Tidal Basin Washington DC

Tidal Basin Washington DC

After walking the National Mall, my son and I crossed the street to walk the Tidal Basin as well.  I was starting to tire, I must admit.  But I couldn’t go to DC and not walk around the Tidal Basin.  We just had to.

I did not realize at the time that there were several memorials around the Tidal Basin.  In fact, I only knew about the one we could see when we crossed the road.  That one turned out to be the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

I did know that the famous cherry trees were on the Tidal Basin somewhere so I was looking forward to seeing those.  So, we crossed the street and started walking.

Boy was I surprised by how much was over there!  The trees hide a lot of it.  I am so glad we decided to walk it.

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About Tidal Basin Washington DC

In 1881, there was a disastrous flood in Washington DC which flooded parts of the National Mall.  The Washington Monument, White House Ellipse, and the Capitol were all impacted by this flood.  Many southern parts of the city were only accessible by boat.

The Army Corps of Engineers filled in what used to be wetlands which became Potomac Park and then formed a pond, now called the Tidal Basin.  They installed gates in 1887 which open at high tide to fill the pond and exits at low tide into the Washington Channel.

A pumping system has been installed since which keeps the reflecting pool full of water at the Lincoln Memorial.  In 2019, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the Tidal Basin a “National Treasure”.

Today, the Tidal Basin is the site of our nation’s famous cherry trees which bring in roughly 1.5 million visitors each year.  It is also the site of the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.

Located near the National Mall at 1500 Maine Ave SW, the Tidal Basin is free to visit and open 24/7/365.

Summary

Straying from our Roadtrippers itinerary allowed us to see so many incredible things on this trip.  But now I’ve figured out how to use the software and I use this trip as my inspiration to plan out my trips.

It took us a couple of hours to walk around the Tidal Basin.  We took our time and we stopped at each memorial to reflect and learn about it.

I definitely recommend walking around the Tidal Basin and visiting the memorials if you’re in the area.  It’s one of those bucket list items that not many people can say they’ve done.

If you’re not able to walk it, you could rent a swan or pedal boat and go out.  We were going to do that but they were not available when we arrived, I don’t remember why.  I did tell my son we would try to do it next time we visited.  I’ll have to remember to add that to our itinerary.

Have you been there?  I’d love to hear what you thought of it.  Were the cherry trees in bloom?

Please drop a few lines in the comments box below and let me know how your visit went.

In the meantime, safe travels!

~Kris M.

P.S.  If you happen to use travel journals, be sure to check out the travel journal I created for my future Washington DC Road Trips.

Written by Kris M.