On 24 July 1827, the patri­ot­ic cit­i­zens beat both Bal­ti­more and late­com­er Wash­ing­ton, D.C. to the punch in erect­ing the nation’s ”first” Wash­ing­ton Mon­u­ment. The mon­u­ment is not in the town itself, but rather just out­side on top of South Moun­tain. There is a muse­um on-site, open May-Sep dai­ly and week­ends only in April and Octo­ber (closed win­ter).