For the First Time Since 2020, Shaw's Two History Landmarks Are Open at Once
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
On Saturday, November 7, the National Park Service will set up a Welcome Tent at Shiloh Baptist Church, 1500 Ninth Street NW, and start giving out free tour tickets at 9 a.m. Those tickets lead up the block to the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site, where the public has not been allowed inside since March 2020. Five weeks earlier and a short walk northwest, the African American Civil War Museum reopened at 1925 Vermont Avenue NW. Once the Woodson Home opens, both of Shaw's major history sites will be open to the public on the same day for the first time in more than six years. The Park Service is also planning the reopening as a neighborhood event, with walking tours that take visitors out of the house and onto Shaw's streets.
The Woodson Home was the house and workplace of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, known as the "Father of African American history." MidCity DC News reports that efforts to preserve the house go back more than a quarter century.
The NPS timeline for the site shows how long this has taken. Emergency rehabilitation ran from 2012 to 2015, and major rehabilitation followed from 2015 to 2017. The house had a soft opening in February 2017 and offered public tours from April 2017 until March 2020. It then stayed closed while later phases of exhibit design and construction went on. So the public had about three years of tours inside a restoration that started in 2012. The Park Service says the work included taking down the façade and relaying it brick by brick, stabilizing the building, and repairing its historic interior features. Anyone in Shaw who has repointed a rowhouse front will know what that kind of job involves.
The reopening runs over two days. Friday, November 6, is an invitation-only celebration at Shiloh Baptist Church. Saturday is open to everyone, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The NPS event listing includes:
Tickets are free and handed out first come, first served from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with several tours each hour. Every tour and program starts at Shiloh. If you want a particular time slot, arrive near 9.
The Park Service has not yet published regular hours for after the reopening. The site's planning pages still show it as closed, so if you plan to bring guests in mid-November, check the Woodson Home site before you promise them a tour.
The African American Civil War Museum reopened September 30 after a multiyear renovation and expansion. It is still in the historic Grimke School building it moved into in April 2011, and the museum itself first opened in January 1999. MidCity DC News put the closure at four years and the opening-ceremony crowd at about 100 people.
The renovated museum has more exhibition space, interactive displays, better accessibility and more than 200 new artifacts brought out of its archives. The Washington Informer describes the permanent "Glorious March to Liberty" exhibit, with multimedia, historic weapons and uniforms, along with a genealogy lab on site. The genealogy lab ties into how the museum's founder describes its purpose. At the ribbon-cutting, founder and executive director Dr. Frank Smith told the crowd, according to the Spokesman-Recorder:
"They're just names until one of the family members show up and tell us the story."
One exhibit is still on its way. "From Slavery to the White House" looks at former first lady Michelle Obama's connection to formerly enslaved Robinson family ancestors who served with the U.S. Colored Troops. Guests saw it during the ceremony, but the official public opening will follow a visit from Robinson family members, and a sign over the entrance gave December as the date. The statue of Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation, outside the building, has been in place longer. WTOP covered its unveiling in September 2025.
Admission is free, and the museum suggests a $10 donation. The online booking system shows timed visits from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but the museum's hours information is still being finalized. Book through the museum's visit page rather than just showing up.
Between Halloween and December, the neighborhood's calendar fills in around both sites.
The Veterans Day reading fits with Dr. Smith's comment at the ribbon-cutting. The names carved on the memorial are read aloud a few steps from the building where descendants are invited to trace them.
From Shiloh's steps, the nearest new place is one block south. Genika Cafe opened August 26 at 1400 Ninth Street NW. It serves specialty coffee, pastries and sandwiches during the day and switches to beer, wine and cocktails in the evening. That makes it an easy place to wait if your Woodson tour ticket is for later in the afternoon.
Two blocks west, Pho Viet WDC held its grand opening September 18 at 1521 11th Street NW. It is the second location of a Columbia Heights restaurant that has been open for 17 years. The opening included a lion dance by the Ninth Generation Hung Fut Masters. If you're hosting relatives for the long weekend, Blagden Alley's Causa now carries a national title. Food & Wine named its chef, Carlos Delgado, one of the year's Best New Chefs, a group of 14 chefs at 10 restaurants.
Farther north, toward the memorial and museum, the street is still changing. PoPville's October 15 update showed progress on DDOT's Florida Avenue and 9th Street project. The work covers 9th and Florida from T Street to Barry Place, plus the Florida and Sherman intersection, with new sidewalks, ADA ramps, curbs, lighting, landscaping and paving. DDOT has not given a finish date.
Shaw's history sites are reopening while one everyday civic building stays shut. The Shaw/Watha T. Daniel Library closed for renovation on May 18. DC Public Library's September 9 construction update expects construction to finish in late fall 2026 and the branch to reopen in early winter 2027. Until then, DCPL is directing patrons to the MLK Jr. Memorial Library. Kennedy Recreation Center at 1401 7th Street NW has HVAC upgrades planned from fall 2026 to winter 2027, and the project was still listed in design.
So this winter, the Woodson Home and the Civil War Museum will be open before the branch library and before the rec center's upgrade is done. The Woodson visitor center's exhibits and the museum's genealogy lab become new public rooms in the neighborhood during the months its library is closed.
The Woodson Home's façade was taken down and relaid one brick at a time, and that same care goes into the rowhouses on the streets around it. If you own one of those homes on Ninth Street, Vermont Avenue or nearby and are curious what that kind of care is worth in today's market, the Fleur Howgill Team can put together a discreet, Shaw-specific assessment. Request a Confidential Home Valuation and we'll start with your block.
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