Washington, DC: Cuba Friendship Urn
Big marble urn on its own pedestal was originally a memorial to the USS Maine in Havana, Cuba. A hurricane knocked it over and Cuba gave it back to the U.S. in 1928, calling it a Friendship Urn. The U.S. stuck it in an obscure corner of the nation's capital.
- Address:
- Ohio Drive SW, Washington, DC
- Directions:
- About a hundred yards southwest of the Jefferson Memorial. On the north side of Ohio Drive SW, just to the right of a small parking lot wedged between US Hwy 1 and I-395.
- Admission:
- Free
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We stumbled across this little gem while parking to visit the Jefferson Memorial. The inscription is in Spanish, but the translation reads:
"The memory of the Maine will last forever through the centuries as will the bonds of friendship between the homeland of Cuba and the homeland of the United States of North America."
Another inscription explains that the urn was brought to the United States after a hurricane knocked it over in 1926. It has a mysterious history, disappearing for a time after tensions rose between Cuba and the United States. But now it's back and it's great!
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The Friendship Urn originally stood in Havana, where it was a Memorial Urn for the U.S. warship Maine.