The U.S. Capitol contains an empty tomb originally built to hold the remains of George Washington.
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For years, social media users have claimed the U.S. Capitol contains a tomb that was originally built for George Washington, the first U.S. president, but was never used and remains empty.
The claim has appeared frequently on Reddit, where numerous posts about the tomb have popped up on subreddits including r/todayilearned and r/Presidents since at least 2016. It has also shown up multiple times on X, including in a post made on Aug. 8, 2024, which read:
just learned the us capitol building has a crypt built for george washington but he didn’t want to be interred there so it’s empty. my next question: who is the funniest person would could bury there?
(X user @questionableway)
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While the Aug. 8, 2024, X post had a humorous tone, the underlying premise of it was true: A tomb intended for Washington was indeed built in the U.S. Capitol, and Washington’s remains were never buried there.
As the official website for the Architect of the Capitol explains, the space intended to serve as Washington’s tomb is located directly underneath a vaulted first-floor space known as the Crypt because of its “resemblance to similar areas in churches.” The resemblance is a result of the 40 columns that stand in the space, which serve to support the Capitol’s second-floor Rotunda.
Construction on the Capitol began in 1793, but no funerary purpose was planned for the building until after Washington died on Dec. 14, 1799. A little over a week later, on Dec. 23, 1799, Congress resolved “That a marble monument be erected by the United States in the Capitol, at the city of Washington; and that the family of General Washington be requested to permit his body to be deposited under it.”
Washington’s will, a transcript of which is available online as part of the National Archives’ Founders Online project, clearly expressed the former president’s personal desire to be buried in a brick vault at his estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia. However, Congress succeeded in securing the permission of Washington’s widow, Martha Washington, to transfer the remains to the Capitol.
The original structure of the Capitol was completed in the 1820s, and Congress began planning to transfer Washington’s remains to the building. The transfer was scheduled to take place in 1832, during celebrations for the centennial of Washington’s birth.
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However, Congress’ plans were dashed by John Augustine Washington II, a relative of George and Martha Washington and the owner of Mount Vernon at the time, who refused to have Washington’s body disinterred from the brick tomb vault he had recently constructed in accordance with the instructions left in Washington’s 1799 will. Washington’s remains ended up staying at Mount Vernon, and the Capitol tomb remained empty.
Because a tomb intended for George Washington was built inside the U.S. Capitol and because Washington was never interred in it, we rate this claim as “True.”
Sources
Capitol Crypt | Architect of the Capitol. https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/capitol-building/crypt. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
Congress, United States. American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States. Gales and Seaton, 1834.
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—. The Congressional Globe. Blair & Rives.
Founders Online: George Washington’s Last Will and Testament, 9 July 1799. http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-04-02-0404-0001. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
History of the U.S. Capitol Building | Architect of the Capitol. https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/capitol-building/history. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
How The Capitol Crypt Got Its Name | Architect of the Capitol. https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/blog/how-capitol-crypt-got-its-name#:~:text=However%2C%20Washington’s%20grave%20remained%20at,it%20was%20sealed%20in%201828. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
Owners of Mount Vernon | George Washington’s Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/the-mansion/owners-of-mount-vernon. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
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Tomb | George Washington’s Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/tomb. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
Washington Tomb | George Washington’s Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/location/washington-tomb. Accessed 13 Aug. 2024.
To mark Gun Violence Awareness Month, residents in Southeast D.C. came together to search for a lasting solution.
The Trigger Project held a peace walk Saturday afternoon reflecting on lives impacted by gun violence
The Trigger Project decided to host the walk to give victims’ loved ones a chance to be among others who have experienced the pain of losing a loved one.
The agency said it prides itself on getting the word out about how to prevent gun violence through lived experiences, community leadership and partnerships. The group aims to uplift young people through healing, opportunity and connection while addressing the root causes of gun violence. Another critical part of the event was to ensure that young people have a safe space where they can hang out.
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“We’re losing too many of our babies to the streets, you know what I’m saying?” said Darlene Williams, who said she has been a victim of gun violence and also lost her granddaughter to gun violence. “Like I say, the guns don’t kill, people kill. [..] Be around other people, you know what I’m saying, that’s going through the same thing that we’re going through.”
(NEWS FROM THE STATES) – Visitors from across the United States traveled to the National Mall Thursday for the opening day of the Great American State Fair, a days-long event that is part of President Donald Trump’s Freedom 250 celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial.
