The Washington Monument is closed Monday as snow blankets the region. Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site, which like the monument is also managed by the National Park Service, is also closed.
The big marble needle is not without company Monday—federal offices are closed because of the snow, though that’s something of an academic point for emergency employees and people who are already working from home. DC’s public school system pushed back its already delayed post-holiday opening to Thursday. Arlington, Montgomery County, Fairfax, Falls Church, and Prince William County canceled classes. Prince George’s County, which had decided to conduct classes virtually for the first two weeks of the new school year, canceled classes. Alexandria students will have “asynchronous” learning Monday.
The Smithsonian Institution’s museums and the National Zoo are closed. So is the National Gallery of Art.
This most recent closure of the Washington Monument follows an unusual sequence of events last August, when the monument was struck by lightning, which fried some of its internal electronic systems, including its elevator buttons and key-card entry system. It remained closed for two weeks while NPS waited for replacement parts and repairs. It was also closed in January of 2021 after the attack on the Capitol.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
