Washington DC
Adams-Morgan
Popular with the young, hip crowd, Adams-Morgan is considered one of Washington’s most colorful neighborhoods. It’s a great place to find ethnic restaurants and with its mix of nationalities, Adams-Morgan is one of the most interesting and cosmopolitan neighborhoods in the city. The cultural diversity is evident in its quirky shops and offbeat bars and clubs. Adams-Morgan is located north of Dupont Circle, East of Kalorama, South of Mt. Pleasant, and west of Columbia Heights.

Anacostia
Just across the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington, Anacostia is a historic African-American neighborhood. The neighborhood, named after its Native American inhabitants, dates back to John Smith’s arrival in the New World in 1607. Anacostia Waterfront Initiative – a $4 billion waterfront development plan initiated by the Federal and District governments and the redevelopment of Poplar Point, which will feature a 60-acre waterfront cultural park serving as a green gateway to the Anacostia River and river parks. It will also include thousands of residential units.

Capitol Hill
“The Hill” is known not just for the imposing U.S. Capitol, but for its interesting blend of government buildings, Victorian row houses, restaurants and shops. The Capitol dominates the neighborhood; the U.S. Supreme Court, Library of Congress and Union Station are other prominent buildings. Members of Congress and their staff, lobbyist and journalists live on Capitol Hill as well as others who can afford the steep prices of real estate here. The 19th and 20^th century row houses are well maintained and many are considered historic landmarks. Neighborhood restaurants are popular with politicians and lobbyists. You’ll also find Eastern Market, one of the city’s oldest farmers’ markets and the Folger Shakespeare Library, which features theater, chamber music, baroque opera and other performances. Located north of the Washington Navy Yard, east of Judiciary Square and Penn Quarter, south of Union Station and west of the Southeast Waterfront.

Chinatown
Chinatown is a small neighborhood that is easily accessible byetro or foot from downtown Washington. The neighborhood is marked by the colorful Friendship Archway and many of the city’s Asian restaurants and shops are found here. Chinatown is the siteof the popular Chinese New Year’s Day parade. It’s also home to the new MCI Center, an entertainment and sports complex.

Dupont Circle
This cosmopolitan neighborhood has some of the city’s finestuseums, historic homes and foreign embassies as well as a variety of ethnic restaurants, bookstores, and private art galleries. Dupont Circle is the heart of Washington, DC’s nightlife. The community is home to many recent college graduates and is also popular with gays. At the circle, three of the District’s major avenues—New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts— converge. With its large central fountain and shade trees, the circle is a great place to sit and watch the crowds or enjoy lunch. The area is popular with newcomers to the city. There are lots of high-rise apartment buildings and many rowhouses have been converted into apartments. The area is located north of Downtown, east of Rock Creek Park, south of Adams-Morgan, and west of Logan Circle.

Eckington
Located just north of Capitol Hill, this historic neighborhood is noted for its views of the Capitol Building, historic row house architecture and its proximity to downtown. The new Metrorail station is a testament that Eckington is one of DC’s hottest “up and coming” neighborhoods. As the home to business pioneer XM Satellite Radio, the neighborhood is experiencing an influx of new residents with the construction of nearly 1,000 new condominiums. The new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives headquarters’ building that will house over 5,000 employees is under construction. The Eckington neighborhood has easy access to regional mass transit through the New York Avenue Metrorail station and Union Station – a multimodal transportation hub serving Metro, AMTRAK, MARC and VRE trains.

Georgetown
Trendy, fashionable and fun describe the atmosphere in Georgetown, Washington’s oldest neighborhood. It’s a neighborhood of tree-lined streets and handsome brick houses, but it’s also home to Georgetown Busy M Street is lined with trendy boutiques and upscale stores, restaurants and bars. Housing is expensive here and most of the homes are 200 year-old restored rowhouses. Most Georgetown University students live on campus or rent apartments uptown or nearby in Virginia. Located North of the Potomac River, East of Palisades, South of Glover Park and West of Dupont Circle.

Foggy Bottom
Once called Funkstown (after a German immigrant), Foggy Bottom has an institutional and bureaucratic air to it. It’s the home of the Department of State, the Kennedy Center, the Watergate complex and George Washington University. Foggy Bottom derived its name during the late 19th century: smoke from the neighborhood factories and the swampy air of the low ground combined to produce a permanent fog along the waterfront.

