Well upon my return from Calgary I figured I better start working on my list of things to do and see in and around the Washington DC area. My list seems to keep getting longer no matter how many things I see. While there is a lot of history in DC itself, Alexandria is also not short on things to visit. One of the first things I noticed while driving around town was the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. The memorial was built by the Freemasons. It is kind of hard to miss since it is right in the middle of downtown Alexandria and is up on this hill and kind of looks down on everything.
Looking down from around the 4th floor.
Now I don’t actually know that much about the Freemasons except that they are a “secret” society with secret handshakes and winks and hidden treasure (look there was an entire Nicolas Cage movie about it so it must exist right?). What I also know is that there is a very difficult process to become a member. First thing is you have to a man (there went my hopes of being a Freemason), you have to be sponsored by a current member of the Freemasons (they have to vouch for your character) and then there is something like a 3 step exam process (some of which is oral) about masonry and architecture and that kind of stuff (they give you the book o study). I also found out that Freemasons do a lot of charity work including providing free dental care and surgery to disadvantaged kids.
The statue of George Washington that sits in memorial hall in the temple. This is the first thing you see as you enter the temple.
Anyway, this temple was built to memorialize George Washington, who of course was a Freemason (as were many other US presidents). It includes a museum, a library and a Performing Arts and Concert Hall. It also is the current meeting place of the Alexandria Freemasons. Best of all though it offers the best views of Alexandria.
This is the view from the top of the Masonic Temple. If you look closely you can see the Washington Monument in the background and somewhere hidden in all the trees is Alexandria.
Me on the top of the Temple with Alexandria in the background.
Also while I Alexandria I found T.C Williams High School. I actually found it by accident while I was trying to find Safeway (the first little while I was here I drove around in circles a lot. My GPS only helps when I leave it in my car and there are a lot of really weird intersections where you can’t turn where you want to). I know some of you are wondering about it but T.C Williams is home to the Titans….you know from the Denzel Washington movie “Remember the Titans”. The school has under gone a huge renovation and actually right next to the old building sits a new state of the art T.C Williams. It is suppose to be completely energy efficient and good for the environment. They even collect rain water on the roof and use it to flush the toilets. I can’t seem to find what the plan is for the old building but right now they seem to be constructing around it so maybe they plan on keeping it.
The old T.C. Williams High School
Julie
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