Field Trip Friday: Inside America 250 On The National Mall

Step onto the nation’s front yard as we unpack how the National Mall is preparing for America’s 250th—through bold infrastructure upgrades, inclusive programming, and a reimagined visitor experience that blends history, community, and learning. We start beneath the surface, exploring the new Lincoln Memorial Undercroft: a 15,000-square-foot exhibit space that turns a hidden vault into an accessible, year-round gallery with elevators and modern amenities. We then head to Jefferson’s refreshed exhibits and facilities, the $113 million tidal basin project preserving cherry blossoms and memorials against erosion, and a renewed Constitution Gardens with the often-missed Signers’ Island receiving long-needed care. Even beyond the Mall, Lafayette Park gets attention with improved seating, fountains, and greener paths—small changes that make a big civic square feel welcoming and ready.

Commemoration comes alive through participation, not just pageantry. America’s State Fair will bring every state and territory to the Mall with pavilions, flavors, and stories that invite visitors to see themselves in the national narrative. Core observances—from Memorial Day to Lincoln’s birthday—gain depth and scale, while everyday moments remind us why the Mall matters: a silent peace walk of Buddhist monks completing a journey to Lincoln’s steps, and elementary students reciting “I Have a Dream” where Dr. King once spoke. These encounters show unity as a shared space for many voices, where remembrance, protest, and discovery coexist.

Educators get a practical roadmap to make the 250th a season of civic learning. We revisit the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as living documents—bold at their birth, amended by necessity, and tested by time—and point to state and territory 250 commissions that connect classrooms to local events. Whether you’re planning a field trip, designing a unit on primary sources, or seeking fresh ways to tie local stories to national milestones, this conversation offers ideas you can use now. If this journey sparks your curiosity, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review so others can discover it too.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Welcome back to Field Trip Friday. I love these days, listeners. I will tell you that Jeremy and I hop on these calls. We've just talked for 15 minutes and then we finally started because we're both just so excited about these things. Today, Jeremy Goldstein, friend of the podcast, is gonna talk about how the National Mall is going to be commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States. So, Jeremy, again, welcome back. I love our field trip Fridays, and we joke that we're just gonna have to find other reasons to have these because it's just so much fun to travel through the national mall via audio and then head to the website, go to the gateway and see these things. So, my first question for you how is the national mall preparing for America 250?

