Best Lafayette Square Day Trips & Things to Do

The seven-acre park situated north of the White House in Washington, D.C. was first named "President's Park" because it was meant to be recreational land encompassing the Executive Mansion. United States President Thomas Jefferson ordered Pennsylvania Avenue to run through the park in 1804 disconnecting it from the White House and the square was named after American Revolutionary War French Gen. Marquis de Layfayette. The U.S. National Historic Landmark was landscaped in 1851 by Andrew Jackson Downing and its center has a U.S. President Andrew Jackson statue by Clark Mills. Lafayette Square located on H Street between 15th and 17th streets also has statues of many Revolutionary War heroes.