Southwest/Waterfront
The eastern shore of the Anacostia River is home to Arena Stage, Benjamin Banneker Circle and Fountain, and L’Enfant Plaza. The waterfront runs several blocks along Maine Avenue SW with piers, sailboats, yachts, fishing boats, seafood markets and restaurants to explore.

Maryland
Montgomery County
Sometimes referred to informally as “MoCo,” with population of 918,881, it is the most populous jurisdiction in Maryland and one of the most affluent in the nation. Its major communities include Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Rockville, Takoma Park, Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, Germantown, and Damascus.

Bethesda
According to the 2000 Census, the Bethesda community is the best-educated city in the nation with a population of 50,000 or more. 79% of residents 25 or older have bachelor’s degrees and 49% have graduate or professional degrees. The median income for a household is $99,102, and the median income for a family was $130,160. The area is renowned for three of the world’s leading biomedical research centers — the National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine and the National Naval Medical Center. Bethesda is located north of Washington, DC, west of Chevy Chase, and east of I-495.

Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase is known as a popular upscale shopping district, deemed the \”Rodeo Drive of the East,\” that features some of the most exclusive shops in the Washington D.C., area. There are also a number of villages in Montgomery County with \”Chevy Chase\” in their name, all of which are part of the community of Chevy Chase. This community actually spills over the Maryland-District of Columbia boundary to include a neighborhood of Washington called Chevy Chase, DC.

Gaithersburg
Gaithersburg is the second largest city in Maryland. In July of 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Gaithersburg 17^th on its list of the 100 Best Places to live in the United States. The city is home to the neo-traditionalist new town of Kentlands, designed by Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. Another major planned community is Montgomery Village. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is headquartered in Gaithersburg. Other major employers in the city include Hughes Network Systems, IBM, ACE*COMM, and Lockheed Martin Federal Systems.

Takoma Park
Takoma Park was the first planned commuter suburb in the area. The name reportedly comes from an American Indian word meaning “high up near heaven.” The population was 17,299 at the 2000 census, and is an ethnically diverse city, with a large proportion of the population being recent immigrants.

Prince George’s County
Prince George’s County, Maryland has a population of 838,716. Major communities include Laurel, College Park, Greenbelt, Bowie, Capitol Heights, and Upper Marlboro.

Bowie
The Town of Bowie owes its existence to the railway. It has grown from a small agricultural and railroad town to one of the largest and fastest growing cities in Maryland. Bowie is a city of 16 square miles and approximately 50,000 residents. It has nearly 2,000 acres set aside as parks or open space as well as 72 ball fields, three community centers, an ice arena, a theatrical playhouse, a golf course, and three museums. The City has recently added a state-of- the-art senior citizens center and a gymnasium for community programs. The City of Bowie is a dynamic, family-oriented community whose residents enjoy an exceptional quality of life. The City’s motto of “Growth, Unity and Progress” provides a fitting description of this municipality at the start of a new century.

College Park
College Park has a population of nearly 25,000. It is best known as the home of the University of Maryland, and since 1994 the city has also been home to the “Archives II” facility of the U.S. National Archives. College Park Airport is the oldest continuously operating airport in the United States and is one of the oldest airports in the world, having been in continuous operation since 1909. Its future status is uncertain, as it lies just a few miles outside the restricted airspace of Washington D.C.

Greenbelt
Greenbelt is a planned city in Prince George’s County. In 1937 it was established as a public cooperative community (“an experiment in American socialism”) in the New Deal Era. Greenbelt was to provide affordable housing for federal government workers. The architectural planning of Greenbelt was innovative, but no less so than the social engineering involved in this federal government project. The current population is 21,456.

Laurel
Originally called “Laurel Factory” by its 18th century settlers (due to the presence of an iron works along the local Patuxent River), the town\’s name was not shortened to “Laurel” until 1875. Laurel is also home to a historic district, including its Main Street. On May 15, 1972, Governor George Wallace of Alabama, running for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party, was campaigning at a rally in the parking lot of Laurel Shopping Center, near the Equitable Trust Bank. He was shot and paralyzed by Arthur Bremer (An Assassin’s Diary), a disturbed, out-of-work janitor.

Northern Virginia
Alexandria
Alexandria has a population of 128,284. It is located on the west bank of the Potomac River, six miles south of downtown Washington, DC. Modern Alexandria has been shaped by its proximity to the nation’s capital. It is largely populated by professionals working in the federal civil service, the U.S. military, or for one of the many private companies which contract to provide services to the federal government.

