A Visit To The Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C.

Heading to the nation’s capital with the family? Don’t forget to plan a visit to the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C.

My family loves to explore our great nation’s capital – Washington, D.C. There is so much to see from history to culture it is impossible to do it all in one day. While we don’t visit there nearly enough, we set aside some time while visiting my best friend Gina to see how many museums on the National Mall we could conquer in one day. For us, the magic number was two. On this particular visit, we explored the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

The Smithsonian offers eleven museums and galleries on the National Mall. There are six other museums and the National Zoo in the greater Washington, D.C. area. For a complete listing, click here. The best part about most of these museums….they are FREE! Yep, free admission. Talk about an inexpensive day trip to soak in as much history and culture as you can! That’s a no-brainer. Specifically, the Museum of American History tells the story of our nation’s scientific, cultural, social, technological, and political development of the United States. The museum traces the American experience from colonial times to the present. The American History Museum’s collection contains more than three million historical objects—including the famed Star-Spangled Banner—and documents that explore the evolution of the American identity.

While it is not part of the Smithsonian Museums, the National Gallery of Art also it offers free admission. It was donated to the American people by Andrew Mellon who was the Treasury Secretary in 1921 and an avid art collector. The Gallery’s collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, medals, and decorative arts traces the development of Western Art from the Middle Ages to the present, including the only painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas and the largest mobile created by Alexander Calder.