Cogswell Temperance Fountain (Photo: Garrett Peck)
All three of our spring Temperance Tour dates are rescheduled. This tour was originally April 23.
This tour is also available on:
Washington, D.C., was expected to be the “model dry city” for the rest of the country during Prohibition (1920–1933), but turned out to be anything but: Residents opened 3,000 speakeasies and even Congress employed its own bootleggers. A walking tour led by author and local historian Garrett Peck uncovers quirky and little-known sites in the nation’s capital that played a role in Prohibition, the so-called noble experiment that failed miserably.
The group meets up at the Cogswell Temperance Fountain across from Archives/Navy Memorial Metro station, then journeys to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Calvary Baptist Church, site of the Anti-Saloon League’s first national convention in 1895. After a short ride on the Red Line to Dupont Circle, the tour stops at the Woodrow Wilson House (Wilson was president when Prohibition began) to view the rare Prohibition-era wine cellar. The day ends, appropriately enough, at a nearby Dupont Circle bistro for a toast to the end of the noble experiment (it’s a cash bar, but the good cheer is on us).
Peck is the author of Prohibition in Washington, DC: How Dry We Weren’t and Capital Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in Washington, D.C.
The tour involves 1.5 miles of walking; bring a Metro card for portion that uses the subway.
The tour ends near the Dupont Circle Metro station. Dress for outdoor walking.
