Georgetown Cupcake Tour

Join Dwane Starlin, member of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides, for a delightful walking tour of Georgetown with history and cupcakes! The tour will begin at Dumbarton House and make stops at Baked & Wired, Georgetown Cupcake, and Sprinkles to pick up our pre-ordered cupcakes, meaning you get to skip the long lines! Enjoy your treats as you learn about Georgetown – DC’s most historic neighborhood. Tickets include one cupcake from each shop. The two tour occurs rain or shine!

Cocoa, Carols and Colored Lights-Georgetown Walking Tour

Take your traditional Christmas light walk up a few notches with Dumbarton house! Bundle up and stroll through streets of Georgetown while sipping hot chocolate, singing your favorite holiday tunes and enjoying the stunning Christmas displays of Georgetown with the most entertaining tour guide around! This special walking tour starts with a hot Cocoa! Then with cocoa in hand stroll through Georgetown with the multi-talented and always entertaining tour guide Dwane Starlin. Sing carols, learn fun facts, and pick your favorite Christmas lights display in Georgetown. Seeing Christmas lights will never be the same again!  

Off the Beaten Path-Georgetown Walking Tours

Interested in learning about the historic Georgetown that only locals know? Join Dwane Starlin, member of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides*, as he introduces you to parts of Georgetown seldom visited. Listen to tales and facts unknown to the outsider, and see the lesser known parts of the neighborhood many Washingtonians call home. Stroll by the former residences of cabinet officers, U.S. Generals, movie stars, world renowned authors and journalists, including ones who covered the Watergate Scandal. Pass the abodes of America’s 1st Miss America and five former U.S. Senators all of whom shared the same first name. Do you know who they are? Come and learn at Off the Beaten Path!

Trees of Georgetown

Washington, D.C. has long been known as “The City of Trees.”  But can you identify our trees by name & variety?   Frederick Law Olmsted was good enough to label the ones that he had planted on the grounds of our Capitol but we don’t enjoy that luxury along our Georgetown streets and in our parks.  So join Dwane Starlin, member of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides, and a guest speaker, on a scenic stroll of one of D.C.’s truly green and well-shaded neighborhoods & learn about our trees.  

Georgetown Undercover Walking Tour

CIA, OSS, NSA, FBI & KGB Playground! Join Dwane Starlin, member of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides, as he leads you through various clandestine locales of Georgetown.   See where covert activities took place behind closed doors and in public places.  Hear how “Wild Bill” Donovan, Aldrich Ames, Alger Hiss, and others practiced their spy-craft.  Note: This walking tour does not include access inside any of the sites. 

Herring Hill and Georgetown’s African American Communities

Join Dwane Starlin, member of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides, on a walking tour to learn about the rich history of Georgetown’s African-American communities. Start in Herring Hill, a thriving village that served historically as the community center to both enslaved and freed blacks. Herring Hill continued as a strong African American community through the mid-twentieth century. Continue exploring Georgetown and see the various churches and schools established by African American Georgetowners during the 1800s. Hear stories of the Underground Railroad and the ill-fated voyage of The Pearl.

Burleith, Georgetown Flea Market & Holy Rood Cemetery.  

Dwane Starlin, member of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides & co-author of the newly released book by Arcadia Publishing Company, “Images of America: Burleith”.  Dwane leads a walking tour of this unique village within the city. Highlights include:  A visit to all five (5) of the existing call boxes recently refurbished.  Hear about Presidential candidates and grandchildren, World War II Generals, US Astronauts, Spies, Celebrities, Artists, Poets and other well-known residents of this “Village within the City.” 

Marching Along with John Philip Sousa Walking Tour

Musical history comes to life on a “marching” tour of the important sites in the life of conductor and composer John Philip Sousa, led by “The March King” himself – well, a close facsimile. Fall in step with member of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides-DC, Dwane Starlin, in character and in uniform as DC native son, John Philip Sousa, as he leads guests on an amazing on-foot expedition highlighting Capitol Hill and the Navy Yard where Sousa was born and raised, including his birthplace and training ground.

If you can hum the theme song to the iconic television show Monty Python’s Flying Circus, you already know something about John Philip Sousa.

Born to immigrant parents from Portugal and Bavaria, Sousa grew up in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol dome. At the age thirteen he attempted to run away with the circus, but (fortuitously) was persuaded to join the U.S. Marine Band as an apprentice musician. Eventually he became its conductor, taking the band to the highest musical and performing standards ever attained by an American military band and serving under five U.S. Presidents.  Sousa enjoyed an equally successful career after leaving the Marine Band, touring the world with his own band. (The group logged over a million travel miles!) A legendary composer, he wrote over 135 marches, “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “The Washington Post March” being two of the most famous. Here’s a chance to discover sites associated with Sousa’s life and times.   

