Fort Ward Museum and Park

Not only is Fort Ward Park beautiful, quiet and clean, but it is also home to some of the most easily accessible, well-preserved civil war artifacts in the area, outside of the Smithsonian Institute. Though small, families will enjoy the well kept museum and learn a little bit of local history, with displays for local heroes like Elmer Ellsworth, considered by many to be the first conspicuous death of The eCivil War, who was shot and killed early in 1861 after tearing down a Confederate flag from the Marshall House Inn in Alexandria, shortly after Virginia seceded from the United States.

The park itself is an old Union fort, designed to protect Washington, D.C., from confederate soldiers during The Civil War. There are still batteries located throughout the park outside the museum, and It's a fascinating place to relax, jog, walk the dog, have a picnic, etc.