National Mall - Landmarks, Museums and Other Features

Landmarks, Museums and Other Features

The National Mall (proper) contains the following landmarks, museums and other features:

With the exception of the National Gallery of Art, all of the museums on the National Mall (proper) are part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian Gardens maintains a number of gardens near its museums. These gardens include:

As popularly understood, the Mall also contains landmarks and features that are east of 3rd Street NW and SW, such as the United States Capitol and its grounds (#7 on image), Union Square, the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial (#8 on image), the Capitol Reflecting Pool, the James A. Garfield Monument and the Peace Monument, as well as some that are south of Maryland Avenue, such as the United States Botanic Garden (#9 on image). Many people also believe that the Mall contains landmarks and features that are west of 14th Street NW, including the Washington Monument (#1 on image), the Monument's grounds and the following:

The Smithsonian Institution is constructing the National Museum of African American History and Culture on a 5 acres (2.0 ha) site between the grounds of the Washington Monument and the National Museum of American History. The boundaries of the museum site are Constitution Avenue on the north, Madison Drive on the south, 14th Street NW on the east, and 15th Street NW on the west. The museum's groundbreaking ceremony took place on February 22, 2012.

The population of American elm trees planted on the Mall and its surrounding areas in accordance with the McMillan Plan has remained intact for the past 70 years because of disease management and immediate tree replacement. Dutch elm disease (DED) first appeared on the Mall during the 1950s and reached a peak in the 1970s. The NPS has used a number of methods to control this fungal epidemic, including sanitation, pruning, injecting trees with fungicide, replanting with DED-resistant American elm cultivars and combatting the disease's local insect vector, the smaller European elm bark beetle (Scolytus multistriatus), by trapping and by spraying with insecticides. Soil compaction and root damage by crowds and construction projects also adversely affect the elms.