Dupont Circle

Dupont Circle is at once a public square, a traffic circle and the eponymous neighbourhood at the junction of Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire Avenues NW. Named for Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont, its central marble fountain dates to 1921 and was carved by Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial. In the late 19th century the area was a Gilded Age residential enclave, and many of its surviving mansions now house embassies and foundations. Since the 1970s Dupont Circle has been a focal point of Washington's LGBTQ community. Today the plaza hosts chess players, protesters, booksellers and food trucks, with a weekly farmers' market on weekends.