Unlocking the Secrets of Washington

Washington, D.C.: Unlocking The Mystery

Swampy. Muggy. Bug-infested. Bitter winters. Blistering summers. Why would the Founding Fathers have chosen the banks of the Potomac River as the cornerstone of the country?

We're going to examine Washington, D.C., inside and out. We'll reveal the choice of layout, from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument, from the White House to the Jefferson Memorial. There's a little bit of legend, a little bit of folklore, and a little bit of "secret society" baked into every aspect of the District of Columbia.

Examine the pictures, photos, maps, and images below and respond to the questions. Have your "National Mall" map handy, as you're going to be noting the locations of the monuments. Keep an open mind and an open eye. Have fun!

CLICK ON THE POSTS TO THE RIGHT TO START...

Select "August", click on the arrow to reveal the drop-down menu, and start with "PART 1 - CAPITOL HILL".

PART 3: MASONIC SYMBOLISM

Now, let's get to the fun stuff. We need to understand who built Washington, D.C. There is a group, centuries old, called the Freemasons, or just "Masons" for short. They were an original guild in Medieval Europe, greatly skilled in engineering and construction. Over the years, they became somewhat of a "secret society", only inviting certain people to join, amassing fortunes of money, and leaving their stamp of elegance on everything they built. There are beliefs that they helped build King Solomon's great temple in Ancient Israel and that their "power" rested in their ability to build the most divine and awe-inspiring cathedrals in Europe. It's almost as if they were chosen by God to do the most excellent of work.

Now, with this comes the "secrecy" of the fraternity. What started as the "secrets of building" came into the "secrets of money" and the "secrets of influence." Just how much did they control? Who did they know? What did they do? Their legend grew.

The Masons ARE NOT evil. They are not Satanists, they are not "warlocks" or members of the Occult. But the mystery surrounding them causes us to believe that.

The Masons are all about symbol, ritual, intelligence and inspiration. Therefore, when building Washington (Masons built the U.S. Capitol Building and the Washington Memorial just for starters. George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and Benjamin Franklin were known Masons...) they left "secrets" of their glory. Lets examine.

This is Pierre L'Enfant's original map of Washington, D.C. before it was built. He was the original architect of D.C.:

Now, let's have some fun with this map.

You have this map on the back of your National Mall map. You can also click on the image above to see it larger.
The original "city" designed by L'Enfant is a geometric work of genius! It's perfectly proportional, intricately laid out, and designed for beauty. Pennsylvania Avenue was designed so that the president, who originally lived in a house other than the White House, could directly see the Capitol Building, thus keeping watch over his government members at work.
Now, conspiracy theorists and lovers of deception have laid claim that there is a pentagram in the design of Washington. Let's locate the White House on the map.

This map faces NORTH. Now, can you find the 5-sided pentagram? A pentagram looks like this:

It's like a star, but the point is on the BOTTOM, not the TOP. Can you find it, NORTH of the White House? (HINT: The "points" of the star are street intersections...)
Now...try your best. After you've given it your best shot, see if this helps. Look for the "dots". But don't scroll down until you've tried to find it!!!

DON'T CHEAT YET!! :-)

Your completed "pentagram" should look like this:

Now, the "pentagram" is NOT a Satanic symbol, although certain cults have adopted it as such. In fact, the first mention of pentagrams being "evil" appeared in Eliphas Levi's book, Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic, published in 1855, 60 years after L'Enfant's design. The pentagram is NOT necessarily associated with Masons, although it does appear most commonly in the early 1800s as instruction for geometry. The symbol was used as far back as the Ancient Greeks and Sumerians, prized for its sense of "infinity", "wholeness", and even "motherhood" qualities. Makes sense that the Founding Fathers might (again, might) have planned it this way, huh? Are there any more shapes? Let's see...
Take the southernmost tip of the star. Follow it down, southeast along that main road, until it dead-ends in front of the Capitol Building, shown below:

Your map should now look like this:

Now, draw another line, right at the Capitol Building connecting point, south and west down that rode, almost down at a 45 degree angle. The line should dead-end in the Potomac River.

Do you see something "interesting" at the top of that new pyramid? What is it?
If you were to continue to overlay symbols on the already-established road system, it would look like this:

What does this symbol look like? (HINT: It's a tool you might use in math class...)
Now, examine the symbol below. Now, THIS is the real symbol of the Freemasons. The "G" either stands for "God" or "geometry", depending on the source.

Looks a lot like the symbol laid over the roads on the map, huh? Especially when you look at the map on its side. So, it's more common that the Masons left this symbol on purpose, instead of the "pentagram".

So that's it! Hopefully you've enjoyed your journey through Washington, D.C. It's a city ripe with culture, beauty and ingenuity. And maybe a little symbolism mixed in as well...

PART 2: THE NATIONAL MALL

Let's continue down The Mall. In the center of the Mall are a few very important buildings. Examine the map below.

On your map, find and CIRCLE both History Museums, the National Gallery of Art, the National Air and Space Museum, and the Smithsonian Institute. From towering dinosaurs to exotic live insects, the Smithsonian Museum offers a dazzling array of exhibits, interactive displays, and rare specimens. It also houses the Hope Diamond, the largest diamond ever discovered, a whopping 45 carats! (FYI, a 1 carat diamond will probably run you $2,000 - $3,000). Some images are displayed below:

The other building, slightly to the north and east is the National Gallery of Art. It is perhaps the most important art museum in the United States, as it houses original works by Van Gogh and portraits of the presidents.