Alexandria’s West End includes areas annexed in the 1950s. It is the most typically suburban part of Alexandria, with a street hierarchy of winding roads and cul-de-sacs. Old Town, in the eastern and southeastern areas of Alexandria and on the Potomac River, is the oldest section of the city, originally laid out in 1749, and is a historic district. Old Town is chiefly known for its historic (and expensive) town houses, its art galleries and antique shops, and its restaurants and nightlife, although it is in reality a diverse area that includes substantial public housing. Del Ray, an area to the northwest of Old Town. The housing stock is a mix of single-family houses, duplexes, townhouses, and apartment buildings Alexandria’s public high school, T.C. Williams, and its legendary former football coach, Herman \”Mad Dog\” Boone, were featured in the 2000 motion picture, \”Remember the Titans.\”

Arlington
Arlington, on the other hand, is clearly part of contemporary Virginia. Arlington boasts many major attractions including: Arlington National Cemetery, the U.S. Marines Corps War Memorial and the Pentagon. In the Rosslyn section, just across the river from Georgetown, is the Newseum, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at the news business. As of January 2006, the estimated population was 200,226. Strictly speaking, it is inaccurate to refer to it as the city of Arlington. All cities within the state are independent of counties, though towns may be incorporated within counties. However, Arlington has no existing incorporated towns because Virginia law prevents the creation of any new municipality within a county that has a population density greater than 1,000 persons per square mile.

Arlington National Cemetery is an American military cemetery established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s home. It is directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., north of the Pentagon. With more than 260,000 people buried there, Arlington National Cemetery is the second-largest national cemetery in the United States.

The Pentagon is located in Arlington. It was dedicated on January 15, 1943 and it is the world’s largest office building. Although it is located in Arlington, the United States Postal Service requires that “Washington, D.C.” be used as the place name in mail addressed to the ZIP codes assigned to the Pentagon.

There are numerous unincorporated neighborhoods within Arlington that are commonly referred to by name as if they were distinct towns. Some of these neighborhoods – particularly those located at Metrorail stations and other major transportation corridors – are characterized by the county as \”urban villages.\” Arlington includes a large selection of Sears Catalog Homes, which were offered between 1908 and 1940. Considered to be of exceptional quality, in modern times, these houses are sought after by many home buyers.

Fairfax County
Fairfax County is the most populous jurisdiction in the Greater Washington Area, surpassing the population of Washington D.C. by about 450,000 residents. As of 2005, the estimated population of the county is 1,041,200; making it by far the most populous county in Virginia, and one of the largest in the United States. It is also one of the highest-income counties in the United States (ranked 11th by per capita income). Fairfax County is part of the inner suburbs of Washington D.C. and the county lies just outside of Washington D.C.

Fairfax County has been perennially rated one of the best public school systems in the country. The technology boom and a steady government-driven economy also created rapid growth and an increasingly growing and diverse population. The economy has also made Fairfax County one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. Major communities include Clifton, Fairfax City, Vienna, Reston, Great Falls, Centreville, Falls Church, Springfield and Mount Vernon.

Clifton
There are many families moving into the area. The Town of Clifton requires all houses in the area to have at least 5 acres of land each, which prevents nearly all development other than luxury single family homes. In 2003, a new community was built on the edge of town called Clifton Heights. The median income for a household in the town was $111,048.

Fairfax
Fairfax is an independent city forming an enclave within the confines of Fairfax County. Although politically independent of the sophisticated and thriving County of a million people, the City of Fairfax is its county seat.

Vienna
In July of 2005, CNN/Money and Money magazine ranked Vienna fourth on its list of the 100 best places to live in the United States.

Loudoun County
As of July 2005, the county is estimated to be home to 255,518 people, a 50 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fastest growing in the United States during that period. The once rural county now has a Mecca of industry centered on Dulles International Airport. $1,000,000+ homes are springing up throughout the countryside. In light of this the county has placed many building restrictions in an attempt to retain the rural feel. Loudoun has rich soil and was in the late 1800’s the fourth largest wheat provider in the U.S. Incorporated towns with the county include Dulles, Hamilton, Leesburg, Middleburg, Percellville and Round Hill.

Dulles
The community derived its name from the airport; the airport in turn takes its name from former United States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles (1888-1959). The headquarters of America Online and Orbital Sciences Corporation call Dulles home, but much of its economy is based on the airport.