Choose your Tudor Place tour. Click to learn more.
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Tour for the Presidential Inaugural
Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday
January 18, 19, 20 and 22
Hourly when the museum is open.
Take the first Tudor Place Tour for the Presidential Inaugural, drawing on collections and archives touching on presidencies from Washington's into the mid-20th century. View White House invitations, books by presidents, inaugural correspondence, and more. See highlights from the museum's notable Washington Collection in the mansion and the Visitor Center display cases (on view free of charge).
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Hands-On History:
Jr. Curator Camp
Sat.-Sun., January 19-20
9 - 3 pm
Be a curator!
Teen and tween students act as "junior staff" at a National Historic Landmark house museum in this popular Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday weekend program. Working with artifacts from the educational collection, campers design and install an original exhibit in the Tudor Place Visitor Center display cases. Their preparations also include planning a unique opening event and related hands-on art activities. The program concludes Sunday afternoon with an official Exhibit Opening for family and friends, featuring guided tours conducted by the campers.
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Lecture:
The Painter's Chair:
George Washington & the Making of American Art
Thursday, January 24
6:30 pm
 Historian Hugh Howard traces how the ideas of a young American republic evolved through images of Washington and ideas of the painters who defined him. See how painters like John Trumbull, Edward Savage, Gilbert Stuart, Charles Willson Peale, and Rembrandt Peale helped turn a revolutionary hero into an icon.Following the lecture, tour Washington portraits, some rarely seen, in the Tudor Place collection, including the portrait miniature shown here, 1796, by William Russell Birch (Tudor Place Collection no. 96.6012).
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For ages 5+
 Be My Valentine
Tour and Workshop for Children
Saturday, February 9
10:30-noon and 1:30-3:30 p.m.
It's a hunt and a tour in one, as children scour the historic mansion in search of Valentine's Day cards from the past. Next, children design their own Valentine's cards to take home, drawing inspiration from historic and vintage cards from the Tudor Place archive.
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For adults...
Valentine's Tea- and Chocolate-Tasting
Saturday, February 9
1 - 3 p.m.
Satisfy your curiosity, and tickle your senses: You'll love this Valentine's tea! First, sample a variety of 18th- and 19th-century teas and chocolates as a costumed interpreter explains how they were traded, served, and savored in early America. Next, enjoy a small-group guided tour through the historic 1816 mansion, concluding with a viewing of vintage Valentine cards from the museum archive.
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 For adults...
Valentine's Day Tea
Thursday, February 14
noon - 2 p.m.
Share this with someone special! The English invested the drinking of tea with a world of customs and tastes. Experience it as the Victorians did, sampling a repast of tea sandwiches, scones, delicious desserts and historic tea blends. Following the tea, enjoy a guided tour through the 1816 National Historic Landmark mansion.
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 For adults...
Romance the Evening: Cocktails in the Conservatory
Thursday, February 14
5 - 7 p.m.
Start your Valentine's Day evening with wine, champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries, and other delightful treats in the Conservatory of the 1816 National Historic Landmark mansion. Musical entertainment provides a background as you stroll through the house, viewing its beautiful collections and, for this special occasion, displays of antique Valentine cards from the archive.
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 for all agesAll About George! on Presidents' Day
Monday, February 18
10 a.m. - noon
Connect to American history at Tudor Place, with the largest collection of Washington artifacts outside Mount Vernon. Tour the mansion with expert docents in every room. See rare objects owned by George Washington. And see and take home your own copy of an unusually personal letter written to his wife.
You will also be one of the first to see (after 270 years in private hands) the newly restored gold 1741 pocket watch the first president is said to have given his stepson's wife. Martha Washington's needlework and tea table and the portrait miniature above will also be on view, and you can enjoy 18th-century gaming, dancing, and crafts led by costumed interpreters.
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Timepieces: The Art of Restoration
Thursday, February 21
6:30 pm
This 1741 pocket watch recently donated to Tudor Place is the starting point of this presentation by master restorers of the Towson Watch Company. Family history holds that George Washington gave the watch to Eleanor Calvert when she married his stepson. After 270 years in private hands, it came to Tudor Place in 2011 and underwent expert restoration. Learn from the men who performed the work about the making of 18th-century watches and the history of timepieces since the 1500s. The talk will cover a range of makers and periods and showcase the variety of tools they use, some as old as the watches themselves.
