As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this summer, nowhere is embracing the milestone quite like Washington, D.C. At the heart of those celebrations is the National Mall, the expansive green space often referred to as “America’s Front Yard.” This summer, the Mall is entering a renaissance, with long-awaited museum openings, major new exhibitions, immersive historical experiences, and the return of iconic landmarks.
“It’s an exciting time to be in Washington, D.C.,” says Abeer Saha, co-curator of American Aspirations, a new Smithsonian exhibition that unifies objects and documents central to the nation’s story—from Martin Luther King Jr.’s hand-annotated copy of his “I Have A Dream” speech to gold flakes found at Sutter’s Mill, California, the site that launched the 1849 Gold Rush.
“Together these objects tell the story of a nation in pursuit of aspirational goals and dreams that are always a work in progress,” Saha says. The same could be said of everything happening on the National Mall this summer. There’s never been a better time to visit.
The Lincoln Memorial Undercroft
Opens June 25
This June, a vast and long-hidden space beneath the Lincoln Memorial will open to the public for the first time. After sitting unused beneath the monument since its completion in 1922, the cavernous area has been transformed into a 15,000-square-foot exhibition space. By engaging with immersive displays and interactive installations, visitors can learn about the memorial’s creation and construction and examine how its meaning and significance have evolved over the past century.
Admission is free. Timed-entry tickets are required and carry a $1 reservation fee. A limited number of same-day walk-up tickets will also be distributed near the Korean War Veterans Memorial starting at 8:45 a.m. daily.
The National Air and Space Museum
The final five galleries of the National Air and Space Museum will open on July 1, completing a years-long renovation that reimagined 20 galleries and introduced more than 1,400 never displayed before objects.
Courtesy of washington.org
Opens July 1
The most recent transformation of the National Air and Space Museum has been years in the making, and this July, the final five galleries to be renovated will open to the public in time for the institution’s 50th anniversary. The five new galleries focus on World War II aircraft and space technologies, bringing to a close an expansive restoration that reimagined 20 galleries and introduced 1,400 never-seen-before objects.
Admission is free. Timed-entry tickets are required.
The National Archives Museum
At the end of last year, ahead of the America 250 celebrations, the National Archives Museum (best known as the home of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights) unveiled its newly renovated galleries. At the heart of the transformation is The American Story, which showcases more than 40 objects and documents that illuminate pivotal moments in the nation’s history. Visitors can get up close to treasures like George Washington’s annotated copy of the Constitution and original photographs of the American West taken by Ansel Adams.
Admission is free. Timed-entry tickets are available.
The Smithsonian Castle
The Smithsonian Castle is temporarily reopening this summer to host “American Aspirations,” an exhibition of some of the institution’s most significant artifacts, while the historic building continues its broader renovation.
Courtesy of washington.org
Through September 7
Before the Smithsonian became a constellation of 21 world-renowned museums and galleries, its collections were housed in a single building: the iconic red-sandstone structure now known as “the Castle.” The 1855 building has been closed for renovations for the past three years and won’t fully reopen until 2027. However, this summer, visitors can get a sneak peek as the castle temporarily reopens for American Aspirations (on view through July 26), which displays 30 of the Smithsonian’s most storied pieces—including Thomas Jefferson’s desk, Harriet Tubman’s hymnal, and an original model of the Statue of Liberty designed by the statue’s creator, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi.
Admission is free.
51 Steps to Freedom Trail
Launched earlier this year, 51 Steps to Freedom is a highly interactive walking tour that spotlights the people, places, and stories who have shaped Washington, D.C. Entirely self-guided, the tour runs through an app that uses augmented reality technology to illustrate the city’s past: Users point their phones at various key landmarks, and the screen works similarly to a pair of virtual reality glasses to reveal videos, music, and vivid holograms.
Spread across six neighborhoods, the trail explores lesser-known chapters of the capital’s history, from Georgetown’s fascinating Black heritage to Anacostia’s role in the birth of go-go. Along the way, visitors encounter influential Washingtonians such as poet Langston Hughes, suffragette Alice Paul, musician Duke Ellington, and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. More than 40 stops have been unveiled so far, and additional locations are set to launch throughout the summer.
Free to use. Sign-up required through the website.
Smithsonian Carousel
The Smithsonian Carousel has returned to the National Mall following an extensive restoration, rejuvenating a historic attraction with ties to both the Smithsonian and the civil rights movement.
Photo by Donny Bajohr/Smithsonian Magazine
After three years of extensive refurbishment, the Smithsonian’s historic carousel has made its joyful return just in time for the city’s big summer celebrations. The whimsical structure has been a fixture on the Mall since the mid-19th century, when then Smithsonian Secretary S. Dillon Ripley installed it as part of his effort to make the Mall more inviting to visitors. The current carousel, which dates to 1947 and is filled with hand-carved jumping horses, has been rewired, repainted, and updated for accessibility.
But there’s even more to this carousel than meets the eye: Originally built for Gwynn Oak Park, an amusement park outside Baltimore, the carousel played a role in a pivotal chapter in Maryland’s civil rights struggle. Gwynn Oaks was the site of nearly a decade of protests demanding desegregation, which culminated in the carousel’s integration in 1963. On the very same day Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” address on the National Mall, Black and white children rode the carousel together for the first time.
Tickets are $6.
New restaurant kiosks
Once infamous for being a bit of a food desert, the National Mall has welcomed eight new restaurant kiosks this summer to spice things up. Organized by the nonprofit Taste of History DC, the newly renovated hubs are spread from the Hirshhorn Museum to the Lincoln Memorial and even as far south as the Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin. Visitors can look forward to protein bowls at Nature’s Table near the Natural History Museum, Italian-inspired bites from Bar Americano near the National Air and Space Museum, and many flavors in between.
