the wedding festivities. The Mudd house is easily reached via either Alexandria, VA or DC by crossing the Potomac to the National Harbor then on to Waldorf. My path to Charles County has always been taking the backroads from Coastal Virginia, passing many historic buildings & landmarks as a bonus. The Dr. Samuel A Mudd House is open for tours from spring through fall on Wednesdays & Saturdays 11am - 4pm & Sundays from noon - 4pm. The last tour begins at 3:30pm. As an epilogue, one afternoon I was driving home from an event in rural Virginia between Hampton Roads & Northern Virginia. Not familiar with the area, I was enjoying the exploration. On a stretch of road that was heavily treed I spotted a historical marker ahead. I always brake for historical markers. It was the location of the capture, shooting & death of Booth. The Garrett Farm & Tobacco barn where he was hiding has been long lost to time. All that remains is the historical marker. All serious historians should visit the Mudd House. It's a rare piece of the past that still remains intact.

Great tour, pretty reasonably priced, and the tour guide was dressed nicely with a bow tie and was…read morevery knowledgeable on Dr Mudd. It was really round the clock touring, as when we arrived, they had us join the end of a concluding tour, then at the end of our tour, a group joined us, and I was impressed that they had a good amount of people interested in seeing the site John Wilkes Booth set his injuries then continue to flee after Lincoln's assissination. The guide wasn't a Mudd apologist but did provide information what is was guilty and not guilty on with details of his prison stint and his barely escaping the death penalty. It's an interesting historical note in such an important US event for this small-town doctor to be so impactful that we still want to learn and see a primary location. The house is still pretty intact with possessions from the Mudd family and rooms to view upstairs and downstairs. The gift shop is small but has some good souvenirs. It is down a two lane road in some farm lands, but it's worth the drive. There are a couple of other buildings on the site, but the whole thing should only take 1-2 hours. The hours/seasons are a bit limited, so I recommend calling first to double check, and then it's a very enjoyable tour.

Very cool museum in Old Town. At first glance you may not think this would be interesting but it…read morereally was. So much of the interior is original along with the bottles, counters, so on. The history of the shop goes back many years. The have a small gift are with some cute items. Highly recommend you stop in.

Unique and interesting place! Not many museums like this in the USA, so was very glad to have…read morefounded and visited it! The staff is wonderful, and the guided tour is informative and a must, and also the only way to go the second floor. If you are in the area, highly recommend!

I enjoyed this museum. It's located in The National Mall of D.C. and has free admission. I believe…read moreit's open every day of the week. It was one of the museums open until 11 p.m. for the weekend of Juneteenth as part of the country's 250th national birthday celebration and summer solstice. I will definitely be back to explore the exhibits and all it has to offer because I only experienced one floor during my first visit June 2026. I was here under two hours and you need way more time to explore all floors of the museum. This museum is an eclectic mix of archives and info that represents different parts of the United States of America. I don't know if "history" is the right description or name for it. The museum seems to provide random factoids and capture iconic eras and everyday parts of life, even for modern times. Maybe National Museum of the American "Culture" or "Zeitgeist" would be a fitting title. There's a section dedicated to aquatic life, American automobile history, Latin America, food, and other exhibits I've yet to see. America's a mixture of cultures and people and influences that have contributed to its history, politics, and current way of being. The museum represents that interesting mix.

This was an interesting visit, and not the most successful of the museums we visited. My children…read moredidn't like this one at all. The one thing I wanted to see wasn't in rotation (Horn & Hardart restaurant). The displays were not excited to my kids in the least, and in the entertainment department they ended up wandering into the small rooms showing footage of racist clips- yikes! The museum was underwhelming- with vast empty spaces in between exhibits. Some of the formatting of the exhibits seemed designed to elicit a feeling or opinion and less about the audience making their own observations. I enjoyed seeing Julia Child's kitchen recreation and all of the information about her life- that was fun- but I went by myself. The kids did have fun in the innovation lab on the first floor, which had a lot of interesting hands on things for kids to do. They spent at least an hour here before tiring out. I would definitely take them back to the

Located across from the Fashion Centre in Pentagon City, The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)…read moreMuseum is excellent and a worthwhile visit. It's also free. Plan on taking an hour for your visit. But to enter the museum, you must go through airport-style security, i.e. show your ID, take all the stuff out of your pockets (plus take off your belt if you are wearing one) and go through a scanner. This makes sense because this also the headquarters of the DEA. Security is so tight that even after going through the scanner there's another security checkpoint at the elevators that go to the DEA offices (the museum is on the first floor so there's no need to take an elevator). The museum itself is clean, modern and attractive with lots of interesting exhibits. I liked the interactive exhibit where you role play as an agent seeking to nab the supplier of drugs that are dropped off at a car wash. I was kinda surprised to see a photo here of the sheriff from the Washington State community I grew up in picking/confiscating poppies in a field. I really appreciated that the language used in the exhibits was objective and matter-of-fact. You don't see hysterical 1930's-style Reefer Madness propaganda. I was the only museum visitor during my time there. Ironically, after I left the museum, I saw a woman wearing a government badge smoking a joint out on the sidewalk nearby (to be fair, I don't know if this lady was a DEA employee).

DC is always good for museums, and if you watch Law & Order or any other police shows on TV, this…read morefree museum is a good spot to spend an hour if you're in the Arlington area. Located in the lobby of the DEA building, I had to go through a security checkpoint to get in. The space itself is small, but doing the interactive exhibits makes it a full hour. The majority of the museum consists of static displays of items such as DEA raid jackets, weaponry and equipment as well as items seized during raids of (in)famous criminals. They also have various educational posters about drugs, their history and street names. It is similar to the DARE programs a lot of us took in Elementary School. The best part is the interactive exhibit where you get to take part in a simulated surveillance operation. The options and paths in the exhibit are pretty well organized. This museum would be better if there was someone, at least a Public Affairs Officer around for questions..or even cooler, a masked agent to talk about activities.