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Photo: Fuzheado, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A beautiful contemporary art museum and expansive sculpture garden with many large-scale works, owned by local billionaire Mitchell Rales. Worth going for the architecture and landscaping alone. Ages 12+ only. Reservations are required, although if you just show up, they'll try to let you in if there's room.
Glenstone is a private contemporary art museum in Potomac, Maryland, founded in 2006 by American billionaire Mitchell Rales and his wife Emily Wei Rales. The museum's exhibitions are drawn from a collection of about 1,300 works from post-World War II artists around the world. It is the largest private contemporary art museum in the United States, holding more than $4.6 billion in net assets, and is noted for its setting in a broad natural landscape.
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The most dramatic section of the C&O Canal National Park on the Potomac River is at Great Falls, a series of cascading falls dropping 76 feet over two-thirds of a mile. A footbridge leads out from the canal trail to an island in the middle of the river, where you'll learn to appreciate why it was necessary to build a canal instead of simply navigating the river! This is a fantastic place for a hike or picnic. The visitor center is in a hotel dating from 1831, which served nineteenth century admirers of these same vistas. During the warm months, W-Su, you can take a ride through the locks of the canal from the tavern on a historic mule-pulled boat! The ride costs $5/person, and be sure to call ahead to make sure it is in operation on the day of your visit.
See where Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, lived the last 15 years of her life.