# Shocking Facts About U.S. Monuments. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 3, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287 "2003-06-03T02:20:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/1 "2003-06-03T02:20:14Z")
[ul] [li]The Washington Monument in DC is actually a large penis. It is a symbol from the ancient world. (Compare [this](http://members.aol.com/egypttour/obelisk.html).)[/li][li]Thomas Jefferson would have never approved of his monument. He against things like fame. In fact, he didn’t even want people to know his birth date.[/li][li]Mount Rushmore is really a testament to a racist [man’s](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/peopleevents/p_gborglum.html) dream.[/li][li]Arlington National Cemetary came about when the U.S. government wanted to literally bury service men in some Confederate widow’s backyard (my father and I heard this on a tour of Arlington Cem. we took in Summer 1998).[/li][li]White is not the original color of the White House. It was painted white after the British set it on fire in the War of 1812. White House also isn’t the original name. “Executive Mansion” was its official name before President Theodore Roosevelt.[/li][/ul] Well, that’s all I can post for now. Does anyone else know any shocking facts about U.S. monuments? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/2 "2003-06-03T02:51:00Z")
Lincoln’s Log Cabin is a fake. Betsy Ross’ house really wasn’t hers. And lastly, Soylent Green is made out of people. ---
**Author:** ![Teegus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Teegus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teegus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/3 "2003-06-03T04:18:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jim B. \* > …White is not the original color of the White House. It was painted white after the **British** set it on fire in the War of 1812. White House also isn’t the original name. “Executive Mansion” was its official name before President Theodore Roosevelt. bolding mine. IANAHistorian, but wasn’t it the Canadians who commited this act of revenge after U.S\> troops invaded Canada and we pushed them back to Washington. They may stil have been British subjects at the time, but it wasn’t the British who did it, AFAIK. Anyone wish to correct me on this? ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/4 "2003-06-03T05:09:06Z")
Eh, I’m not surprised. Washington never chopped down that cherry tree, Jefferson was fathering children with slaves, and I’ll bet Lincoln didn’t even invent Lincoln Logs. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/5 "2003-06-03T05:37:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Teegus \* > \*\*bolding mine. > > IANAHistorian, but wasn’t it the Canadians who commited this act of revenge after U.S\> troops invaded Canada and we pushed them back to Washington. > > They may stil have been British subjects at the time, but it wasn’t the British who did it, AFAIK. > > Anyone wish to correct me on this? \*\* The British burned the White House in 1814 during the War of 1812. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/6 "2003-06-03T06:52:07Z")
Grant’s Tomb? Actually a split-level condominium, housing a very alive family of three from Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/7 "2003-06-03T06:53:58Z")
Even more shocking, we don’t know who’s buried in The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier!:eek: :eek: :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/8 "2003-06-03T06:55:24Z")
And yeah, the Washington Monument is phallic. This is news to who?? They even put little flags in a ring around the bottom, like pubic hair. (Nod to Jello Biafra.) ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/9 "2003-06-03T12:59:11Z")
Well, I actually heard the Alamo is the very top most level of an ancient buried shrine to the Dread Cthulhu; the reason Ozzy can’t speak clearly anymore is because he urinated on it. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/10 "2003-06-03T13:19:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Teegus \* > \*\*IANAHistorian, but wasn’t it the Canadians who commited this act of revenge after U.S\> troops invaded Canada and we pushed them back to Washington. \*\* Not quite. The White House was burned by British regulars landed by the Royal Navy. The counter-invasion from Canada, also by British regulars, was turned back at Plattsburgh, which is slightly to the north of Washington. And Albany, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/11 "2003-06-03T13:27:54Z")
they buried civil war dead in general lee’s backyard. the idea was that lee would never be able to live there without seeing the men his army killed. unfortunatly the idea had a rather dark ironic turn as the man who made the decision to bury the troops there ended up burying his own son there. after the war lee lived elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2003, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/12 "2003-06-03T14:01:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jim B. \* > White is not the original color of the White House. It was painted white after the British set it on fire in the War of 1812. [Urban legend.](http://www.snopes.com/language/colors/whithous.htm) > [@](#): > > White House also isn’t the original name. “Executive Mansion” was its official name before President Theodore Roosevelt. Technically true, but it was popularly referred to as “the White House” pretty much from the start. (And actually “Executive Mansion” seems to have come in around 1850, with “President’s House” vying with “the White House” before then.) ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/13 "2003-06-05T08:23:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jim B. \* > **Arlington National Cemetary came about when the U.S. government wanted to literally bury service men in some Confederate widow’s backyard (my father and I heard this on a tour of Arlington Cem. we took in Summer 1998).** Who was your tour guide, and how long had they been on the job? Arlington was Robert E. Lee’s estate. After he became general, the U.S. government demanded taxes on the property for the previous fiscal year, when Virginia had still been a Union state, and further insisted that Lee pay them in person or send Mrs. Lee. Nothing doing, he said, and let them have the property instead. The burial of Confederate soldiers at Arlington was meant to be an insult, but after General and Mrs. Lee had both died, and tempers had cooled down, the U.S. government gave their son 150,000 in reparations and later dedicated Arlington House to General Lee’s memory. I’m amazed that the tour guide didn’t tell you this. It’s an interesting story—you can read more about it [here](http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/anc-primer.htm). “Some Confederate widow”, indeed. That’s what **I** call a “shocking fact”: that tour guides are passing off glurge as history. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/14 "2003-06-05T08:24:33Z")
Oops, sorry, **rocking chair**. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/15 "2003-06-05T12:46:26Z")
I loved that tour. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/16 "2003-06-05T12:59:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by slortar \* > \*\*Well, I actually heard the Alamo is the very top most level of an ancient buried shrine to the Dread Cthulhu; the reason Ozzy can’t speak clearly anymore is because he urinated on it. \*\* Actually, Ozzy urinated on the cenotaph in front of the Alamo. Even he didn’t have the guts to urinate on the Alamo itself; that’s cause for a lynchin’ in San Antonio! ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/17 "2003-06-05T13:04:38Z")
After the war, Lee lived at 707 E. Franklin Street in Richmond. I walk by it every day on my way to work, and the house has recently been renovated to house the offices of the VA Homebuilders Association. After being named President of Washington College, he moved to Lexington. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/18 "2003-06-05T13:06:46Z")
I read somewhere that Lincoln didn’t actually drive a Lincoln Continental. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/19 "2003-06-05T13:28:52Z")
In truth the Gettysburg address is in a nearby suburb, same zip code, but really Gettyburg. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287/20 "2003-06-05T13:34:31Z")
The Brooklyn Bridge is some prime real estate for a _very_ good price to the buyer. True, it isn’t a “national monument”, but one cannot afford to pass up this great offer on such a historic piece of real estate. I should know–I bought it just the other day. Tripler And I’ll sell it to you for $5. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shocking-facts-about-u-s-monuments/179287.md?page=2)