Shaw's most important rowhouse just reopened, and it was worth the long wait

Shaw's most important rowhouse just reopened, and it was worth the long wait

On the morning of November 7, a line formed outside the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site on 9th Street NW in Shaw. Free tickets for guided house tours, available on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 9 a.m., went to anyone who showed up at Shiloh Baptist Church at 1500 Ninth Street, one block away, where the National Park Service staged its welcome tent and walking tours. The doors have been closed, in one form or another, since the pandemic. For a building this freighted with meaning, that is a long time to wait.

The site at 1538 Ninth Street, NW is not just a house. It preserves the final home of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who lived there from 1922 until his death in 1950, and it was the headquarters for the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. It was also from these walls that Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926, the direct forerunner of what we now call Black History Month. He ran a publishing company from the same address. Inside the home, visitors can journey through three preserved floors where Woodson collected ceiling-high stacks of books on topics including women's, Jewish, Indigenous, and African American histories. Park ranger John Fowler calls him a forerunner of multiculturalism. That's not an overstatement.

The restored landmark chronicles Woodson's career and achievements, including his time at Harvard University, where he made history as the second Black scholar to earn a PhD from the institution, after W.E.B. Du Bois. Known as 'the Father of Black History,' Woodson was a scholar, author, educator and journalist who dedicated his life to documenting and promoting stories of the African American experience. He earned his doctorate from Harvard and went on to serve as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Howard University.

What the renovation actually involved

The closure was not a quick paint job. Structural concerns identified in a 2008 report by architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle included open mortar joints, sagging floors, rotted floor joists, and a bulging load-bearing wall. Water was coming through the roof. Working with Beyer Blinder Belle, construction firm Perini Management Services rebuilt the foundation, reinforced the facade with rods inserted behind the bricks, and replaced the roof. The historic cornice, staircases, floors, fireplaces, windows, brickwork, and woodwork were all restored.

The NPS did not just patch a single building. The National Park Foundation, with support from the Fund II Foundation, backed a large-scale effort to rehabilitate the historic home, connect it with two neighboring rowhouses for visitor contact and interpretation facilities, acquire and conserve important artifacts, and design and install new exhibits. ASALH also donated many of Woodson's personal artifacts to NPS for conservation and display in the home.

During restoration, the Woodson Home facade and rear wing was dismantled brick by brick and piece by piece. Historic moldings, frames, and decorative pieces were removed, carefully repaired off-site, and reinstalled in their original locations. The home still has some original floors, fireplaces, doorknobs and windows. That tension between the new and the original is exactly what you feel when you walk through. The building looks clean. The bones feel old. That is the point.

What you will find when you visit

The set of rowhouses has been transformed into a museum, visitor center, gift shop, classrooms, and headquarters for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. The plan is for ASALH to have a working office in the house, where staff can interact with the community. This is not a frozen-in-amber shrine. The organization Woodson founded is still operational, still publishing, and now physically back in the building where it started.

The grand-opening day on November 7 included guided house tours, neighborhood walking tours through Shaw, hands-on children's programs, and music. All tours and programming began at the historic Shiloh Baptist Church at 1500 Ninth Street, NW. Starting November 10, the Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Rangers guide interpretive tours of the house on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Space is limited to twenty people on each tour, and spots are first-come, first-served or may be reserved on Recreation.gov. Tours last about 45 minutes. There is a $1.00 fee for each reserved spot. Walk-up slots exist, but on weekends especially, reserve ahead.

Why Shaw, and why now

Woodson chose his address deliberately. It was in that rowhouse at 9th and Q streets, in DC's Shaw neighborhood, where the historian first developed the idea of educating people near and far about Black history. His dwelling drew eager students, research apprentices, booksellers, and figures from DC's Black Broadway renaissance, including poet Langston Hughes and writer Zora Neale Hurston. The street looked different then, but the neighborhood's gravity was the same.

The timing of the reopening carries weight. On the eve of the centennial of Black History Month, which Woodson founded as Negro History Week in February 1926 to be held around the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, the Park Service finally reopened the property. A hundred years from that first Negro History Week, the house where the idea was born is a national park site again, open to anyone who shows up.

The site sits a short walk from the Shaw-Howard University Metro station. There is an accessible ramp and accessible parking spot behind the home. The second and third floors of the home can only be reached by climbing the stairs. Large bags and strollers are not permitted inside the historic house.

Sources

• Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site, National Park Service
• Guided Tours, NPS CAWO
• Carter G. Woodson Home, Recreation.gov
• National Parks Conservation Association, 'Founding Father,' Fall 2025
• National Park Foundation, 'Telling Woodson's Story'
• National Trust for Historic Preservation, 'Honoring a Visionary'
• Washington.org, Grand Re-Opening event listing
• PoPville, October 7, 2026