The "Madams of DC" Guided Walking Tour

Where Freedom Plaza is now once used to be the notorious neighborhood known as Murder Bay. As we walk through this spacious open area currently used for festivals and music events, you'll hear all about the taverns, gambling houses, and brothels popular with Northern Arm soldiers that used to stand there.

15 min

On the block where the Trump International Hotel, formerly the Old Postal Office building, currently stands, was the 11th Street strip, a subsection of the Red Light district on Pennsylvania Avenue where the Military Provost Guard harassed and arrested some of the raucous Madams in the neighborhood.

10 min

Continuing in our journey through time, you'll learn about the lives of prostitutes in Civil War DC and the part they played in society, as we pass by the former site of the largest central urban Market in DC.

20 min

We'll stop for a drink at Hill Country BBQ (*cost of beverage not included), across the street from the International Order of Odd Fellows Temple. The IOOF supported the arts, and the art of having a good time. It was common to see the higher class working girls walking into a grand party hosted by the Odd Fellows, on the arm of an Army Officer. Scandalous!

10 min

The former site of Marble Alley, where two of DC's highest paid Madams had a vicious rivalry.

10 min

An archeological dig discovered the remains of DC most notorious, and yet charitable, Madams. The tour ends at this, the most glamorous of DC's Civil War-era pleasure houses.