Tudor Place

Washington has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to tourist sites. The monuments and memorials, the Smithsonian museums, the Capitol, and the White House can keep you busy for a weeklong visit. Next there is the second tier of places to see:  Arlington Cemetery, Mount Vernon, Great Falls, and myriad other museums off the Mall such as the Phillips Collection, Hillwood, and the Kreeger. 

And then there's Tudor Place, one of dozens of historic sites that, in the Michelin Guide parlance, is probably not "worth the detour" but maybe "worth a stop." This historic home, which occupies almost a full city block in Georgetown (with an entrance on 31st Street between Q and R Streets), was designed for Martha and Robert Peter by William Thornton, an amateur architect who won the first design competition for the U.S. Capitol. Mrs. Peter was the granddaughter of Martha Washington and the house's furnishings include many items from Mount Vernon.  It stayed in the family until 1983 when the last Mr. Peter died, after having set up a foundation to keep the property intact and open to visitors.

The mansion houses a somewhat eclectic collection of furniture, artwork, china, crystal and other items that date from the Federalist period to mid 20th century. Plus there are the grounds with formal gardens, a garage with a Pierce Arrow roadster, and an expansive lawn that once allowed the residents to see all the way to the busy port on the Potomac (trees and other buildings now impede that view). The guided tour nods to the site's original residents -- members of the Piscataway/Nacotchtank tribes -- and is forthright about its slaveholding past although offers few details on the lives of the dozens of enslaved people who lived there. The narrative mostly focuses on details of the Peter family's history, especially Britannia Peter Kennon, who lived from 1815 to 1911, many of those years onsite. There are colorful anecdotes about the explosion of the USS Princeton in 1843, Confederate cousins playing spy, and use of the property by Union officers during the Civil War.

I wouldn't drop everything to book your visit, but if your wanderings take you to Georgetown to shop, stroll, or dine, consider adding Tudor Place to your itinerary.