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greetings and welcome to the talk with

your tea podcast I'm your host Scott

here with my wife and historian Jen

hello on this podcast we talk about

history's continuing impact on us today

and our personal journey through YouTube

is we continue to explore record and

share our history walks with you

now for today's podcast there really

isn't much that I need to do to

introduce one of the most famous

locations in America the National Mall

in Washington DC it's full of History so

Jen Let's Just Jump Right In sure where

did we start so the mall you know people

when I say the DC Mall people are always

like the shopping mall but that's what

we refer to as that big grassy area in

Washington DC that's kind of it's

adorned with monuments and markers to

the people who have shaped this country

and it's visited by over

25 million people a year yeah like it is

and it's free so you can walk around you

can go at any time and it's beautiful

it's clean it's well kept yes and tons

of History so we started at the Thomas

Jefferson Memorial yeah and I had

actually never been there before that

was my first time too and so you see it

you know you can always go oh there it

is but I had never actually gone inside

and it's beautiful so it's a huge statue

of Thomas Jefferson inside he's bronze

and then the outside of the pillars and

and we went during the cherry blossoms

oh it was gorgeous so right around it

was it was so pretty like everything was

in full bloom and there was petals

everywhere it was awesome it was awesome

so when I say Title Basin it's that

curve of the mall around because it's

basically kind of like a big almost like

a l more like a u yes yes and that's

when people say the cherry blossoms on

the tidal base and that's what they mean

but Jefferson was the third president

that Monument was built for from 1939 to

1943 under FDR and it really goes into

it but they have like a bunch of like

his sayings around him things that he

wrote and it celebrates him as more than

just president but like a scientist an

inventor an architect like the pillars

on the outsider his architectural idea

yeah and so it kind of is more to him

than just the president but of course

it's he's the author of the Declaration

of Independence so they have that on the

wall it's um the statue is 19 feet yeah

and it was a lot bigger thousand pounds

like it's huge and you can actually see

it at night you could if you kind of

look through the pillars you can see the

statue in there it's it's lit up but

he's holding the Declaration in his hand

so that's what he's standing there

holding but it was and the statue was

dedicated I think like in 1947 so after

FDR so the the monument was there first

and then they put in the Statue yeah now

it was it was really really cool and and

we actually went to kind of give the

larger picture of like how we were

filming this I mean we did this with our

kids yes we did this with family my mom

and the

um electric electric wheelchair electric

wheelchair although she wasn't she

didn't start there with us so I so I

actually dropped her off it was a lot

and then kind of like hoofed it from

Lincoln down to the Jefferson Memorial

in my steel-toed boots which actually

like it gave me issues later that I

suffered for so that's advice I always

try to give people in Washington DC

because you can see everything yeah

pretty clearly you think it's closer

than it actually is and it's not that

close I think it's about I want to say

it's about a mile mile and a half

between the Lincoln Memorial and the

Jefferson Memorial oh I believe it

because there have been so many times I

I've seen the Washington monuments so

the big obelisk in the middle of

Washington and I'm like oh that's not

far we can make it there no problem and

you'll be walking for like 20 minutes

yeah and you're not even closer and it

looks yeah I think we walked to I think

I probably walked because I did a bunch

of extra right dropping your mom off and

then come and get you guys and then

walking back and all this stuff I mean I

probably walked jogged whatever and