Big Upgrades Beneath Lincoln And Jefferson

Tidal Basin And Constitution Gardens Revamps

Lafayette Park And Infrastructure Roundup

From Infrastructure To Commemoration Plans

SPEAKER_01 1:41

I should also say that I'm a huge fan of the podcast too. More than a friend, but a huge fan. And congratulations on 10,000 downloads, which is just fantastic news. So I thought that it would be really good to start with a couple of infrastructure notes or like the actual physical space of the mall for the 250th. We are in the 250th year, but we talk about July 4th and July 4th season as the real 250th season. Right now I'm looking out my window in northern Virginia and it's pretty frozen out here. So people are on the mall. But when you get that real volume of people coming in for the 250, that's when the weather warms up. That's when school groups start coming in. That's when all of the tourists start coming in. So a couple of things on the list, I, you know, of the 9,000 permits that of things going on in the mall, I only know kind of a fraction of what's going on. But there's some big highlights I thought I'd bring here. Infrastructure pieces, which make the mall what it is physically. One of the big ones that we've been a part of at the Trust for the National Mall is the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft. And what an undercroft is, is a space underneath. A lot of people don't know this. I might have mentioned this earlier, but there is a gigantic, like almost basement-like vault underneath Lincoln. And it's, you know, we're supporting the building of a 15,000 square foot exhibit space under there. It's an upgrade to the memorial. It also includes a lot more ADA accessibility pieces with elevators, and then, of course, restrooms and all of the public pieces there. We have a big ramp in front of it right now. So, and the other day I saw people chipping ice off the steps so that people could access it too. But that's going to be unveiled in July. And the memorial is still open to the public, but that undercroft is going to be very exciting. I've had a peek down there and it's this cavernous huge space, but it's going to be a new feature to the mall that you don't think of indoor spaces on the mall, but this is going to be a unique experience for folks to go underneath the Lincoln and sort of see what the, you know, what the supporting columns look like, because the mall is built on that sort of marshy land that comes up from the Potomac. Another one is there's an upgrade to the Jefferson Memorial Restrooms and Accessibility, but also a reimagined exhibit space underneath the Jefferson. Not as much space as underneath the Lincoln, but there's going to be more exhibit space under the Jefferson. There's also a$113 million project being executed that's well on track to be finished by spring, is the tidal basin. And that's the tidal basin of the area where the cherry blossoms are to preserve that grove, the FDR Memorial and the MLK and the Jefferson, of course, and that walk between those areas is to reinforce that shoreline and also to kind of do some erosion mitigation. It's pretty big. We're also working on Constitution Gardens, which is a 36-acre garden inside of the mall, just uh west of the uh the lockkeeper's house. And that is a space that's a really nice park with a large pond. And in the center of that is the island that is the um signers of the declaration memorial with all of the signatures engraved in there. A lot of people don't know about this space. If you visit the mall and also visit the gateway, you can see close-ups of all of this, but it's organized by colonies or early states, and it's got the signatures engraved and with gold lettering on there, and it's this this island in the middle of a pond. We're working on rehabbing that because it was a 1976 project. Needs a little bit of work, and it also needs kind of a refurbishing. So that's that's shovel ready. And then finally, I'll add that it's technically not on the mall, but Lafayette Park in front of the White House. We are working with a bunch of partners and a bunch of organizations to update fountains, seatings, sculptures, and green space there. It is an active First Amendment space, as people know, but it's also a really beautiful park that's surrounded by a lot of historic properties. So a lot is going on for the infrastructure. And then I, you know, we could talk a little bit about commemoration now too. There's a lot of events.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah. So how can commemoration then reflect the diversity of today's America?

America’s State Fair On The Mall

Amplifying National Ceremonies And Events

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Well, with the 250th, as America kind of turns that page, and we're in February of the 250th, there's this real push from us and from kind of everybody to get like the nation represented on the mall. And that's the 50 states and then the territories as well on the mall. So one thing that I'm really excited about, and I don't know much about it, but America's State Fair will be kicked off on the mall. And really, if you think about America's State Fair, you think about your own state fair and what that would look like. But every state and territory is going to be represented June 25th through July 10th on the national mall with a pavilion with a lot of other things, you know, including I always like to gather around food, but each state has its own cultural flavor. So there is a real great American state fair that's going to be going on. And that's that's something to consider when you look at your own state. So I always try to link the national mall back to people's own state or territory wherever they're living. In addition to that, there's the commemorations. Everything gets boosted up. So Memorial Day National Observance is a solemn and reverent day. And on the 250th, it becomes amplified more. And that's one of the big pieces is that amplification is the big story here. And, you know, you take things and it's not just branding 250 on it, but it's just saying that you've got 250 years of American history, and this is a big benchmark for it. And of course, I'll put a plug in the Trust for the National Mall holds America's Ball for the Mall. And it's actually a large tent with a huge gala on the mall with performers and things like that. And that happens in May as well. And then the regular cadence of events that are going on today, of course, is Lincoln's birthday, and there's a wreath laying at the Lincoln Memorial, too. So all of these get the overlay of the 250th on it.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Happy birthday to President Lincoln. And it I love that you're talking about all of these different commemorations, and it's not just this one time, we're gonna do one thing, have a bunch of fireworks, and then we're done. So, what can anniversaries like this teach us about unity and about progress?

