Video: The Titanic Memorial of DC

You’ve definitely heard of the RMS Titanic - the British passenger ship which sunk on its maiden voyage from Southhampton in the South of England to New York City, killing over 2,000 passengers and crew. The ship and its legacy have endured in the memory of millions of people around the world because of the tragic end it met in the frigid North Atlantic. It was even the subject of James' Cameron’s famous 1997 film Titanic, which became the highest-grossing film in history at the time.

But did you know that there is a memorial for the RMS Titanic in our own nation’s capital? Yep! It was sculpted by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City and great -granddaughter of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. The memorial itself was unveiled in 1931 at a ceremony hosted by Helen Herron Taft — the widow of President William Howard Taft, who had been in office at the time of the ship’s sinking. Today it sits Southwest Washington, DC just south of the Wharf.

See it for yourself by watching Historic America’s video on the Titanic Memorial below!