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Seeing Like a Curator:
Sketching Salon
Friday, February 22
1 - 3 p.m.
1st of 3: February 22 (silver), March 22 (ceramics), and April 26 (glass)
Learn to look with a curator's eye in this sketching workshop led by Tudor Place Curator Erin Kuykendall. Using collections artifacts, get a first-hand feel for how close observation can reveal secrets of an object's construction, materials, and design. Instruction and all drawing materials provided. No drawing experience necessary!
Session one will focus on silver, two on ceramics, and three on glass; participants can attend one, two, or all three.
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Enhance your garden skills...
Boxwood Basics
Saturday, February 23
10 - 11 a.m.
Join boxwood expert Robert Saunders, of Saunders Brothers Nursery, for an in-depth lecture on boxwood care. Gardeners are rediscovering boxwood, the backbone of many landscapes and formal gardens, including Tudor Place, for centuries. Learn how to properly prune and care for this beautiful plant that adds instant elegance to landscape.
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 Dolly and Me, Taking Tea Saturday, March 2 1 - 2:30 p.m.
Bring your favorite doll to tea! Children and adults will sample historic tea blends and tasty desserts. Dolls, too, will be served, with their own miniature tea sets and servings. After tea, children will learn early American dances and craft a special item for their dolls to wear home.
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Evening insider tours...
Snooping with the Curators at
Dumbarton House and
Tudor Place
Tuesdays, March 5 AND March 12
6:30 p.m.
What do curators see when the public isn't around? The hidden drawers of a cylinder desk, the strings of a piano forte, the innards of a linen press...
This behind-the-scenes tour reveals it all. Visitors will view rarely seen interiors of important objects in the collections of two of D.C.'s earliest historic houses, including a piano forte, Baltimore desk, linen press, and chest-on-chest that stood in the bedroom of Martha and George Washington. Learn about the objects themselves and ongoing efforts to preserve them from the experts who handle and study them.
Admission includes two tours, on March 5, at Dumbarton House with Deputy Director & Curator Scott Scholz, and March 12 at Tudor Place, with Erin Kuykendall, Curator of Collections. Register early, as space is limited to 15 persons.
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Guided Garden Tours
Historic & New: Understanding
The Tudor Place Landscape
Tuesday, March 5
10 - 11 a.m.
and monthly "first Tuesdays," March-October
Immerse yourself in the history and horticulture of centuries-old trees, heirloom plants and flowers and fragrant English boxwood on a lively guided walk across 5.5 acres and two centuries of landscape design. Learn how Tudor Place reflects both its Federal-period origins and changes in land use over time. See how orchards, vegetable gardens, stables and grazing land made way for lawns, rose gardens, fountains and the various garden "rooms" of an urban estate. Identify many varieties cultivated here over time, and see how four owners over six generations of one family cared for and embellished the landscape, while Georgetown and the Federal city grew around it.
Offered monthly on first Tuesdays, March-October. Advance registration invited but not required.
Call to register, (202) 965-0400 ext. 116.
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 For adults...
Wild for Toppers Tea
Saturday, March 9
1 - 3 p.m.
Explore your millinery wild side! Don vintage and contemporary hats while enjoying an afternoon tea featuring delicious sandwiches and desserts and specially selected tea brews. After the tea, guests create festive sunbonnets to take home. Fee includes all hat-making supplies.
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For Juniors and Cadets
Architecture Everywhere:
Girl Scouts in Georgetown Day
Saturday, March 16
10 - 11:30 a.m.
 Become an architect at Tudor Place! Scouts will explore architectural styles from around the world while touring Tudor Place and its surrounding Georgetown neighborhood. After the tour, participants put their creativity to work by designing their own building and landscape.
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Seeing Like a Curator: Sketching Salon
Friday, March 22 1 - 3 p.m.
2nd of 3:
See February 22 for details.
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For families
Tea with the Easter Bunny
Enjoy tea with the Easter Bunny! Families will sample spring tea blends, sandwiches, petite desserts, and scones, while visiting with the Easter Bunny. After tea, families will partake in a scavenger hunt through Tudor Place's 5.5 acres of gardens in search of the Easter Bunny's favorite flowers and animal friends.
