Monument
Washington Monument
Marble obelisk honoring the nation's first president, its stone visibly changing color from a decades-long construction halt.
0:00≈ 2 min
Location
0:00≈ 2 min
About this audio guide
This guide to the Washington Monument opens on the night of March 5, 1854, when nine men chosen by drawing lots overpowered the site's night watchman and made off with a single block of marble, a gift from Pope Pius IX inscribed Rome to America. The guide names the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing party members involved and the reward the Monument Society posted afterward. Even Mark Twain weighed in, once calling the stalled, half-built obelisk an eyesore fit for nothing.
This audio guide was created using AI.