Tour guides take local history lessons to the streets for nine-day WalkingTown DC event in September

For DC tour guides accustomed to sharing details about the White House, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial with visitors to the nation’s capital without much knowledge of local DC and its history, Cultural Tourism DC’s annual bevy of walking tours is something to relish.

“The folks who come out for WalkingTown are much more knowledgeable than the out-of-town tourists I usually serve,” said longtime participant Nathan Harrington, who will again lead his popular “16th Street: Avenue of Presidents” tour as part of next month’s event. “I can include references to Marion Barry and Rock Creek Park without drawing blank stares or boring them with a bunch of background.”

WalkingTown DC began in 2000, featuring over 50 guided walking tours in neighborhoods throughout the city spread over nine days. Taking place this year Sept. 14 to 22 — with tours offered at lunchtime and happy hour on weekdays, and throughout the morning and afternoon on weekends — it’s the perfect time of year to take in the District’s sights and sounds (and a little bit of its history, too!).

The event’s sponsor, local nonprofit Cultural Tourism DC, launched online registration on Aug. 15. Popular tours frequently fill up days or weeks beforehand and 12 are already “sold out,” so organizers suggest signing up early. Registration is free for the tours, although WalkingTown DC requests a voluntary donation of $10 for each tour.

Tours are available in neighborhoods from Anacostia to Tenleytown to Georgetown and everything in between, and they cover a variety of subjects — from “Under the Rainbow: Gay History in the District,” a one-hour walking tour about the active LGBTQ community in DC, to “Birds, Blossoms, and the Bull Moose: A Natural History Hike of T.R.’s Memorial in the Potomac,” about the history of the 88-acre island dedicated to Teddy Roosevelt. There are even a few bike tours.

Amy Austin is helping to organize one of the walking tours, “Washington’s Historic Theaters with NPR’s Bob Mondello.” Austin is executive director of TheatreWashington, which works with more than 90 theaters in the city and is the only organization dedicated to representing and assisting all aspects of the DC theater community, from the actors to the audience.

Austin explained that the tour, now in its third year, was created as an opportunity to look at DC’s theaters in a different way. “Our theaters are public spaces and have a role in history,” she said. “We wanted to have a tour that allowed people to think about their place in our city.”

WalkingTown DC “takes time from hectic everyday life to reflect on how the city got to where it is today,” Austin said. It’s an opportunity she appreciates.

“I care very much about the city and love these times people get together from all walks of life — pardon the pun — to explore things they pass by every day or what they’re curious about,” she said.  

Most tours take a historical view of DC neighborhoods, such as when Kalorama Park’s lands held plantations, or the architectural history of Ward 7’s Hillcrest neighborhood.

“The people who lead them have a sense of the past,” Austin said. She relies on a person well-versed in the field for her theater tour’s historical perspective. NPR film critic Bob Mondello — who has been a regular reviewer of DC theater for years — takes the reins once again as tour guide.

The subject of the 90-minute tour about theater is the business of storytelling after all. “We make it real, compelling and try to help people imagine what it looked like in a different time,” Austin said. The tour ends at what is perhaps the most infamous of DC arts venues — Ford’s Theatre. 

Austin encouraged people to come out and give WalkingTown DC a try as it’s not a big investment of time and it’s a great chance for the community to come together. 

Harrington has been part of the community since he was born. He grew up in the Rockville area and after college, he moved to the District to teach and started taking his ninth-grade history students on field trips.

“I realized that talking history is a lot more fun when you’re about town and not stuck in a classroom,” he said. “I became a licensed tour guide and wanted to do something no one else was doing.”

Harrington now works part-time as a professional tour guide and serves as executive director of the Ward 8 Woods Conservancy, a nonprofit he established to help enhance and preserve 500-plus acres of forest in Ward 8.

A lot of research goes into his 16th Street tour, which passes through three storied neighborhoods with heritage trails of their own: the U Street corridor, Adams Morgan and Mount Pleasant. He draws on multiple sources to find the anecdotes that make for a rich narrative.

“There are great books on DC architecture, DC statuary and real estate development,” Harrington said. “These sources fit together like a puzzle.”

Harrington keeps his tours appealing and interesting by using the buildings along 16th Street and the people who lived in them to tell the story of the city. Every architectural style and every type of Washingtonian is represented along the way, he said.

Harrington finds that a lot of the people who take his 16th Street tour — now in its 10th year — live along the route. “Some of them know more than me, so I gain insights from them that I can use next time,” he said.