Columbus Day in Washington, DC

Washington, DC honors and celebrates the achievements of Christopher Columbus with a national wreath laying ceremony on Columbus Day, on October 13, 2008 at 11 a.m. Embassies of Italy and Spain and the general public will lay wreaths at the base of the Columbus Memorial Statue located at Union Station at Massachusetts Ave. & 1st St. The memorial is a large fountain with carvings of a native American, an elderly European, the figure of "Discovery" on the prow of a ship, and a globe.

Columbus Day is celebrated the 2nd Monday in October. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) is credited with "discovering" America in 1492. To mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage, in 1892, President Benjamin Harrison declared the first official Columbus Day holiday. Read more about the history of Columbus Day.