still took boots for like five or six

maybe seven miles that day and that's

good advice because it is very walkable

yes and that is the best way to see it

because you can't really drive from

Monument to Monument yeah it's not an

easy City to drive and there are there

are folks who bike around a little bit

but it's it's I would say it's probably

better to walk because you kind of

really get the experience and especially

more going through what's the next

Monument we walk through which is FDR

which is awesome it was really cool if

you haven't seen the FDR monument yet I

definitely recommend getting out there

it was only built in 1997 and in 2001

they actually put a cloak around FDR to

kind of I wouldn't say hide the

wheelchair but they wanted to

you know we emphasize it de-emphasize it

yeah so they put the cloak around that

but it was it's dedicated to his four

terms of office and it's basically a

walking Monument so you walk through

each term

and as we walked it backwards but if you

walk it forward like you're supposed to

yeah if you're walking from the Lincoln

Memorial to the Jefferson that's the way

you should walk it yeah and that goal

will go in sequence of his time in

office and they'll have different kind

of monuments they have his Fireside

Chats yeah that's cool they have people

standing in line for the depression the

bread lines the bread lines and

they what's really neat is they um they

have a water feature that was cool and

the water will get more and more complex

as his terms go on right because as his

presidency goes on he's going to take

America into World War II yeah and it's

going to get more and more difficult and

complex and so that's what that water

feature is supposed yeah that was

something that I had I'd seen it before

I had been to the mall before but I had

never heard that

um and the kind of the reasoning behind

that and and so I actually specifically

kind of looked for it and the water

wasn't running while we were there no

but it but you could still tell yes it

was really neat so he's our 32nd

president you know being assisted

through the Depression and World War II

has four terms the only president to

have four terms now you're not allowed

to have four terms but he and it was a

rarity even then because he wanted to

bring America through the war yeah he

felt like he got you know he was with

America in the beginning and he wanted

to see it through yeah so that was why

he served four terms yeah and being

there again I'm gonna foot stomp this

because if anybody listening to this can

pick a time to go go in the cherry

blossoms are are in bloom which is

april-ish that's where we went over

there right around Easter spring break

time frame

um I think it gives you a completely

different experience being there with

those cherry blossoms

um and again me being the kind of more

cinematic camera guy like I loved it it

was great it was just gorgeous to shoot

yes and

it like I said this it's open air rooms

big Grand and they have some of his

famous speeches and things that he said

quotes yeah I think they had his wife

there yeah Eleanor Roosevelt has her own

statue of course because she was such an

influential first lady but just a lot of

quotes that he had said and and I think

there's almost a

a touching wall remember we just talked

about that yeah like a braille yes like

a braille so they were talking about

disabilities and handicaps and trying to

embracing that yeah so there was a

braille wall which back then was not

embraced no that's why they are they

kind of hit it yeah he tried not to have

any pictures taken of him in the

wheelchair and that's why the front of

the Resolute desk was put on so people

wouldn't see him in the wheelchair and

at the time the Press was very

accommodating to that for him yeah it

would be that way nowadays but uh yeah

it was it was that was

I don't know if that was my favorite one

but that was up there it was pretty cool

it was pretty neat well the next one

Martin Luther King I had never seen

before

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so I hadn't either because it's not a

