Walking Backward: Presidential Tours

16/03/2025

Happy birthday James Madison! The smallest president played a big role in the shaping of the United States.

There's not much to see at James' birthplace in Port Conway, Va.,, other than a road sign. So you get some bonus shots of Montpelier, his beautifully restored Orange County home, and of the front parlor at the Octagon house in DC. That's where JM was living after the British torched the White House, and the parlor is where he signed the treaty that would end the War of 1812.

The Octagon is one of our stops on the Foggy Bottom / Lafayette Square tour. Dolley's final home also gets some attention. The full tour schedule is at walkingbackwardtours.com ...

15/03/2025

Happy birthday to Andrew Jackson, the one president who we know for sure committed murder! (He shot Charles Dickinson in a duel in 1806 when they were beefing over a wager on a horserace.) To put it politely, he was an interesting guy. Jackson is featured in our Assassinations Capital tour, as well as the Foggy Bottom / Lafayette Square tour.

Action Jackson's birthplace is claimed by each of the Carolinas, since the actual farm building is long gone, and the estate itself was on the border. Each state has a marker (they're a short drive apart) but the South Carolina site is much more developed.

If you're keeping score at home, the one I'm pictured sitting on is North Carolina, and the other two shots are from SC.

12/03/2025

Some bonus history not on our tours: this courthouse, near 5th and Indiana NW, served as DC city hall in the late 1800s. Theodore Roosevelt worked here as a member of the US Civil Service Commission in the 1890s. Even cooler, Frederick Douglass had an office here a decade earlier as the marshal of the District under President Hayes.

04/03/2025

For most of US history March 4 was inauguration day! 92 years ago today, FDR said the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

And in other huge March 4 news, today we inaugurated the 2025 tour season! A very nice family on spring break from Atlanta took the "Assassinations Capital" tour. Spring weather is on the way so check out our tour schedule at walkingbackwardtours com ...

22/02/2025

Happy birthday George Washington!

George's birthplace is an easy day trip from DC, in the Northern Neck between the Potomac and the Rappahannock. The Pope's Creek plantation buildings are mostly long gone, but the site is still maintained by the Park Service -- you can see where the foundations were, visit the grave of Washington's dad or relax on a Potomac beach. (And then you can swing by James Monroe's birthplace, which is just a short drive away.)

DC walking tours resume in a few weeks -- check walkingbackwardtours.com for the schedule.

19/02/2025

Tour season is almost here, and your trusty guide is getting warmed up! On Presidents Day I got to take the 3-floor tour at Monticello.

I'm looking forward to sharing DC's presidential history with you this spring. Head to walkingbackwardtours.com for the current schedule -- availabilities begin in March.

18/10/2024

Your tour guide was part of an event at the on Thursday and worked in a visit to the new "treasures of the library" exhibit. They have lots of fascinating stuff, including ...

1) everything in Lincoln's pockets when he died
2) James Madison's crystal flute
3) Robert Mills' sketches for the original design of the Washington Monument

The Library is awesome! Be sure to visit

18/10/2024

Not since 1814 has anyone brought this much heat to the Library of Congress.

It was great fun to host a pun competition to close out the comedy edition of "Live at the Library." They're doing a lot of fun events in DC's most beautiful building -- if you're ever in town be sure to check out the LOC.

26/09/2024

Your tour guide starting off the comedy show at Lincoln's Cottage! [photo courtesy of Bruce Guthrie]

24/09/2024

I visit presidential sites whenever I can, but the one I revisit the most is President Lincoln's Cottage. Starting in 2016 (with a asterisk for 2020), I've been there three times a year, to produce the Two Faces Comedy series. People actually get to do stand-up (and improv, and puns) in a parlor where Abraham Lincoln liked to unwind.

The 2024 series starts tomorrow, and I am proud to say that the first show is already sold out. You can still get tickets for October 16 or November 13, but those will likely sell out too -- so plan ahead!

Thank you to the team at the cottage and the The DC Improv Comedy Club for letting me work on this project over the last decade. I love sharing history with people and this is one of the most brilliant ways to do it.

24/08/2024

Happy 210th anniversary to the burning of Washington DC!

22/08/2024

September and October tours are now available!

19/08/2024

Tour guides gotta tour too! A trip to the Dakotas included Mount Rushmore, the game lodge where Coolidge vacationed in 1927, the high school where Coolidge announced his retirement, TR's relocated ranch cabin, and the original site of his Elkhorn Ranch.

29/05/2024

The tour schedule is now updated through Labor Day!

15/04/2024

This weekend I had a blast running all three routes: Kalorama, Lafayette Square and the new Assassinations Capital. If you're looking for a novel way to spend a morning in DC, check us out!

05/04/2024

Tour guides need vacation too! Taking in the Clinton library (and the White Water Tavern, a late '70s Clinton hangout) during a few days in Little Rock.

17/03/2024

Visited the FDR Memorial on a nice spring Sunday! Scroll through to see the "secret" on the FDR statue. The sculptor discreetly included a wheel on the bottom of FDR's chair -- an accurate detail, as FDR often modified regular furnishings to help him get around his homes.

16/03/2024

Happy birthday James Madison! For the last 16 months of his presidency, JM and Dolley lived in one of "the Seven Buildings." (Remember, the White House had been destroyed in August 1814.) Their fancy townhome, on the 1900 block of Pennsylvania Ave., no longer exists. But the facades of two of the neighboring buildings are incorporated into the Embassy of Mexico.

The Seven Buildings were seven townhouses constructed on the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Avenue NW and 19th Street NW in Washington, D.C., in 1796.[1] They were some of the earliest residential structures built in the city. One of the Seven Buildings was the presidential home of President James...