Sculpture gardens could be interactive for some pieces. Some memorials properly belong on pedestals, others could provide an opportunity for citizen or family interaction. May sound weird at first but a goal should be to draw people in.

 

The Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas gives you headsets to wear as you follow the guided tour. At the end many people are in tears. It's a very well done museum.

 

You know who was the only modern president to not use the same Oval Office desk as JFK? That's the Resolute Desk, it was a gift from Queen Victoria to the US president at the time. The British ship HMS Resolute got stuck in Arctic ice, the US eventually recovered it and returned it to the Brits and later they ended up wrecking it again. They used some of the timbers for the desk.

 

The only modern US president not to use the same Oval Office desk as JFK was George Herbert Walker Bush.

 

Consider some DC sculptures for the Twitter and Instagram Age. Scenes tourists can participate in, photograph and post to social media.

 

1. Pocahontas getting shouted at by the chief and her mother but looking off to the side at Capt John Smith who returns her glance, but similarly he's being shouted at by other Jamestown settlers/officers.

 

1. Reagan and the Queen on horseback with two empty horses alongside for couples to sit on.

 

1. Fly fishermen catching casting their lines near the DC waterfront

 

1. JFK Jr saluting standing next to his mother alongside a walking path

 

1. Life-size rough riders descending a hill in full gallop, swords raised

 

1. Original cowboys in sombreros and cowboy hats herding cattle

 

1. O.K. Corral standoff with open positions for tourists to stand

 

1. Gerald Ford falling down stairs

 

1. Hee-Haw's All Jug Band with empty seats for a few tourists at a time

 

1. Real replica locomotives meeting at Promontory Point, with statues of the dignitaries, Chinese workmen and Irish workmen standing in crowds

 

1. Rip Van Winkle sleeping against a tree (this would be a favorite for "dad" pics and jokes for families)

 

1. A giant Johnny Appleseed throwing seeds and walking with a great stride

 

1. Lewis & Clarke in longboats and log rafts on a river with their teams, but with open seats for tourists to sit for photos

 

1. Washington crossing the Delaware (giant in scale) to kill the Germans

 

1. Real replica Conestoga wagons with pioneer and horse sculptures

 

1. Native Americans or outlaws cattle rustling

 

1. Burr and Hamilton back to back with pistols drawn

 

1. A young Washington swinging an axe at a real Cherry Tree

 

1. Ponce de Leon and his adventurers finding the fountain of youth

 

1. Columbus and Eric the Red landings

 

1. Benjamin Franklin discovering electricity using his kite and key

 

1. Tesla standing next to VanDerGraaf generators with a position in the middle for tourists to stand with a wind machine blowing air upward

 

1. Gold miners panning for gold with one jumping for joy, Eureka!

 

1. Sharon Stone crossing her legs and an empty chair for her interrogator

 

1. Independence Hall Declaration of Independence painting as an indoor sculpture with a few empty chairs for tourists