lot of these you can kind of see from

the road right the Jefferson Memorial

Lincoln Memorial the Washington Monument

but the the MLK one it's it's I wouldn't

say it's tucked away it's just not

easily viewable from the road it has a

great view of the tidal base then yes

but you have to walk over to it and it's

neat it's kind of like he's coming out

of the mountain it's like he's cut out

of the mountain moving forward and it

that's also a new one 2011. it's called

the stone of Hope

it's 30 feet high and he's only the

fourth non-president to be memorialized

on the mall yeah I didn't I didn't know

that either so as we're we're doing this

and you're kind of telling me about it

almost as like a warm-up for you to

actually put say it on camera

um I mean I was learning things left and

right you know I got to see all his like

super famous quotes yes right so so

walking up to it there's like a bunch of

his famous quotes from his speeches and

stuff like that that are kind of carved

into the wall so it's you're walking up

to the and then here he is like kind of

like you said it's it you can tell it's

it's kind of yeah he's 30 feet high

intended to to kind of be coming out of

this

um this Stone embankment which then

you'll then walk behind them yes you

know on to the next one but uh the MLK

one was it was really really neat and

you did say that there's a

some people kind of said that there was

a little bit of controversy because the

marble the stone is white it's white so

I had you know when I went to grad

school at the University of Memphis uh

we had talked about this monument and

some of my fellow

cohort in my class who were

African-Americans said why why would you

have a monument to Martin Luther King

and make it white and I never thought

about that but it's true it is that's a

good point bright white yeah yeah

um but do you know the other three

people who are uh on the mall that are

not presidents I did when I was making

the video a year ago I do not anymore so

John Paul Jones that's right uh John

Erickson

kind of like a forefather of America and

George Mason

to America yeah good old jpj father of

the Navy

I know

MLK is Korea yeah so you kind of walk

behind MLK and then you will kind of

walk along the path over towards the

Korean and you'll be walking and you'll

see these the Korean memorial is so cool

it was um it was built in 1982 to 19 uh

1992 to 1995 and it's called the column

because it's supposed to be men walking

in a column as if they're on patrol and

their life size yeah so it's so nice and

you can kind of you can kind of walk

between them yeah it's really cool and

it's 19 men 14 Army three Marine Corps

One navy one Air Force oh representation

and it's just there have like their

ponchos it looks like it's harsh weather

because Korea was harsh weather and

they're walking through yeah yeah it's

just it's such a neat Memorial I think

because it's so life-like to be yeah you

that that one you almost feel like it's

trying to take you there more than more

than anything else more than any of the

other monuments in my opinion because

it's it's really it's almost more about

the scene than it is about any specific

person yes and I think because they call

it the Forgotten War yeah because most

people forget Korea because it's it

relatively fast lifespan-wise right like

mash they say about the Korean war was

longer yeah than the actual career

that's right yeah and so I think when

you when you walk through it like that

you're like wow I feel like a part of

this yeah it's a very very neat Monument

I really like it

um I they said 1.5 million people

actually served in the Korean War so

it's dedicated to everyone who served so

there are pictures etched in and you can

see and they do that again

representation it's all services and you

see women and you see everybody this

kind of like depicts moments from the

Korean War yeah and that's really cool

to see too yeah it was a neat one and

again we were we were there and it was

you know spring break April time frame

you know so there was a fair amount of

people out but you could still I mean

when you if you see the video I still

got pretty good oh sure Vantage Point

yeah it was it wasn't super crowded or

anything like that and after that was

Lincoln yeah which the Lincoln Morris

I don't that might be one of the biggest

just kind of just area wise ones on the

entire mall and that's what people want

to go that's that's so cool it's so cool

and and who did we see when we were

there so so we saw and I didn't I didn't

even notice it and I think you did be

more I think he more heard his voice so

we saw a very famous actor yes we did

what would we see Denzel Washington

that's right we heard him and we saw him

I think did he like look at us and wave

at us no I don't think he waved at us I

think Jr and Tiffany my brother yeah so

they went over and tried to get his

attention but he was actually there

filming a movie filming a movie and he

was actually I think he was teaching

like some George Washington film

students I think it was Howard was it

Howard I think it was Howard so but

there was like you could tell there were

students there with him and he was

talking them through probably some sort

of course or just like a guest for film

for something like that um but he was

filming that movie that's now out

Michael Jordan yes letters from home or

something I think that's the movie yeah

they were filming that right on the

steps of the Lincoln Memorial which I

didn't see my I don't remember seeing

Michael Jordan I don't think he was in

the scene and and the funny part was

it's like when when you pointed Denzel

Washington now the only way I could tell

who he was because we were everybody was

kind of still where a lot of people were

still wearing masks even outside at the

time

um but I could tell by his walk yes so I

