After Ford’s Theatre, we decided to head to the White House Visitor Center. We didn’t plan our trip to DC far enough in advance to schedule a tour of the actual White House through our Congressman but had heard that the visitor center was a neat experience.
There was some confusion about where the visitor center was actually located and our GPS seemed to be as confused as we were. We figured it would be next to or near the White House so we headed that way. We checked out the front of the White House before asking a security guard how to get to the Visitor Center. (There are multiple layers of fencing around the White House so it’s tough to get a good picture but the boys thought it was cool to see from afar.)
The guards seemed only slightly more knowledgeable about the visitor center’s whereabouts than we were but eventually we were told it was somewhere around the corner and across the street. So we headed off in that direction. I think our confusion stemmed from the fact that Pennsylvania Avenue is just a strange street. The street address of the visitor center is 1450 Pennsylvania Avenue and the White House’s address is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. You’d think it would be a straight shot to walk between the two but it is not. The street is not continuous – from the front of the White House you have to turn right on 15th street and walk 4 blocks to meet back up with Pennsylvania Ave. But don’t turn on the first Pennsylvania Avenue because there are two parallel Pennsylvania Avenues when the street splits around Pershing Park and Freedom Plaza (but somehow inexplicably has two way traffic on one of the sides). So confusing!
But in the end it was all worth it. We finally found the Visitor Center and it was great. The 16,000 square foot center is located inside the Department of Commerce Building and is part of the National Park Service. (Note that because this is a federal building, you will have to go through a security checkpoint to enter.) A 2 year, $12 million renovation of the center was completed in September 2014 and the results are fantastic. The room inside the historic 1930s building is beautiful – gorgeous painted archways run the length of the room and the intricate coffered ceiling is stunning.
The center has some great interactive exhibits. My kids both loved the touchscreen tour of the White House. They could click on different rooms in the building’s floor plan and see what they looked like while different Presidents were living there. They could also get additional information about different objects in the room (for example, a picture on the wall or the presidential seal on the carpet) by clicking on them. And they could virtually zoom around the room using the 360 view. They spent a lot of time on this part of the center and found it fascinating.
The center also has close to 100 artifacts from the White House on display, including the telegraph key that Lincoln used to to respond to General Ulysses S. Grant when Robert E. Lee surrendered to end the Civil War and the desk that FDR sat at while conducting his “Fireside Chats”. One of the things I found most entertaining was the display of kids’ letters to various Presidents. And the younger boys also found the exhibit about Presidents’ favorite foods highly entertaining. Who knew that President Garfield like squirrel soup?
At the very back of the center behind a partition is a small theater section which plays the 14 minute documentary “White House: Reflections from Within”. The film features personal stories from former residents of the White House. It was interesting to view the White House through the eyes of those who had lived there.
We spent about an hour inside the White House Visitor Center and really enjoyed ourselves. It was educational and had some really neat interactive exhibits. I recommend it to all visitors to DC, whether you get to tour the actual White House or not. It provides interesting history and perspective on the most famous house in America. And like many things in DC… it’s free!
