This 19th-century Georgetown mansion named for a Scottish castle is a research center for studies in Byzantine and pre-Columbian art and history, as well as landscape architecture. Its magical yards, which wind gently down to Rock Creek Ravine, are modeled after European gardens. The pre-Columbian museum, designed by Philip Johnson, is a small gem; and the Byzantine collection is a rich one. The mansion's formal gardens are a favorite of Washingtonians. The gardens include an Orangery, a Rose Garden, wisteria-covered arbors, groves of cherry trees, and magnolias. You're likely to spend as much as an hour here when everything is in bloom, but expect to share the winding paths with like-minded wanderers. You can't picnic here; instead, exit at R Street, turn left, cross an honest-to-goodness Lovers' Lane, and proceed next door to Montrose Park to hold your picnic. There is parking on the street.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Washington, D.C. 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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