could tell by his by his walk I was like

that's Denzel Washington I I don't I

can't see his face because he's this

guy's wearing a mask and a baseball cap

yeah

um and it was pretty cold it was

um so he was wearing a big thick jacket

but I could tell by his walk it's crazy

like you've seen someone in enough

movies that you could tell he kind of

had that that Denzel walk yeah I had

that Swagger and uh so that was that was

that was pretty cool it was pretty cool

and it was neat to see

the Lincoln I mean I've I every time we

go to the link Memorial I love it so

16th president of course a great

emancipator you know you have the

Gettysburg address on one side of the

monument you have the Emancipation

Proclamation on the other side of the

monument uh it was it's 36 columns for

the 36 States during the Civil War it

was built from 1912 to 1922 and

his son was there for the dedication and

and we actually went there probably two

or three times while we were there so we

went there actually the night before was

it the night before that we went there

and you actually found the spot where

MLK stood yes so I I had no we went

there that day and I had seen it and we

took pictures of it we went back we went

back that night and people kept asking

where it was and what they do there to

make it so picturesque is they really

make it super dark on the steps and

around and really lit up inside so the

the statue really glows but you can't

see much on the steps so I had to hold

my light for my cell phone yeah for

people because it's just cut into the

marble that says Martin Luther King is

it was is it cut into it or is it is

there an actual marker no it's cut into

the marble it says Martin Luther King

stood here when he gave the I Have a

Dream speech and so if you don't know

where it is you wouldn't be able to see

it yeah and so I I showed a couple

people that but it was so beautiful to

go there at night yeah it was like if

you go there during the day do your best

to go back at night because it's it's

almost a different experience right

there's a little bit less people but

like you said they they they're very

intentional about their lighting setup

um in a quick aside that actually was a

disadvantage to one of the people in the

in the area when we were there so we

were we had gone inside I think we had

done some additional filming yes taking

some pictures or something like that and

then all of a sudden like what did what

did we hear so we walked down

um some of the steps so you just need to

be very aware the Lincoln Memorial is at

the head of the reflecting pool right

and around the reflecting pool is

different levels of granite steps and

you have to just be very aware of your

footing and your steps because like I

said it's dark they make it dark so the

Lincoln Memorial kind of glows and you

can rent those bikes

e-bikes yes which are kind of plastic

bikes yeah and there were a couple guys

riding their bikes and all of a sudden

we hear this huge crash plastic and it

ought to be perfectly honest it didn't

sound like a crash it sounded like a

small explosion I mean that was the

first thing that popped across my mind

maybe that's the military in me but I

mean everybody stopped because it just

echoed yeah it was so loud and I think

he was riding on one level and all of a

sudden it jumped up to be about chest

level granite and he just like and he

plowed he plowed zero he probably didn't

see it at all at all and I think it

actually like it made it probably

damaged the bike pretty good some of

them have like these like plastic

plastic box things on them or whatever

like that I think that's what caused the

sound it's one of these plastic boxing

just kind of exploded off off of this

and we were like oh my gosh what

happened but uh it turns out like you

know he had some buddies with him and he

ended up being okay he was okay we

checked don't worry we didn't just walk

away he was he was just shocked and that

bike I think was destroyed but so just

be careful if you're out there at night

it's very dark it's beautiful it's safe

but you just need to be very aware of

your footing especially around the

Lincoln Memorial but it was so cool

because you've seen it in movies a

hundred times you've seen it in pictures

growing up and in in school books and

stuff like that light of the museum like

at Night at the Museum I kept thinking

of Forrest Gump yeah right I kept

thinking of that like it was just so

Sony Abraham Lincoln is seated and he

has like a passive

pose passive face kind of just looking

out and he like I said it's the head of

the reflecting pool so he is looking out

onto the Washington Monument like that's

what he sees so it's it's just like a

very head place of the monument yeah it

was it was really really neat it's

actually surprisingly tricky to get an

Uber over there yes so you you just like

now they all know like where to drop

people off and this that and the other

but trying to get get picked up like

again you have to be super aware of kind

of where you're going to be and you like

they're not just there's no common

stopping spot no you know so that you

have to like just kind of you know up

your senses a little bit and it's a

difficult City to drive yeah just be

aware yeah I would I would highly

recommend you know just taking an Uber

or taxi Metro whatever

um you I think we talked about this

before the podcast you really can't park

and drive anywhere no not around the

mall you might be able to do it like one

end but even then like I don't know

where where you would park near the

Jefferson Memorial no I think you might

have to just park maybe by the capitol

yeah and walk the other way and even

that's really difficult so just

recommend parking much further away Uber

Metro and Metro and then just just plan

on walking

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we stopped at the Vietnam memorial yes