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Ages 21+
Tudor Nights
In Art and the Everyday:
The Japanese Eye for Beauty
Thursday, March 24
6 - 8 p.m.
In Japan, beauty is found in objects from the most refined to the most humble. Come celebrate the Yoshino cherry blossoms' return to the Tudor Place gardens, and in the historic mansion, enjoy a close look at select objects from our Asian art collection -- from the everyday to the priceless. In the Dower House, enjoy an Asian-themed menu of savories and cherry-themed treats, accompanied by our spin on a historic cocktail, "Cherry Japanese Cobbler."
Complimentary for Tudor Place members
Nonmembers welcome at $25.00 per person
To register, call (202) 965-0400 x104.
Tudor Nights parties free all year.
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For families
Spring Tea and Chocolate Workshop
Tuesday, March 26 and Wednesdays, March 27
and April 3
Tea and chocolate have long entranced our palates, but what do we really know about them? Children will learn the basics of chocolate making and tea etiquette at this festive spring program conducted by a costumed interpreter. What's more, they will create their own 3-D chocolate eggs to take home.
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Fifth Annual
Eggstravaganza!
Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30
Rolling green lawns, bobbing spring blooms and the elegant mansion on a hill serve as backdrop for this festive annual attraction. Join the Easter Bunny and children of all ages for an Egg Hunt (10:30 a.m.) and thrilling Egg Roll Contest (10:45) down the grand South Lawn. Decorate eggs and play lawn games from the past. Bring cameras for photos of your loved ones with the Easter Bunny and 5 � acres of glorious gardens, open for exploration. Bring your own basket, spoon, and one hard-boiled egg per child.
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Bargains!
How to Save Washingtons and Lincolns When You
Visit Us
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In the Visitor Ctr., a Washington "spectacle"?
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A free mini-exhibit in the Visitor Center of Washington textiles in February and March. "Two-for-One" (half-off) tour pricing throughout February. And garden tours always just $3 per person.
These are several ways to enjoy and share Tudor Place without spending a bundle. Each advances our mission of broadening public access to history, a goal that infuses everything we do.
You may already know that our school programs--thanks to the Park Foundation--include free transportation for Title I (federally assisted) public schools. And our collections and archives staff provide assistance and access for qualified researchers and students.
Visit soon to take advantage of such "historic" largesse. If you can, help advance it, by giving to the Annual Fund.
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Learning together...
Make Time for
Family Days
Presidents' Day, Earth Day (April 21), Mother's Day, Father's Day and Independence Day programs are just a few of the ways Tudor Place brings families together to discover and have fun. There's also the summertime Civil War Encampment and the wildly popular Eggstravaganza, the city's "other" Easter egg roll.
If that's the way you roll, then consider a family membership to Tudor Place. Your $80 contribution supports the museum while providing discounts and access to adult, children's, and of course, family events. These programs stimulate adult minds while also providing activities kids love, like period crafts, games, foods, costumes and dancing, all guided by informed, friendly staff. Age-appropriate scavenger hunts, garden explorations, and house tours introduce the U.S. past and the historic estate in ways kids understand and remember.
They will want to come back, and you will want to bring them, so join us now!
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New views on an
"old" President ...
Window on Washington
George Washington's bequest helped provide for Tudor Place. Today, we illuminate him and his legacy through Window on Washington -- tours, displays, lectures, and public programs throughout February and March.
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Washington textiles in the Visitor Center.
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In the mansion, see Washington Collection highlights like a dining table laid with furnishings from the first presidential household, and the Washington plateau, returned from conservation last year. Regular tours are half-price all February!
For the second year in a row, Presidents' Day at Tudor Place brings the debut of a newly conserved Washington object: a gold, English-made watch he is said to have given as a wedding gift. All ages are invited to see it and other rare items brought out only one day of the year.
In the Visitor Center, enjoy a free mini-exhibit of Washington textiles, costume and accessories. And Landmark Society lectures (described at left) in January and February offer up-close looks at presidential portraiture and the pocket watch.
So many ways to connect with a founding father, all under one beautiful roof.
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Historic House & Garden
1644 31st Street, NW
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Book online via the links on this page
and our online calendar, or by calling us,
at 202-965-0400. Call, too, to reserve your tour.
Reservations, while not required, are highly recommended, especially at weekends
and other peak times.
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