OLDE TOWNE ALEXANDRIA

Join Dwane Starlin, member of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides, for a delightful walking tour of Old Town Alexandria.  Old Town Alexandria is a quaint historic town just on the other side of the Potomac River from Washington, DC. It is a revitalized waterfront with cobblestone streets, colonial houses and churches, museums, shops and restaurants.  During its long history, Alexandria was a tobacco trading post, one of the ten busiest ports in America, a part of the District of Columbia, home to both the largest slave-trading firm in the country and a large free-black community, a Civil War supply center for Union troops, and a street-car suburb for Federal workers. Alexandria was also the hometown of George Washington, Robert E. Lee, Jim Morrison and Mama Cass.  The Old and Historic District, designated in 1946, was the third historic district in the United States, after Charleston and New Orleans.   Today, Alexandria still retains much of its historic character. Many late 18th- and early 19th-century townhouses and warehouses remain in the "Old Town" section of the city, along the west bank of the Potomac River. Many old landmarks have become museums, historic sites and art galleries. Public parks line the waterfront and the river is actively used by fishermen and recreational boaters.

BRIDGING ROCK CREEK:

Focus on the P & Q Street bridges as well as nearby DuPont Circle & Embassy Row.  Start by going over the P Street bridge.  Then up to Mass Avenue.  Right to DuPont circle foundation.  U-turn and head back up Mass Avenue to Sheridan Circle, going counter-clockwise to Q Street heading west to 27th & Mill Road.  Note: we could possibly stop in at either the Anderson House or the Cosmos Club.

GEORGETOWN NIGHTLIFE: 

An evening nostalgia tour revisiting long gone haunt sites such as the Cellar Door & the Bayou along with a stop at a current club such as Gypsy Sally’s or Mr. Smiths. “The Bayou: DC’s Killer Joint” will air Saturday night on DC’s WHUT, Channel 32.  Executive produced by Dave Lilling and co-produced by Vinnie Perrone, Bill Scanlan and Dave Nuttycombe, the 90-minute film will be broadcast.  The documentary is a look back at one of the premiere clubs in the Mid Atlantic region. The film originally premiered on Maryland Public Television in 2013. The film features rare footage of Eva Cassidy, early music of U2, Dave Matthews Band, as well as a look back at the Nighthawks, Cherry Smash and Sinbad. 

The Burning of Washington &   GEORGETOWN DURING THE WAR OF 1812: 

The Congress and the President were left homeless. Contrary to Secretary of War Armstrong’s assurance that Baltimore rather than Washington would be the eventual target, the British in August 1814 entered the Patuxent River, circled north to Bladensburg, routed the Americans, and marched into Washington.   Dwane Starlin, licensed DC tour guide, will trace the path of the British forces from the charred remains of the U.S. Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue to Georgetown where the First Lady Dolley Madison stopped off for tea on August 24, 1814. 

Palisades of the Potomac:

The Palisades is a quiet and beautiful neighborhood at the very edge of the District diamond. It’s home to some of the nicest detached houses in the city, some with great views over the Potomac.

At the end of the 19th century, it was quite a rural area, surrounded by woods. It was a place where wealthy Washingtonians, such as Washington Post founder Stilson Hutchins, would have their summer homes.

TOUR-PALISADES: 

The Palisades, or simply Palisades,[1] is a neighborhood in Washington, D.C., along the Potomac River, running roughly from the edge of the Georgetown University campus (at Foxhall Road) to the D.C.-Maryland boundary (near Dalecarlia Treatment Plant). MacArthur Boulevard (once called Conduit Road) is the main thoroughfare that passes through the Palisades.

In 1893, this subdivision was laid out by the Palisades Improvement Company. The Palisades had the Great Falls Electric Railway that ran from 36th and Prospect streets out to Glen Echo. The International Athletic Park and Amusement Company secured a large block of the Palisades and constructed a Bicycle Track and General Amusement Park, which opened on Decoration Day in 1896. Also encompassed within the Palisades is the neighborhood of Potomac Heights, which is bounded by Loughboro Road at the north end, Arizona Avenue at the south end and MacArthur Boulevard and the Potomac River.

PandaMania in DC:

The "PandaMania" art exhibition that took place in the summer of 2004 throughout Washington, D.C., was a follow-on to the successful "Party Animals" public art exhibit of 2002. "PandaMania" was a collection of more than 150 pandas (some in standing poses and some sitting) that had been decorated, painted or customized in various whimsical ways by artists for the amusement of residents and visitors to Washington. The results were indeed entertaining, but it took quite a bit of effort to see as many of them as we could. We did have a digital camera on our safari, so we're happy to show them to you, too.

Civil War Georgetown

Dwane Starlin, local professional guide, points out locales of importance during the American Civil War when & where only the Potomac River separated the two adversaries.  During this time the village of Georgetown literally & figuratively straddled the opposing forces.

GEORGETOWN RIVERFRONT

Situated on last waterfront of the Potomac River & discovered by the British in 1607.  Learn of the part that the site played in the formation & growth of the region.  Led by Dwane Starlin, professional & licensed tour guide.  Particular attention will be paid to  the C&O Canal and Washington Harbour.

GEORGETOWN WORSHIPS

Dwane Starlin, long-time member of the Guild of Professional Guides of Washington, D.C., will introduce you to over two dozen houses of worship within this relatively small neighbor

LITERARY GEORGETOWN

There are an incredible number of authors that either lived or live in Georgetown.  Dwane Starlin, professional tour guide, will edify you as to the various writers who worked & wrote in Georgetown while creating their literature.