Boundary Stones

In October 1774, tensions over British taxes boiled over in Annapolis, Maryland. When local merchant Anthony Stewart paid the controversial tea tax to unload his ship, The Peggy Stewart, angry colonists demanded retribution. What followed became known as the Annapolis Tea Party—a fiery act of protest that mirrored Boston’s defiance and helped spark the American Revolution.

When Queen Elizabeth II visited the United States in the fall of 1957, it wasn't all pomp and circumstance. Just a year earlier, U.S.-British relations had been strained by the Suez Crisis. Meanwhile Cold War tensions were rising between the West and the Soviet Union. Her majesty seemed intent on strengthening ties by connecting with everyday Americans -- starting at a Maryland grocery store.

On August 8, 1925, the Ku Klux Klan descended on Washington, D.C. It was to be the largest Klan rally in D.C. history, a show of force for the white supremacist organization. But the rally did not go unopposed — D.C. residents fought back.

When Shenandoah National Park was dedicated in the 1930s, it was hailed as a triumph of conservation. But behind the postcard-perfect image was a deeper story of displacement and sacrifice. To create the park, the Commonwealth of Virginia used eminent domain to force hundreds of families from their mountain homes and turn the land over to the federal government.

The Washington Monument we know today is an iconic, simple obelisk — but it wasn't always supposed to look that way! The Monument went through many, many proposed designs, a hostile takeover, decades in limbo, and construction mired in drama. But in the end, one engineer's vision triumphed over artists, politicians, and critics.

The tale was included in every Monopoly box sold for decades: During the Great Depression, a down-on-his-luck repairman named Charles Darrow invented the game, which became one of the best selling games of all time and made Darrow rich. But the real history Monopoly is much more complex... and it all started with Lizzie Magie in Washington, D.C.

On October 11, 1972, a group of inmates in cellblock of the DC Jail in Washington, DC, took several guards hostage, sparking a jail uprising. DC Corrections Director Kenneth Hardy and a Washington Post reporter attempted to negotiate an end to the standoff, as well as future Mayor Marion Barry and DC Delegate Walter Fauntroy. All were unsuccessful. And then Shirley Chisholm arrived.

On April 26, 1954, second graders at Franklin Sherman Elementary in McLean, Virginia kicked off the nationwide trials of Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine. Called the biggest medical experiment in U.S. History, the much-publicized trials were a turning point in the fight against a disease that had terrified families for decades.

In 1950, an orphaned bear cub was rescued from a wildfire in New Mexico and brought to Washington to live at the National Zoo. Named "Smokey" after the popular Forest Service character, the cub became a real life advocate for fire prevention and got so much fan mail that the U.S. Postal Service gave him his own private D.C. zipcode.

On a cold night on February 8, 1967, a plane landed at National Airport. The only indication of the plane’s arrival came through a cryptic message, sent by the FBI agents on board: “the Bird” had landed. On the plane was precious cargo — a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci, purchased for a record-breaking sum after a decades-long pursuit by the National Gallery.

Even in Washington, D.C.'s long and complex history of suffrage, the deadly election riot of June 1, 1857, stands out. That was the day anti-immigrant rioters — armed with sledgehammers, pistols, and even a cannon — attempted to win an election through brutal violence at the polls, clashing with police and forcing President James Buchanan to order out the United States Marines.

On the morning of August 21, 1939 five young African American men entered the segregated public library in Alexandria, Virginia and asked for library card applications. They were denied and sat down to read in silence. When the police arrived to arrest the protesters, it touched off a legal fight — and demonstrated the power of a new tactic to defeat Jim Crow.