The Octagon Museum

Fun Ghost Tour in D.C. Started at the Octagon House, which was super cool. Our guide was hilarious—mixing spooky stories with lots of laughs. Perfect mix of creepy and funny. Definitely recommend for a chill, fun night out!

The house’s history is cool, I recommend getting a tour so that you learn some of it. I liked seeing where the President lived after the White House was burned down in 1814, and where he signed a treaty to end the war. It isn’t set up for tourists: no gift shop, very limited hours, and you HAVE to buy tickets online.

Interesting little slice of history. Too bad there aren't artists' rendition pictures of how the home's rooms might have looked. The tour was short, and the tour guide was fun.

Neat, off-the-beaten path place to visit. Highly recommend this museum. Features a self-guided tour with a hands-on approach. You can lay on the beds, try on a dress or try carrying buckets up the stairs to get a feel for what life was like for some of the inhabitants back then. Supposedly haunted but didn't experience anything unusual during our visit.

This out-of-the-way gem is worth hunting down! I won’t ruin the interesting history of the place; you should go find out for yourself. It is FREE and very kid friendly - not one of those historical homes where every room is roped off. You can touch, sit on, open, and explore pretty much everything. Don’t miss it!

We stopped here for our ghost tour. Took lots of pictures to see if we could see any. Lots of death in this home. Highly recommend in you are in the area.

Excellent 45 minute tour. Tons of great facts about DC. I’d definitely revisit.

Went when I was in high school. Saw a ghost in period clothes, woman in yellow dress, walking through the upstairs.

This was a great stop yesterday while we were in town! So glad we made it apart of our schedule. The kitchen, wine cellar & office upstairs were the highlights of the self guided tour. The writing desk was my favorite piece! They do have a restroom & water fountain (fill up your water bottle while you're there)

I was disappointed to find out that the Octagon Museum is not open to the public. This was mentioned nowhere on their website. You can schedule a tour for a group in advance, but unscheduled visitors are not allowed in. In fact, the building is locked. They have a gift shop in the building behind it, which is open to the public during business hours. I find this a little annoying since the museum itself isn't open to the public, but I'm giving the Octagon Museum two stars instead of one, because the gift shop was actually pretty good.

This building houses the American Architectural Foundation. The Octagon Museum is the oldest museum in the country. Kind of neat-- a building that was constructed in the late 1700's still standing and functional right here in DC. This museum often flies the fifteen stars and stripes flag. The building itself was where President Madison lived when the British burned down the White House. Right now, there is a really cool exhibit celebrating the Willard InterContinental's 20th anniversary. The show features 30 or so color and black and white pics of the hotel at various stages of development and age. SPOOKY TIP: This place is one of DC's famous "haunted houses." It is said that Madison's wife hangs out here as well as one of the original owner's daughters.

I visited the Octagon House (located in the Farragut / Foggy Bottom area of DC) in Oct 2016 and had a nice time reading about the house's history and walking through its rooms. This house can be easily missed, especially if you walk by it often. I am on a quest to finish my DC bucket list and at this point, I am down to the more obscure places in DC on my list. The Octagon House is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and was built in 1799. It really is shaped like an octagon and still retains its unique structure among a myriad of modern buildings surrounding it. It's very interesting to walk through such a historic colonial structure, even if it is an obscure landmark. I would definitely visit again.

Most haunted building in Washington, DC -- I'm in! Absolutely loved the Octagon House. The Octagon House is currently owned by the American Institute of Architects and it was designed by the first architect of the United States Capitol. Located in Foggy Bottom, this is one of Washington's oldest and most historic homes. In fact, President James and First Lady Dolley relocated to the Octagon House after the British burned down the White House. While the tour is relatively short and certainly self-guided it was very interesting to me to see this historic structure. This is defnitely a low tech tour but they are laminated sheets on door knobs throughout the house giving you the back story on the house and the historic events that occured within it. The home is beautiful and the moulding is largely original which is even more fascinating to me. This is an interesting and fun home tour. It does not take much time. It's definitely off the beaten path and especially fun if you are a fan of specters and haunts. Highly recommend this tour for adults only -- most kids under 15 will be ... yawn ... bored.

I really liked this place, creaking floorboards, artwork, history, architecture and it's free. I think one should leave an hour to self tour.

I'm giving this a 4-star rating only for history buffs. It's a free museum and if you like history, it's worth the visit. It's one of the oldest homes in DC and this is where the White House was set up after the White House burned down in the War of 1812. It's a self-guided tour through three of the four floors and will take you only 20 minutes to see it all.

This is a gem of a museum that you would most likely never no to visit. It was at one time the temporary White House. The self tour nature make you truly feel that you are stepping back in time. If you have an hour or two to spare it is a great lesser know D.C. museum.

Really cool little museum and hardly noticed by anyone. I believe they have the only Tiffany glass windows in DC but have to be viewed by appointment only. Another one of those rare little finds in DC that the tourists never know about.

Really enjoyed being able to explore at my own leisure. Also appreciated the seating options in a majority of the rooms to give my feet a rest. Each room/area had laminated information sheets for you to read as much or as little as you wanted. Definitely agree with a previous reviewer that this is more geared towards adults. A visit would probably take most people between 20 mins to an hour, again depending on your interests.

This is a really nice to place to visit, as the traffic here (or at least when I was there) is very light. We practically had the tour all to ourselves! It's a pleasant old house, rich in history. The tour guide was very friendly, and answered all the questions I had about the ghost stories surrounding the place. Unfortunately, he told me that that's all they are - stories, nothing more. This was disappointing, as I was all ready to go ghost hunting! :) I got a book, some postcards, and a lead model of the Octagon House in the nice gift shop they have.

I don't know why they basically closed to the casual visitor. Many years ago, they were open on a regular basis, and I went several times. They had some changing exhibits and some lectures. I imagine the upkeep must be considerable since the building is so old.