It’s a twist of fate that Washington was located where it was. Had our founding fathers located the Capital elsewhere Georgetown would probably be a much different place. Much bigger, that is. During the early days of our country Georgetown and Alexandria were both large, important cities, and though no one can say for sure, it’s entirely possible that even without the Capital a sizable metropolis would still sit on the banks of the Potomac.
That’s all academic, though. Nowadays Georgetown, which is probably Washington’s most famous neighborhood, is a hip entertainment district and college town. Admired by urbanites and suburbanites alike, it’s one of the area’s most desirable (and expensive) places to live.
From an urban planning perspective Georgetown is probably more interesting for what’s not there - a Metro station. There’s some confusion on why. Some say it’s because local NIMBYs feared Metro would bring undesirables to the neighborhood. Some say it was nothing more than a funding issue, and that a Georgetown station would have been too expensive. Whatever the reason, though, Georgetown doesn’t do too poorly for itself. The Foggy Bottom station is only a 10 or 15 minute walk away, and WMATA has proposed a new streetcar line connecting Georgetown to the rest of the city.
Metro or not, Georgetown is well worth a visit, be you a tourist, shopper, bar hopper, or resident.
