Tours

The Anacostia Community Museum will be closed from January 8, 2024-March 22, 2024. We will reopen on Saturday, March 23, 2024 with our next exhibition, A Bold and Beautiful Vision: A Century of Black Arts Education in Washington, DC,1900-2000. We hope you will join us! 

Before the Bulldozers: Historic Southwest D.C. Exposed

An immersive app-based audio walk through Southwest - available for group tours or self-guided

Step into 1950s Southwest D.C. on the eve of one of the federal government’s most destructive experiments: urban renewal. Augmented reality combined with rich, textured audio allows 21st Century participants to take a walk through a historic neighborhood that has largely disappeared. Using location-based storytelling, we trace the paths of three characters: an amateur photographer determined to capture his endangered community on film, an architect whose vision of a gleaming new Southwest captured the imagination of city planners, and a current-day resident of the new Southwest grappling with the paradox of gentrification.

  • Starts at Waterfront Metro Station
  • Phones provided for students
  • Educator-led walking tour (1 mile), ending at the waterfront with a dialogue session
  • Best for 5th grade and up
  • Maximum 40 students, lasts 1.5 hours

Two-week advance reservations required for all guided tours. 

Contact:
acmeducation@si.edu

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