The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park stretches 184.5 miles through Washington, D.C., Maryland and West Virginia. It provides tourists with an escape from the city and a variety of outdoor activities. Visitors can bike, cross-country ski, fish, hike, ride horseback and ice skate. Canal boat rides are offered at the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center in Potomac, Md., and at the Georgetown Visitor Center in Washington. Mules pull the boat in the canal as park rangers in late 1800s clothing explain what life was like in that time period.
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park
1850 Dual Highway, Suite 100
Hagerstown, MD 21740-6620
301-739-4200
nps.gov/choh/index.htm
Famed anti-slavery leader Frederick Douglass lived in Cedar Hill in the city's southeastern section of Anacostia from 1878 until he died in 1895. The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site gives tours of the 14-acre estate and celebrates Douglass' life. The rooms look as they did when Douglas lived there and contain artifacts such as his violin, his typewriter and his Victorian Renaissance carved oak chair.
Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
1900 Anacostia Dr. SE
Washington, DC 20020
202-426-5961
nps.gov/frdo/index.htm
The National Museum of Crime and Punishment shows that crime doesn't pay. The three-floor, 25,000-square-foot museum in downtown Washington has exhibits about the history of crime and the technological advances in fighting it. The museum includes more than 100 interactive exhibits. Visitors can try to hack into a computer, take a lie detector test, shoot in a simulated FBI shooting range and work as a crime scene investigator in a simulated case. The museum's artifacts include medieval torture devices and Al Capone's jail cell. You also can see the set of the television show "America's Most Wanted," which is filmed at the museum.
National Museum of Crime and Punishment
575 Seventh St. NW
Washington, DC 20004
202-393-1099
crimemuseum.org
