"I've been with the Park Service for 16 years and that entire time we [were told], 'We got the Woodson home. It's coming,'" supervisory ranger John Fowler told The Washington Informer a little over a week before the house at 1538 Ninth Street NW reopened.
The National Park Service set November 7 as its reopening day. Six weeks before that, the African American Civil War Museum reopened in its new home on Vermont Avenue NW after four years closed. For most of the past decade, Shaw's best-known history was something you heard about outside. Walking tours stopped in front of the Woodson house and talked about it, and the Civil War Memorial at 10th and U stood across the street from a museum that had moved out. With regular tour hours at the Woodson Home set to start November 10, the two sites sit a short walk apart, and one afternoon is enough time to go inside both.
A House Shaw Mostly Saw From the Sidewalk
Dr. Carter G. Woodson bought 1538 Ninth Street NW in 1922 for $8,000, according to The Washington Informer. He lived and worked there for 28 years. He started Negro History Week in that house in 1926, the observance that became Black History Month. He wrote "The Mis-Education of the Negro" in its office in 1933 and published it through The Associated Publishers, his company, which was run from the same building. After his death in 1950, the house stayed the headquarters of both the Association for the Study of African American Life and History and Associated Publishers until 1971.
Official recognition came well before the house opened to visitors. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and a National Historic Site by Congress in 2003. The National Park Service bought it from ASALH in 2005. Work on the home and its two neighboring properties started in 2006. The Informer puts the total at about $14.2 million over twenty years. The National Park Service ran guided tours from April 2017 to March 2020. The pandemic closed the house, and exhibit design and construction took over from there.
That left the neighborhood telling the story from outside. This past February, Shaw Main Streets ran its free Black History Month tour, "Walking with Woodson," with a Woodson reenactor guiding visitors through the streets he knew. The next one can end inside his office.
What's Inside 1538 Ninth Street
The project added a visitor center, more exhibit space and a full rehabilitation of the house, according to the National Park Service's October 14 release. The Informer reports that visitors walk through Woodson's offices, the room where his publishing staff packed books for mailing, and the bedroom where he died in 1950. The original hardwood floors, his desk and his library were kept.
"He wrote the books, he taught the teachers, he did the research, he preserved the rare objects, manuscripts. All of that happened here, in this home," Fowler told The Washington Informer.
The NPS schedule puts regular hours in effect from Tuesday, November 10. Visits are by tour, in small groups.
| Detail | Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site |
|---|---|
| Address | 1538 Ninth Street NW |
| Days and hours | Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| Standard tours | 9 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1:15 p.m., 3 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m. |
| Group tours | 9:30 a.m., 10:45 a.m., 2 p.m. |
| Tickets | Free, with a $1 service fee per ticket; up to 15 per standard reservation |
| How to book | Recreation.gov or 877-444-6777; walk-ins taken when space allows |
Advance tickets are on Recreation.gov. With six standard tours a day and a 15-ticket cap per reservation, a walk-in on a busy Saturday may have to wait for the next open slot. Booking ahead is the safer plan when guests are coming in for one day.
Up at 10th and U, the Museum Has Its Own Building Again
A few blocks north, the African American Civil War Museum now occupies the historic Archibald Grimke School building at 1925 Vermont Avenue NW. It sits directly across from the African American Civil War Memorial at 10th and U Streets NW. The museum has been a neighborhood landmark since 1999. Its director, Frank Smith Jr., led the September 30 reopening ceremony in front of about 100 people, MidCity DC News reported.
The new building added a lot. Howard University News Service reported expanded galleries, more than 200 new artifacts, interactive displays and better accessibility. The permanent exhibit, "Glorious March to Liberty," uses historic weapons, period uniforms and interactive multimedia touch screens, according to The Washington Informer. Outside the front steps sits a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, seated and signing the Emancipation Proclamation. The Citizen Newspaper Group describes it as six feet tall and 600 pounds.
The memorial across the street bears 209,145 names of Black soldiers and their officers. With the museum back across from it, the names on the wall and the uniforms and records inside are a crosswalk apart again.
The museum's homepage lists hours of Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Sunday. Admission is free with a suggested $10 donation, and the visit page has a ticket calendar for reserving a session before you go.
The Days When Everything Lines Up
Putting both sites in one afternoon comes down to the weekly schedules. The Woodson Home is closed Sunday and Monday. The museum is closed Sunday. Pho Viet WDC, the most convenient new lunch stop, is closed Tuesday. That leaves Wednesday through Saturday as the days when all three are open.
Pho Viet WDC opened September 18 at 1521 11th Street NW. It is the second location of a Columbia Heights restaurant that has been open for 17 years, according to MidCity DC News. It is a separate business from Pho Viet USA, which is farther up 11th Street. It opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. most days, 8 p.m. on Sunday. Owners Minh Chau and Nina Nguyen run a long menu of pho, noodle, rice and grilled dishes, along with exotic fruit smoothies, according to MidCity DC News.
A Wednesday-through-Saturday afternoon could run like this:
- Book the 12:15 p.m. standard tour at the Woodson Home, 1538 Ninth Street NW, passing Shiloh Baptist Church at 1500 Ninth Street NW, where the opening ceremony was held on November 6.
- Walk two blocks west to Pho Viet WDC on 11th Street for a late lunch.
- Head north to 1925 Vermont Avenue NW for the museum, leaving time before its listed 5 p.m. close.
- Cross to the memorial at 10th and U to read the names.
Guests who prefer mornings can reverse the order and take the 9 a.m. Woodson tour, then reach the museum when it opens at 10.
Still to Come This December
The museum's next major opening is upstairs. "From Slavery to the White House," an exhibit on Michelle Obama's Robinson-family ancestors who served with the U.S. Colored Troops, is slated to open to the public in December after a visit from the Robinson family. Anyone hosting family over the holidays can plan a second visit around it.
Two other December dates fall close to the route. Dacha Shaw at 1600 7th Street NW hosts its Holiday Market on Wednesday, December 2, from 4 to 9 p.m., with local vendors, crafts and giveaways. And two blocks up Vermont Avenue from the museum, Charcuteria, a Mediterranean market and wine bar at 2104 Vermont Avenue NW, lists soft-opening nights December 8 through 11 and a grand opening on Saturday, December 12.
The Woodson Home's tour schedule runs Tuesday through Saturday, so a Saturday, December 12 visit could cover the 9 a.m. Woodson tour, the museum and the Robinson exhibit if it has opened by then, and Charcuteria's first official day, all within a few blocks of Vermont and Ninth.
At Levin Group Real Estate, we keep track of what opens around our clients, and this fall that includes two of Shaw's history landmarks. If friends or family are thinking about a move to Shaw and want to see the neighborhood the way you spend an afternoon in it, get in touch for a personalized consultation.
