Start your journey with YOUR eyes on history with a bird’s eye view at the brand-new Observation Deck at CEB Tower. Standing an impressive 31 stories high in the center of Arlington’s Rosslyn neighborhood, the view from the Observation Deck not only provides a spectacular view of the Kennedy Center itself, where you’ll venture for your own viewing of the show, but also the entire D.C. region that Hamilton, Washington, and their comrades dreamed of when starting the revolution so many years ago.

Arlington House, located at the top of the hill above the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery, is known for being the home of General Robert E. Lee and his wife, Mary Custis Lee, but the estate was originally the home of George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Washington and her first husband, Daniel Custis. What many may not know is that Arlington House was also the site where George Washington’s military tent, often called the “first Oval Office” and where Hamilton, as Washington’s secretary, wrote much of his correspondence, was stored for years after the war. Additionally, Robert E. Lee's father, Light Horse Harry Lee, was a comrade in arms of Hamilton and Laurens during the Revolution and, and he was an important Federalist in Virginia working with Hamilton to establish the new republic. 

Metro: Arlington National Cemetery (Blue)

And of course, this summer, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, located just across the Potomac River from Arlington, provides the ideal opportunity for you to be in the room witnessing the musical Hamilton for yourself. The smash Broadway hit runs June 12-September 16 at the Kennedy Center – just a short stroll or one Metro stop away from Arlington.

Metro: Foggy Bottom-GWU

Head into the District to visit the Library of Congress and see an extraordinary collection of Hamilton’s own papers, including drafts of his writings (although not his Federalist essays), and correspondence among members of the Hamilton and Schuyler families. The collection, consisting of approximately 12,000 items dating from 1708 to 1917, documents Hamilton's impoverished Caribbean boyhood (scantily); events in the lives of his family and that of his wife, Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton; his experience as a Revolutionary War officer and aide-de-camp to General George Washington; his terms as a New York delegate to the Continental Congress (1782-1783) and the Constitutional Convention (1787); and his careers as a New York state legislator, United States treasury secretary (1789-1795), political writer, and lawyer in private practice. While there, stop by the nearby Treasury Building to see the statue of Hamilton outside.

For a look behind the scenes at the life that perhaps influenced some of General George Washington’s decisions, cross back through Arlington and past Alexandria to Mount Vernon, Washington’s own estate. Here, put yourself in the General’s shoes through “Be Washington: It’s Your Turn to Lead,” a new first-person interactive experience that has introductions to the various scenarios by Chris Jackson, the actor who played Washington in “Hamilton,” plus Alexander Hamilton is represented in the experience as an advisor.

Metro: Huntington (Yellow), transfer to Fairfax Connector #101 to Mt Vernon.

This getaway was submitted by Stay Arlington. 
Visitor Information: (800) 677-6267