and that's always powerful it is so

Vietnam memorial looks like a V yep and

it was built in 1982

it has 247 kind of like columns and it's

58

245 names of the people who gave their

lives in order of Life lost yeah and of

course I stopped there and left a flag I

have a friend whose father was killed

over Vietnam and he's still missing in

action so I left a flag for him and it's

it's people can leave anything there

yeah and that's one of those places you

will see wreaths you will see any

people have left there was a group that

left a Harley there really I didn't know

that left a Harley motorcycle there holy

cow so you can leave anything there

you're allowed to leave anything out of

that now I have all sorts of questions I

know that's crazy awesome so like the DC

like mall I'll just call them janitors

like how the hell I don't even know how

to ride a bike right you're like how do

I get to start it gets probably sold I'm

sure the money donated or something like

that but yes you're allowed to leave

anything one of the interesting was that

the one that was designed by like a 25

year old architecture or student 21 year

old 21 year old that's that I found

super interesting simplistic and

Powerful yeah because of the v-shape

yeah and then it has the three

servicemen statue in bronze from that

was in a 1984. yeah it's kind of off to

the side and those you know they're it's

the first African-American on the mall

yeah so that's a really neat one because

it kind of shows the Brotherhood of them

all to together and the shared hardship

kind of what that looked like is that is

that with the one with the nurses so

there's also the nurses and that's close

by too and that was built in 1993. that

was that was pretty neat and that's the

three women nurses now it's

it's a little inaccurate because no

Vietnam nurses were ever in combat

that's right and so they're they're kind

of taking care of a wounded it's

symbolic it's symbolic right yes but

it's cool yeah so you have one like

looking up probably looking for kind of

like a air support sure and they're

another one's tending to like the

wounded soldier and another one's kind

of like supporting both of them yeah so

it's a very it's very cool but it's kind

of like a together in unity kind of idea

I think but what was neat that I never

had seen before was that World War II

Memorial

all right that was that was honestly my

favorite one

I had never been to it I don't remember

seeing pictures of it but that was

honestly probably like one of the most

moving ones for me it was it was it's

huge and I think

one of the reasons that I think it might

have

not not be as common commonly known or

commonly seen in pictures these kids

kind of set down it's set lower it's set

it's set lower so you kind of walk and

then you walk down into it and you kind

of don't even notice it if you're

looking at the reflecting pool it's

along the way to the monument Washington

Monument Washington Monument so it's not

it's not impeding The View right right

you can look past it and so you don't

really even know it's there unless

you're looking for it it was it was

really really it's beautiful so it has

like two Pavilions one for the Atlantic

one for the Pacific so for each kind of

front and then it has 56 pillars and

they represent the states and the areas

and the you know the Sovereign countries

that fought in World War II yeah and

then it has the stars for I think each

star represents a hundred Americans and

this

4048 stars and so all the lives that

were lost yeah in World War II and it's

this big a kind of like water fountains

and you can go down and the nice thing

is like the kids loved it so you kind of

walk down into this and the nice thing

is if it's windy you kind of get out of

the wind a little bit so it's very it's

a little bit calmer down there minus the

water yeah right and so it was just I

was just caught completely flat-footed

when I got up to it I was like man this

is is beautiful and it reminded me of my

grandparents yes right that generation

the greatest Generation

Um I I was just floored and honestly it

probably was my favorite monument that

we got to see relatively new 2004. yeah

I didn't realize it was that new

military new but it's such a neat one

and I would definitely recommend if you

haven't seen that to stop and see yeah

and then from there you can is that

where you walk right on to the

Washington Monument yeah so of course

Washington Monument that was one of the

first monuments ever to be built and it

took forever it took from 1848 to 1888

because they stopped during the Civil

War yeah right that's right yeah they're

like hey guys we need money for the war

stop building the monument so people

always say the different color Stones

because they were 1812. no the different

color Stones is because they stopped

during the Civil War and then when they

went to Curry the Marvel they had to

query from another place so that's what

the different color stones are for

um it was halted for 23 years they just

you know didn't cut the funds but it's

555 feet it's the tallest masonry

Obelisk and it has 50 flags around it

which are beautiful if they're all

pristine beautiful American flags at a

certain circle it and

it has so it's supposed to have like

kind of this meaning

of the three branches of government

right because you can see the White

House from there you can see the capital

and then you're supposed to be able to

see the Supreme Court

and so you're supposed to be able to

represent the three branches are all

equal and you know what I have seen it a

bunch of times driving by it again I

think this is the first time I actually

walked all the way to it and you can

walk up to it and like

touch it yeah like lean on it like the

kids sat down really I for some reason

like in my head I just didn't think that

right

um but that's that's actually the case

with most of these monuments is that you

can just like walk right up and you can

lean up against it and you know sit down

and have lunch then

then you're good to go yeah it's I mean

it's there for you so after after the

Washington Monument the reflecting pool

ends yeah and then the rest of the mall

is grass yeah and the capital is like

behind yes you can keep walking there's

more

to see like so the James Garfield

markers are further undone there's more

information and stuff to see yeah then

you're not far from the Smithsonian

Institute and all the great place to

picnic and they always have food trucks

out there so it's just a really great

family yeah I think we wrapped it up

with there was they had an ice cream

which is great it was like I was like

this is perfect I mean we were like

exhausted right you know we had we had

walked I mean our kids held in there and

I think that's just because we were

walking the entire time so I was super

proud of them I would say like the video

this time probably wasn't as fun for me

to make as actually doing the event this

we got to walk so much we got to see so

much we got to be walking through what's

so iconic in our country and the

National Mall is it's a bucket list trip

for a lot of people and we were no

exception so I felt lucky to be able to

do this with my family as well as record

it while covering all of the history

that it contains

and if you haven't seen our Washington

Mall video I highly recommend it because

perhaps you will learn something that

you didn't know before

so thank you again for listening to the

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