DC by Foot

11/01/2024

10/31/2024

True tour guide form, taking the kids trick or treating on Embassy Row. Here are the embassies that reported are open during the afternoon for trick or treaters!

-Belize
-Lesotho
-Portugal
-Slovenia
-Greece
-Indonesia
-Paraguay

We’re starting at Belize so we can walk down the hill - total walk is 25 minutes excluding stopping at the seven embassies!

10/29/2024

If you’re downtown today, make note of all the road closures and the fact that at 1 PM there are already people set up along Constitution Ave by the Ellipse

10/14/2024

09/27/2024

One of the opportunities we offer to student groups (or any group!) are neighborhood experiences. More than just a walking tour, we volunteer, meet with locals, eat lunch at a local restaurant.

Give Time, Spend Money, Take Knowledge.

This gives guests a better chance to really EXPERIENCE a neighborhood beyond a tour.

We’re so grateful for and for meeting with our student group to discuss modern U St NW - redevelopment, gentrification, revitalization.

We discussed how a neighborhood that is going through such a dramatic change can preserve its history and character.

08/21/2024

We ❤️ day trips to Baltimore from DC - easy drive or even better train ride 🚂!

Today we are exploring the Baltimore Museum of Industry.

Located in an old cannery complex, the museum focuses on different industry from the 19th and 20th century.

There are interactive exhibits and the whole museum is set up to mimic the actual shops, warehouses, and industry.

We came for a homeschool activity day but my kids asked if they can stay longer to explore the museum on their own. Proud museum nerd mama moment but that is a big deal for my 5 and 7 year old who don’t love museums usually!

08/03/2024

❤️🌿🌸

07/21/2024

Can report from a disappointed 7 year old boy that that the “giant flowers that smell like farts” have not bloomed. 🌿🥀

06/14/2024

Great thanks to for booking our Pride History of DC tour, offered in partnership with .

We offer this tour of downtown DC focusing on the LGTBQIA+ history of the city all year round but it runs more in June ( 🌈 )

From the White House to the Tenderloin, the national and local fight for political, economic, and cultural inclusion and equal rights for the LGBTQIA+ community emerged across the 20th century. Join us on a Pride Highlights tour and explore Cruising, the Lavender Scare, Drag, the AIDS Crisis, Black Q***r Spaces, Activism, and much more.

06/11/2024

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial the nation’s first to honor an African-American man in Washington, DC

It is located at 1964 Independence Ave SW, an address that represents the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and sits along the Tidal Basin.

It features a 30-foot (9m) tall granite relief of Dr. King carved into a large stone along with walls of some of his famous quotes.

The statue was carved by Chinese sculptor Lei Yixin and the memorial as a whole was designed by Marshall Purnell. It was built between 2009 and 2011.

There is also a memorial gift shop and book store with a small visitor center + restrooms and water fountains.

TIP: Free Tours by Foot visits the MLK Memorial on our Tidal Basin and All-in-One DC Tours.

There are many overt as well as hidden symbolism contained within the memorial as a whole.

Technically speaking, there is no statue at the MLK Memorial.

Rather, the centerpiece of the memorial is a 30' (9 m) tall stone block with an unfinished likeness of Martin Luther King, Jr emerging from its southern side.

Although there are no quotes from Dr. King's famous 'I have a dream' speech, this centerpiece alludes to a powerful analogy that he used in the speech to describe the importance of faith in the struggle for civil rights, that

“With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”

The memorial's designers intended that the visitor would walk through the mountain of despair to the stone of hope.

The memorial's Stone of Hope appears to be quarried (hewed) from a larger stone, a slow a laborious process, much like the process to end racial segregation and discrimination in the U.S.

The stone has been pushed forward, symbolizing the forward progress in the achievement of civil rights in America.

The likeness of MLK is unfinished, just as his life was tragically cut short at just 39 years of age, and just as the movement for civil rights he helped lead is unfinished today.

King is looking south toward the horizon, paper, possibly a speech or sermon in hand, in a defiant pose, symbolizing his defiance of injustice.

Memorial Walls

The other major element of the memorial is the long arched wall filled with quotations from King's speeches and sermons.

MLK Quote Wall
The arched wall alludes to a sermon he delivered at the Sermon at Temple Israel of Hollywood on February 25, 1965.

In this speech, he described his confidence in the ultimate triumph of the civil rights movement in the struggle for human dignity.

"And I believe it because somehow the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."

The wall contains quotes from the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 to King's final Sunday sermon, which took place at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC on March 31, 1968, just days before his assassination in Memphis, Tennessee.

The quotes are not listed in chronological order, designed so that the visitor can explore the memorial at his or her own pace and direction.

Other Interesting Facts About the MLK Memorial's Symbolism

The 30' height of the Stone of Hope far exceeds the customary limit of 19.5' for statues in Washington, DC.

However, the figure of MLK is a relief (similar to the presidential images on Mt. Rushmore), and thus not considered a statue.

Both the stone and the sculptor, Lei Yixin, were 'imported' from China. There were prominent voices that felt the sculptor should have been an American.

The Memorial's board, comprised mainly of African American architects, sculptors and drafters, stated that they based their decision on the content of the sculptor's talent and not on his skin color or nationality, something they felt the Dr. King would have sanctioned.

GUIDED TOURS AND RANGER TALKS

Just about every sightseeing tour in Washington, DC makes a stop at the MLK Memorial, including us, DC by Foot.

The memorial is a stop on 2 of our most popular walking tours.

Daily National Mall Tours
National Mall and Tidal Basin Tour

Washington, DC Travel Tips (DC by Foot)

05/29/2024

🐼🐼🐼👍❤️

05/16/2024

It’s Police Week in DC and the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial is overflowing with love and remembrance.

The roses here honor the fallen K9s.

K9 Police Dogs usually serve 6-8 years, but this year 26 of them were lost in the line of duty.

The US started using police dogs in 1907, but the Persians, Greeks and Babylonians used guard dogs.

The Memorial (guarded by lions named LEO) is just outside Judiciary Square.

05/15/2024

This is Maverick, part of DC Tour Guide Trevor’s family and who sadly has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.

You can follow his Bucket List Journey at and help us supporting his treatment at https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mavericks-fight-for-life (link in stories)

Keep an eye out for a special doggie themed fundraiser tour to support our furry team members.

05/11/2024

A lovely way to start a tour! 🌈

05/06/2024

RAINY DAY PROMO: not to ruin the ending of our Lincoln Assassination tour, but y’all know it doesn’t end well, right?

Dreary days are a great time to take our Ghosts of Georgetown or Lincoln Assassination tours.

USE PROMO CODE rain TO GET 25% off these two ticketed tours this week.