DC Design Tours
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DC Design Tours offers historical and architectural walking and driving tours of Washington DC.
06/05/2026
Left: St. Dominic Catholic Church in the early 1900s. Right: Present day.
More than 100 years later, St. Dominic’s remains one of the few constants in a Southwest DC that has been almost entirely transformed around it.
While highways, Urban Renewal, Brutalist offices, and modern development reshaped the neighborhood throughout the 20th century, the church fought to preserve its historic home, much of which still stands today.
Join us tomorrow, Saturday, June 6 at 4 PM for our Southwest DC walking tour as we explore the dramatic evolution of one of Washington’s most transformed neighborhoods.
Tours take place every other Saturday at 4 PM, with start times moving to 7 PM in July to help beat the summer heat.
Before the Paw Paw Tunnel was built, canal boats traveling the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal had to navigate the Paw Paw Bends — a winding 6-mile stretch of the Potomac River filled with difficult curves, flooding, and steep terrain.
To avoid the dangerous detour, the C&O Canal Company decided to cut directly through the mountain instead.
Construction on the tunnel began in 1836 and took nearly 14 years to complete, plagued by labor disputes, accidents, flooding, and financial problems along the way. Originally expected to cost around $33,000, the final price ballooned to more than $600,000 — nearly bankrupting the canal company.
At 3,118 feet long, the Paw Paw Tunnel remains one of the most ambitious engineering feats in the history of the C&O Canal.
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Washington D.C., DC
20008
Opening Hours
| Monday | 8am - 8pm |
| Tuesday | 8am - 8pm |
| Wednesday | 8am - 8pm |
| Thursday | 8am - 8pm |
| Friday | 8am - 8pm |
| Saturday | 8am - 8pm |
| Sunday | 8am - 8pm |
