Long Bridge (Potomac River)

The 14th Street bridges refers to the three bridges near each other that cross the Potomac River, connecting Arlington, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Sometimes the two nearby rail bridges are included as part of the 14th Street bridge complex. A major gateway for automotive, bicycle and rail traffic, the bridge complex is named for 14th Street (U.S. Route 1), which feeds automotive traffic into it on the D.C. end. The complex contains three four-lane automobile bridges — including, from west to east, one southbound, one bi-directional, and one northbound — that carry Interstate 395 (I-395) and U.S. Route 1 (US 1) traffic, as well as a bicycle and pedestrian lane on the southbound bridge. In addition, the complex contains two rail bridges, one of which carries the Yellow Line of the Washington Metro; the other of which, the only mainline rail crossing of the Potomac River to Virginia, carries a CSX Transportation rail line. The five bridges, from west to east are the George Mason Memorial Bridge, the Rochambeau Bridge, the Arland D. Williams, Jr. Memorial Bridge, the Charles R. Fenwick Bridge and the Long Bridge. At the north end of the bridges, in East Potomac Park, the three roadways connect to a pair of two-way bridges over the Washington Channel into downtown Washington, one connecting to traffic (including northbound US 1) north onto 14th Street, and the other connecting to I-395 traffic on the Southwest Freeway. The Metro line connects to a tunnel in the East Potomac Park, and the main line railroad from the Long Bridge passes over I-395 and runs over the Washington Channel just downstream of the 14th Street approach before turning northeast along the line of Maryland Avenue. On January 13, 1982, 78 people were killed when Air Florida Flight 90 clipped the northbound I-395 span of the 14th Street bridge during rush hour and crashed into the Potomac river. The repaired span was renamed in honor of Arland D. Williams Jr., a passenger on the plane who survived the initial crash, but drowned after repeatedly passing a helicopter rescue line to other survivors.

The Cuban Friendship Urn, also known as the Cuban–American Friendship Urn or USS Maine Memorial, is a marble statue in Washington, D.C., listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The monument originally stood in Cuba to honor the American deaths aboard the USS Maine preceding the Spanish–American War in 1898.

Air Florida Flight 90 was a scheduled U.S. domestic passenger flight operated by Air Florida from Washington National Airport (now Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport) to Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport, with an intermediate stopover at Tampa International Airport. On January 13, 1982, the Boeing 737-222 registered as N62AF crashed into the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River.Striking the bridge, which carries Interstate 395 between Washington, DC, and Arlington County, Virginia, it hit seven occupied vehicles and destroyed 97 feet (30 m) of guard rail: 5  before plunging through the ice into the Potomac River. The aircraft was carrying 74 passengers and five crew members. Only four passengers and one crew member (a flight attendant) were rescued from the crash and survived. Another passenger, Arland D. Williams, Jr., assisted in the rescue of the survivors, but drowned before he could be rescued. Four motorists on the bridge were killed. The survivors were rescued from the icy river by civilians and professionals. President Ronald Reagan commended these acts during his State of the Union speech a few days later. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the cause of the accident was pilot error. The pilots failed to switch on the engines' internal ice protection systems, used reverse thrust in a snowstorm prior to takeoff, tried to use the jet exhaust of a plane in front of them to melt their ice, and failed to abandon the takeoff even after detecting a power problem while taxiing and having ice and snow build up on the wings.

The George Mason Memorial is a memorial to Founding Father George Mason, the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights that inspired the United States Bill of Rights. The Memorial is located in West Potomac Park within Washington, D.C. at 24 E Basin Drive SW, which is a part of the Tidal Basin. Authorized in 1990, with a groundbreaking in 2000 and dedication in 2002, the memorial includes a sculpture of Mason, a pool, trellis, circular hedges, and numerous inscriptions. It was the first memorial in the Tidal Basin area to be dedicated to someone who was not a former President of the United States.

Fort Jackson was an American Civil War-era fortification in Virginia that defended the southern end of the Long Bridge, near Washington, D.C. Long Bridge connected Washington, D.C. to Northern Virginia and served as a vital transportation artery for the Union Army during the war. Fort Jackson was named for Jackson City, a seedy suburb of Washington that had been established on the south side of the Long Bridge in 1835. It was built in the days immediately following the Union Army's occupation of Northern Virginia in May 1861. The fort was initially armed with four cannon used to protect the bridge, but these were removed after the completion of the Arlington Line, a line of defenses built to the south. After 1862, the fort lacked weapons except for small arms and consisted of a wooden palisade backed by earthworks. Two cannon were restored to the fort in 1864 following the Battle of Fort Stevens. The garrison consisted of a single company of Union soldiers who inspected traffic crossing the bridge and guarded it from potential saboteurs. Following the final surrender of the Confederate States of America in 1865, Fort Jackson was abandoned. The lumber used in its construction was promptly salvaged for firewood and construction materials and, due to its proximity to the Long Bridge, the earthworks were flattened in order to provide easier access to Long Bridge. In the early 20th century, the fort's site was used for the footings and approaches to several bridges connecting Virginia and Washington. Today, no trace of the fort remains, though the site of the fort is contained within Arlington County's Long Bridge Park, and a National Park Service 2004 survey of the site indicated some archaeological remnants may still remain beneath the park.

The Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial built in Washington, D.C. between 1939 and 1943 under the sponsorship of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt thought that it was a suitable memorial to the Founding Fathers of the United States and to Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the founder of the Democratic-Republican Party. The neoclassical building is situated in West Potomac Park on the shore of the Potomac River. It was designed by John Russell Pope and built by Philadelphia contractor John McShain. Construction began in 1939 and was completed in 1943. The bronze statue of Jefferson was added in 1947. Pope made references to the Roman Pantheon whose designer was Apollodorus of Damascus, and to Jefferson's own design for the rotunda at the University of Virginia. The Jefferson Memorial and the White House form one of the main anchor points in the area of the National Mall in D.C. The Washington Monument was intended to be located at the intersection of the White House and the site for the Jefferson Memorial, but soft swampy ground required that it be situated to the east.The national memorial is managed by the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior under its National Mall and Memorial Parks division. In 2007, it was ranked fourth on the "List of America's Favorite Architecture" by the American Institute of Architects.

The Twin Bridges Motor Hotel, later known as the Twin Bridges Marriott was the first lodging facility operated by what would become Marriott International. It opened on about January 18, 1957, shortly before the second inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and was demolished in 1990.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is a spring celebration in Washington, D.C., commemorating the March 27, 1912, gift of Japanese cherry trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo City to the city of Washington, D.C. Mayor Ozaki gave the trees to enhance the growing friendship between the United States and Japan and also celebrate the continued close relationship between the two nations. Large and colorful helium balloons, floats, marching bands from across the country, music and showmanship are parts of the Festival's parade and other events.

The First Air Mail Marker is a plaque in West Potomac Park, Washington, D.C. It is located on east shore of the Potomac River beside Ohio Drive. The marker commemorates the first regularly scheduled United States airmail service flight. On May 15, 1918, Lt. George Boyle departed Washington in a Curtiss JN-4H biplane in front of a crowd that included President Woodrow Wilson. Bound for Philadelphia, Boyle became disoriented and landed in a Maryland field. The marker was erected on the flight's fortieth anniversary, May 15, 1958.

The Navy – Merchant Marine Memorial, located in Lady Bird Johnson Park on Columbia Island in Washington, D.C., is a monument honoring sailors of the United States Navy, Coast Guard, the United States Merchant Marine, the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps and others who died at sea during World War I and other times. It was designed in 1922 by Harvey Wiley Corbett and sculpted by Ernesto Begni del Piatta, who died before it could be completed. It was cast in a foundry in Cleveland. Ground was broken on the memorial in 1930, with the foundation completed the following year and it was installed on October 18, 1934, but work on the base and landscaping was postponed due to lack of funding. A dedication ceremony was held on May 30, 1935. Funding was finally approved by Congress to finish the memorial in 1939 and work began anew the following September, to be completed by the end of the year.Nicknamed "Waves and Gulls," the memorial depicts seven seagulls above the crest of a wave. It is cast from aluminum and the base is made of green granite from New Hampshire (the base was originally concrete but replaced by the Works Progress Administration). It stands 35 feet (10.6 m) tall and 30 feet (9.1 m) wide. It is the first aluminum memorial in Washington, DC. The memorial reads: To the strong souls and ready valor of those men of the United States who in the Navy, the Merchant Marine and other paths of Activity upon the waters of the world have given life or still offer it in the performance of heroic deeds this monument is dedicated by a grateful people.

Ohio Drive is a street in Southwest Washington, D.C., located in East and West Potomac Parks and bordering the Tidal Basin, Washington Channel, and the Potomac River. It is a central organizing feature of East Potomac Park, providing the only major vehicular route to and through the area. Unlike most roadways named after states in the District of Columbia, Ohio Drive is not an avenue, nor it is heavily used like Wisconsin or Rhode Island Avenues. However, the segment from Independence Avenue to the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway is an important commuter route.Ohio Drive SW is a contributing property to the East and West Potomac Parks Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in November 1973.

The Tidal Basin is a man-made reservoir located between the Potomac River and the Washington Channel in Washington, D.C. It is part of West Potomac Park, is near the National Mall and is a focal point of the National Cherry Blossom Festival held each spring. The Jefferson Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the George Mason Memorial are situated adjacent to the Tidal Basin. The basin covers an area of about 107 acres (43 ha) and is 10 feet (3.0 m) deep.