States and territories showed off cultural and agricultural exports at exhibits stretching nearly a mile. Attendees snapped photos on the small Grand Ole Opry stage in the Tennessee booth, kids tried putt-putt at Indiana’s miniature golf course and cowboys rode horses at Montana’s rodeo.
A crowd watches a rodeo on the National Mall as part of Montana’s exhibit for the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair on Thursday, June 25, 2026.(Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
A 110-foot Ferris wheel slowly turned at the center of the freshly manicured lawn, framing the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol in the distance on either side. Nearby stood a model of Trump’s controversial “triumphal arch.”
People collected swag from each state — drawstring bags from Ohio, stickers from South Dakota, snacks from Tennessee — and could receive a stamp on state fair passports.
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The Trump administration’s Freedom 250 Great American State Fair opened on the National Mall on Thursday, June 25, 2026.(Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
The fair is part of the larger Freedom 250 programming and kicked off Wednesday night with a rally on the mall featuring a speech from the president that closely resembled his remarks along the 2024 presidential campaign trail. The festivities will continue over Independence Day, when Trump will deliver a second speech followed by what is promised to be an impressive fireworks display.
The president will visit North and South Dakota as part of his Freedom 250 tour for the opening of the Teddy Roosevelt presidential library and Independence Day eve fireworks above Mount Rushmore.
Emma Francus, 10, of Detroit, Michigan, plays mini golf at Indiana’s golf-themed exhibit at the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair on the National Mall on Thursday, June 25, 2026.(Ashley Murray)
Freedom 250 then extends into August with a high school athletic competition in Washington, D.C., dubbed the “Patriot Games” and a Freedom 250 INDYCAR race around the National Mall.
The administration’s celebration is separate from the America250 commission, created by Congress a decade ago, and which has its own nationwide programming this year.
From Lake Erie to the Ohio River
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and first lady Fran DeWine greeted guests in Ohio’s pavilion. The couple posed for photos in front of a map of the Buckeye State.
“We wanted to see on the wall all the different things, from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, all the different fun things you can do in Ohio,” the Republican governor said, adding the state has local celebrations and initiatives planned for the 250th anniversary, including “Movies in Ohio” for community showings of films that feature the state.
From left, Ohio first lady Fran DeWine and Gov. Mike DeWine take a photo with Miles Armiger, 12, of Severn, Maryland, and his grandmother, Robyn Toman, on Thursday, June 25, 2026, at the Ohio exhibit, part of the Trump administration’s Freedom 250 Great American State Fair.(Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
Ohio’s first lady showcased a children’s literacy exhibit on the opposite wall and touted the roughly 427,000 participants in the state’s partnership with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a program that mails free children’s books monthly to households with kids under age 5.
“We’ve mailed out 27 million books. We know that a child’s brain is 80% developed by age 3, so we want to get them those books early,” she said.
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Reflecting on America’s milestone birthday, the governor said, “We’re always a work in progress, Ohio’s a work in progress, this country is a work in progress.”
“I think you know the thing we need to keep in mind, all of us, is there’s some essential core principles that we all believe in. … We may disagree about different policies, but the core principles are the same,” he said.
Cartwheels on the lawn
People from various states walked from exhibit to exhibit, while stopped in the nation’s capital during road trip vacations.
Tanya Geders, 43, of St. Louis, Missouri, did a cartwheel in the mall lawn, trying to persuade her son to join in. The family stopped at the state fair on their way to Virginia Beach.
“We’re like, well, if we go to the ocean, we can go to D.C. and what a better time to be here than the 250th anniversary,” Geders said.
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Faith Eliza, of Grand Junction, Colorado, performed on the National Endowment for the Arts stage at the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair on the National Mall on Thursday, June 25, 2026.(Ashley Murray)
Robyn Toman, 71, of Severn, Maryland, escorted her 12-year-old grandson Miles to meet DeWine and grab a photo with the governor.
Toman said she remembers the country’s bicentennial.
“I was a kid about his age, and I came in 1976. I said, ‘We’re gonna go, let’s go down to D.C. for a couple days and see this,’” she said.
“We’ve enjoyed it. We went over to the archives yesterday, and saw the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. And, oh, that was so nice, that was fantastic.”
Not all states are there. A spokesperson for Washington state’s lieutenant governor’s office told States Newsroom the administration declined to join because of “the costs to the state associated with participating.”According to news reports, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont did not contribute exhibits, though many are still represented by flags outside the individual booths.The state officials did not immediately respond to States Newsroom for confirmation.
All states that reportedly did not participate, with the exception of Vermont, are Democratic-led.
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