Audiovisual Walking Tour Guides
George Washington Did What No One
Expected Him to Do
WASHINGTON D.C.
WASHINGTON MONUMENT
Standing beneath the Washington Monument, it’s easy to forget that its purpose is not to explain George Washington’s achievements, but to commemorate something far rarer. At a moment when power was usually seized, held, or violently transferred, Washington chose to walk away. His decision to retire - voluntarily and publicly - set a precedent the world did not expect, and one the young nation was not guaranteed to survive.
This immersive, self-guided audio walking tour of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. can be experienced beneath the monument itself or listened to remotely, telling the story of George Washington’s decision to walk away from power.
Following George Washington’s death, Americans immediately began debating how best to honor him - not simply as a military leader, but as a model of restraint in power. Prominent Federalists proposed building a monumental tribute at the heart of the new national capital, then still rising along the Potomac River near Mount Vernon. But when Thomas Jefferson was elected president just a year later, and his party gained control of Congress, the plan stalled. Even in death, Washington’s legacy was contested. It would take two generations for a consensus to emerge.
By the 1830s, as tensions over slavery deepened and the nation strained toward fracture, Americans in both North and South searched for unifying symbols of national identity. Washington - though a Virginian - was revered across regional lines. A towering monument to the man who had twice relinquished power offered something rare: a shared point of moral authority in an increasingly divided country.
Construction began in 1848 but halted just six years later at 156 feet, a pause still visible today in the stone’s subtle color change. The Civil War brought further delay. When work resumed in 1879, the nation was no longer trying to define itself - but to heal. Completed in 1884, the 555-foot Washington Monument stood not simply as a feat of engineering, but as a tribute to a precedent the republic hoped to preserve: leadership that knew when to step aside.
To step deeper into Washington’s extraordinary legacy - his willingness to relinquish power, not once but twice - listen to Retiring Becomes Him by Edward J. Larson, a BARDEUM experience at the Washington Monument.
EXPERIENCE THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT BY STEPPING INSIDE A TRUE STORY
He led a revolution and founded a nation - but his greatest legacy was giving up power. In Retiring Becomes Him, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Edward J. Larson brings to life the extraordinary moments when George Washington did what no one expected: he walked away.
Step Inside the Story of the only man unanimously elected president, who twice held the fate of a fragile republic in his hands - and twice laid down authority for the sake of liberty. From his emotional resignation before Congress to his farewell from the presidency, this immersive BARDEUM experience, set beneath the soaring Washington Monument, explores how Washington’s greatest strength wasn’t his command - it was his restraint.
More than a history lesson, Retiring Becomes Him is a meditation on character, humility, and the courage to step aside.
AVAILABLE ON YOUR PHONE. ANYWHERE YOU ARE.
DOWNLOAD THE BARDEUM APP TO BEGIN.
EDWARD LARSON
AUTHOR
Pulitzer Prize winning and New York Times bestselling author.
Other Washington D.C. Tours
These stories are part of a broader collection of immersive audio walking tours across the National Mall, each focused on a defining moment in American history.