Now, examine the western part of the Mall below:

The "spike-shaped" monument is the Washington Monument. Find and CIRCLE the Washington Monument on your map.The round monument in the bottom of the picture is the Jefferson Memorial. Find and CIRCLE this on the map as well. Now, let's look north

Find and CIRCLE the White House on your map. We're not going to focus on the White House as much, as it's a topic by itself entirely, but important to note.

Let's focus on the Washington Memorial. Answer the questions below.

The Washington Memorial is called an "obelisk". It's from an original Egyptian model and quite common, as you can find them in almost every major city, including London, Paris, the Vatican, and even New York. There are 27 "famous" ones across the world. What is the significance of the shape? Why would people want to build something that looks like this?
The Washington Monument was built to honor the death of President Washington in 1799. Originally, the plans called for a "horse statue" and then a "pyramid". But in 1836, Robert Mills, a Freemason from South Carolina came up with a plan to build a giant obelisk structure, 600 feet tall, surrounded by 30, 100 foot obelisks, supposed to represent the 30 founding fathers. Its image is below:

Sadly, because of its $17 million dollar price tag (modern dollars), it wasn't built. Mills downgraded his design to a single 500 foot obelisk. After years of planning, money raising, and even theft (Yes. Members of an anti-Catholic movement broke in to steal some of the obelisk's stone work, as Pope Pius IX donated a block of marble in 1854), the monument was complete by 1884. It looks like this today.

At the top of the monument is what's called a "capstone". It's trianlge shape is designed in the common "All-Seeing-Eye" format, which was very common among the Freemasons at the time. The capstone can be seen here:

The capstone was finally set in place on December 6, 1884. Inscribed on its face are the words "Laus Deo" which means "Praise God".
Now, the "All-Seeing-Eye" is a very common symbol in our American history. Think: Where else have you seen it? (ANSWER THE QUESTION ON YOUR OWN, and see if you're right by clicking here on this link.)

What do you think the "eye" represents? In other words, whose "eye" is it?

PART 1: CAPITOL HILL

Firstly, we'll get a sense of what Washington, D.C. looks like from above. Using the images provided below, answer the questions ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER and fill in the monuments on your BLANK NATIONAL MALL MAP.

Washington, D.C., aka. "The District of Columbia" or simply "The District", lies on the north bank of the Potomac River, sandwiched between the states of Maryland and Virginia. Officially founded in 1790, Washington, D.C. houses the entire United States government.

The area between the two most important monuments, the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument is known as the "National Mall". The Capitol Building is located on the eastern side of the mall.

At the bottom center of the picture above is the Capitol Building. On your map, find and CIRCLE the Capitol Building and Capitol Hill around it. Now, find and CIRCLE the two buildings behind (to the east of) the Capitol Building. The northernmost building is the Supreme Court Building. The one below it, with the dome, is the Library of Congress, that has 30 miles of bookshelves holding some 120 million items, including 18 million books. It is the world's largest library.

Answer the following questions:

The above shot is a picture of the U.S. Capitol Building after it was burned by the British in the War of 1812. What notable "architectural structure" is missing from this building, one that's present in the building today (SHOWN BELOW)?

The U.S. Capitol Building was built in the fashion of the classics. Examine the picture below, the Pantheon in Rome:

The dome is called a "rotunda". What English word do we get from "rotunda"?
This is a drawing of the original "Pantheon". What similarities besides the "rotunda" are there between this building and the U.S. Capitol Building?
The root "pan-" means "all"; the root "-the" means "god". So, the word "Pantheon" means "All Gods". If the Founding Fathers copied the Pantheon for their Capitol Building, what do you think this building was to be used for? What "kinds" of people would meet in this building?

Benjamin Latrobe, a Freemason, was the first architect of the U.S. Capital Building in 1800. The above picture is a drawing of the building in 1840. He included Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian columns in his design. The Ionic column was supposed to represent "wisdom", the Doric, "strength", and the Corinthian, "beauty". Examine the drawings of the columns below:

Using the terms mentioned above, which do you think is the Ionic column? the Doric? the Corinthian? Why?

So far, we've seen how the Founding Fathers seem to have copied the legends of Ancient Rome in their design and construction of the U.S. Capitol Building. Let's take a step inside of the building itself. Painted in a mural under the dome or rotunda of the building is the following, called The Apotheosis of Washington. It was painted in 1865 by Constantino Brumidi. It is 65 feet in diameter and took just 11 months to complete.

Describe what you see. (NOTE: You can click on the above picture to make it bigger).
"Apotheosis" means "glorification" or "celebration". At the center of the picture is President George Washington. Examine the image below:

Washington is flanked by two women. Let's examine the one on the left. With his right hand, what is Washington pointing to? What do you think this represents?
What's in Washington's left hand? On his left side is a woman wearing an olive branch crown and blowing a horn. What do you think this woman represents?
Now, let's put it all together. Remember the following: The Parthenon (and the definition of the word), the rotunda, the Apotheosis (and the definition of the word). How did the Founding Fathers view themselves, all government officials, and President Washington himself?