6 Alternative DC Area Tours That Go Beyond Museums or Monuments

 

House Tours

Some of the area’s most interesting designs can be found behind closed doors. These tours invite you across the threshold for a look at local homes and gardens.

Pope-Leighey House Tour

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the L-shaped dwelling in Alexandria—once a family home—features the classic clerestory windows of Usonian structures, plus Mayan-inspired carvings for additional light. Learn some of the tricks the famed architect used to make the 1,200-square-foot space feel bigger, from floor-to-ceiling windows to horizontal paneling. Admission $15.

 

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Capitol Hill Restoration Society House & Garden Tour

Spend Mother’s Day weekend exploring more than ten residences and gardens around one of DC’s oldest neighborhoods. Attendees navigate the list of homes at their own pace; a booklet and “house captains” provide historical context at each stop. Past gems include a modern alley home, restored Queen Annes, and an art-filled rowhouse. Tickets $40 to $50.

 

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Hollin Hills House + Garden Tour

South of Old Town Alexandria is a wooded enclave of midcentury-­modern residences by developer Robert Davenport. Visitors can check out more than a dozen of the 450 homes that architect Charles Goodman designed. Tickets for the event, which usually sells out early, are currently on sale for the May tour, celebrating the neighborhood’s 75th anniversary. Tickets $45.

 

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DC-Metro Modern Home Tour

This self-guided tour, typically held the first Saturday in October, offers entry to at least five modernist homes around the District, Maryland, and Virginia. Chat with builders and designers for insights on bringing a modern feel to your space. Previous tours highlighted a rowhouse made of organic materials and a home with glass walls. Tickets $40 to $45.

 

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Reston Home Tour

Find design inspiration during this independent tour through some of Reston’s most stunning townhouses, condos, and single-family homes. Each is selected based on a theme. Previous iterations focused on downsizing success stories and design with personality. Tickets $35; proceeds benefit the Reston Museum.

 

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A Tour On Black History

Some tours call attention to hidden places. These uncover forgotten legacies.

History has juiced tourism in Alexandria for decades. But for many years, a Photoshopped version of the city’s past predominated, with guides in bonnets emphasizing quaint buildings and cobbled streets. The Manumission Tour Company offers a more nuanced picture.

Tour group owner John Taylor Chapman grew up in Alexandria, where, he says, “we heard about George Washington, we heard about Gadsby’s Tavern,” the 18th-century eatery that’s still open. “But we didn’t hear about the other side of that.” So Chapman started Manumission, highlighting the city’s lesser-known Black history.

The “Freedom’s Fight in Alexandria” tour, for example, discusses the brutal costs of slavery and segregation. It also tells the stories of free Black people such as Moses Hepburn, an African American man who built wealth and houses in Alexandria before leaving the city after its retro­cession to Virginia, and Dominic Bearcroft, an entrepreneur who opened an oyster house across from City Hall, where Chapman now serves on the city council. “I think with calling attention to some of these stories,” he says, “we’ve been able to help with the momentum of the city and the community really starting to care a little bit more about telling that part of history.”