Unity On The Mall: Peace March And Students

SPEAKER_01 7:52

The definite piece is I always talk the the unity is is it's just inherent in this space. It's as a crossroads and front yard for the nation. Uh, yesterday I was down on the mall for the peace march that included, you know, a number over a hundred Buddhist monks walking from Texas to DC. I was at work. I walked two blocks down to the mall, a couple of blocks down to the mall. I always say two blocks, people tell me it's much further. Um, I walked down to the mall. Actually, this week I got the opportunity to do two events on the mall, which I love. My job takes me to the mall. The peace walk, if you've seen footage or followed it on social media, it concluded at the National Mall on the steps of the Lincoln. And I was coming down and thinking, great. I, you know, I've been to events where there are these sort of marches, activity, and advocacy, but it was a silent walk of monks with people cheering them on, walking from Texas and finishing that walk there. Thousands of people on the mall. It was it was cool. I didn't, I don't have an exact count, but it felt like thousands. And it was a really significant event. So an event like that. And then the day before, I get the opportunity and honor every year to go see Watkins elementary students recite the I Have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln. And if you haven't seen this, the video is available online. It is such a touching and heartwarming event. You've got elementary school kids who have memorized the speech. There was a Maya Angelou poem. They sing We Shall Overcome. It's been going on for 22 years on the steps of the Lincoln. And actually, our CEO, their kid, her kids were some of the first that did that who went to the elementary school. And the thing that it's so heartwarming, but what's really great is that that reenactment is connecting to the words that were spoken on the on the uh on the steps of the Lincoln. And I think you know, that just shows us that this is for young people. This is for everyone coming. And there's always something, like if you're walking on the mall, you bump into things that are like the aha things. It's why I like international travel. Sometimes you discover stuff that you didn't even think that was going to be on an itinerary. The mall is like that every single day.

Teaching With Founding Documents And VA250

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Oh my gosh, that is the coolest thing. So since we're talking about students, how can educators use this moment to really engage students and students in civic reflection?

Connecting Educators, States, And Territories

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Well, not only because it's my job as an education programs director on the mall, but uh because I I like to think about these questions. And two things come to mind for all students for the foundational civic learning of reacquainting themselves or acquainting themselves with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I think this is a perfect opportunity for educators to bring students into the conversation about the declar these founding documents and the weight that they have, revisiting them, the spirit of these documents shows up on the mall, of course, with the the signers memorial and and you know, many you know, pieces and passages engraved. But even more importantly is that understanding what that at that time moment in time in history, what it meant to write a document that was talking about collective leadership of a country, you know, moving away from monarchy as a model, but also people who kind of like took a daring approach to this. There was a lot of risk involved in those, in the creation of those two documents. And I that always really touches me, you know, as a as an educator, but also as an American, is that you know, these are founding documents, they have great intention. We always talk about becoming more perfect, and we're we're really, you know, we strive for it. These documents, they take their challenges, they take their growth, their documents that do growth, they've been that grow, they've been amended. So these living documents are things that are foundational. The second thing that I thought about for this is that every single state and territory has a 250 commissioner. And for all of the educators out there, I would quickly look up online either the name or the commissioner, the commission for that. I'm familiar with it because I live in Northern Virginia. VA 250 is what they're called. And they will be rounding up in almost every county and every city what's going on for the 250th, and whether it's historical events or even just things commemorating the fireworks displays that I think are going to be more prevalent. And every state and every territory has a commissioner. I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting of it, and there's planning going across the country. So, again, a connection to the mall would be that there's that state representation, but you go back to it and saying, educators, you have an opportunity in your own backyard to connect with the nation's front yard.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

I love that. And shout out to Laura Tarrick and the Arizona America 250 Commission. I know that they are doing um right now a field trip through the state of Arizona with our replica of the Liberty Bill. There's so much going on in my state. So, yes, educators, please look that up. I know that these, you know, states are and territories are doing so many things. And I'm glad you bring up territories too, because I to be honest, I think that sometimes in the conversation, the territories do get lost, but they are very much a part of this. Jeremy, thank you so much. I am I'm excited to celebrate America 250, but I'm even more excited that we now can connect educators to the mall, to their states. As always, we love having you for Field Trip Friday.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Thanks so much.