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Back in 1789, this site hosted George Washington’s inauguration, provided Congress with its first home, and acted as birthplace for the Supreme Court and the Departments of State, Treasury, and War. For its services, the original structure was demolished in 1812; the scrap sold “for a pittance.” But amends of a sort were made when the Customs House was erected in 1842. This Greek Revival temple of finance served as a Sub-Treasury building and later hosted a mix of federal offices, until the National Park Service christened it a memorial in 1955. Inside, Corinthian columns encircle a rotunda housing a reproduction of an eighteenth-century printing press, and a vault with reprints of the first and last pages of Washington’s handwritten inaugural address. You can also peruse a copy of New York’s ratification of the Bill of Rights or scoff at a check which purchased Alaska from Russia for two cents an acre. — Danny Freedman