Views From the Monument

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Ever since I first visited the Washington, DC in elementary school, the Washington Monument came to indicate the end of long trip. Riding in a school bus from Richmond, the monument was the first sign of DC as we passed through Pentagon City, Crystal City, and the Virginia suburbs. It’s the first part of DC we could actually see from afar. Then came the Jefferson Memorial, Capitol Building, Lincoln Memorial, and the rest of downtown.

Looking up to the monument is something one can do from almost anywhere in the DC area.

Looking down from it is another story. I recently visited the top of the monument and wanted to share a few photos! But, the fact that I was actually able to ride the elevator up to the top was somewhat a feat in and of itself.

When an 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered 85 miles from DC hit in 2011, the Washington Monument was one of the buildings damaged to the extent that it needed to close to visitors immediately. The repairs, mostly to stones near the top of the memorial, took nearly two and a half years. After reopening in 2014, the lone elevator that takes visitors up and down the 555 tall obelisk failed more than two dozen times over the course of the next two years. Starting in 2016 the monument has been closed intermittently for various reasons, including the pandemic. Here’s a very brief timeline:

August 28, 2011: Closed due to damage from the earthquake
May 12, 2014: Opened to great fanfare after all earthquake repairs are complete.
September 26, 2016: Closed after the elevator failed multiple times since 2014.
September 19, 2019: Opened, with a new elevator, electrical, and mechanical systems. The National Parks Service also debuted a small security screening building at the base of the monument.
March 14, 2020: Closed due to public health implications related to the pandemic.
October 1, 2020: Opened with new pandemic mitigation protocols.
December 18-21, 2020: Closed and reopened due to a covid-19 outbreak related to a private tour inside the monument.
January 11, 2021: Closed indefinitely for the upcoming inauguration and the ongoing pandemic.
July 14, 2021: Opened.
August 16, 2021: Closed after a lightening strike caused the electrical systems to malfunction.
August 28, 2021: Opened and remains so to this day.

Did you get all of that?

Since August 28, 2021 the Washington Monument has been open to visitors with timed entry passes. You can secure a ticket on the Recreation.gov website the day before your visit. At this point, there are no same-day tickets available.

Fun fact: When complete, the Monument became the tallest building in the world passing Cologne Cathedral in Germany by 40 feet. That distinction lasted just five years when it was surpassed (at almost twice the height) by the the Eiffel Tower.

For even more photos from the top (40+) and more fun facts about the Monument, check out the Attucks Adams Patreon. And a hearty thanks to all the Patrons who have supported my work over the past year. You are appreciated!

National World War I Memorial: First Look

One hundred four years after the United States Congress declared war on Germany and entered World War I, the first national World War I Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC. Known as The Great War or The War to End All Wars, what began as a Europe-centric conflict quickly spread to include sovereign and colonized nations worldwide in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas.

After resisting entering the war during his first term as President, Woodrow Wilson eventually asked Congress to declare war against Germany in April 1917, which they did. The war, which began July 1914, ended 19 months later, on November 11, 1918.

4,734,991 U.S. Americans served during World War I. With 116,516 total deaths, it remains one of the deadliest conflicts in United Stated history, leaving only World War II and the Civil War with more total deaths during a single conflict. The new memorial has been years in the making and is unique among war memorials in DC.

See the full 24 photo set on our Attucks Adams Patreon page. That’s also where you will find additional posts featuring interpretation, historical context, and my final observations about this newest addition to the memorial landscape of Washington, DC. A huge thanks to all Patrons for making this work possible!

Patreon Preview: National Native American Veterans Memorial

One characteristic of the National Mall I really appreciate is that there are dozens of smaller spots among the museums and large memorials that end up being excellent stages for more intimate spaces. Whether that space is used as a farmers market like the one hosted next to the USDA or a public garden like Haupt Garden at the Smithsonian Castle, there are pockets of land available for new additions to the living, civic work of art that is the National Mall.

The newly opened National Native American Veterans Memorial is in one of those spaces… (con’t)

Read more on our Patreon page including more than a dozen images: patreon.com/attucskadams.

Video: Two Minutes at "In America"

Two Minutes at "In America" from Attucks Adams | Tim Wright on Vimeo.

Capturing the quiet sounds and remarkable images of Suzanne Firstenberg's "In America.”

The installation honors the, to date, 225,000 Americans who have died from covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. Each of the individual flags represents an individual person who has passed away from covid-19. Some flags have been planted by relatives of those who passed. Others were placed by Suzanne herself, by a cast of volunteers, or visitors to the memorial.

This installation is planned to run from October 23 - November 6, 2020. It’s located near the DC Armory and RFK Stadium. The closest address is 1900 East Capitol Street NE, for the adjacent parking lot.

For more information on the artist and installation, visit suzannefirstenberg.com.

First Look: Eisenhower Memorial

President Dwight D. Eisenhower's memorial was dedicated under a light rain, in front of a small live audience on September 17. It's the latest memorial to a president in the District, and the first since 1997 when Franklin Roosevelt's memorial was dedicated next to the Tidal Basin.

Noted architect Frank Gehry designed the memorial park and a number of sculptors created the two main constituent pieces:

• Statuary: Three depiction of Eisenhower;  1) as a child, 2) as a civilian leader (President), and 3) as a military leader (General). Perhaps the most convoluted and controversial part of the memorial's development regarded how Eisenhower himself would be depicted. We ended up getting three depictions. 

• Tapestry: Looming over the park is a massive sculpture the memorial foundation describes as a tapestry. It's a metal screed over 400 feet long and 60 feet tall. The panels form an abstract depiction of France's Normandy coastline. Representative of nature's peaceful beauty after war time, it is intended to paint Eisenhower as a bringer of peace.

I'm looking forward to creating my own interpretation of this seeming straightforward and vast memorial. Location, layout, materials, historical context, and numerous other factors will all contribute to the narrative. This will be a great project to fold into new downtown tours debuting, well, whenever I'm able to comfortably tour in-person again. For now, enjoy the photos.

The full set of 15+ photos is available on our Patreon page!