Maryland Private Tours & Local Tour Guides

I would love to welcome your visitors to the beautiful and historic city of Washington DC and provide you with an informative and fun time! I was born in Fort Worth, Texas of a Texan father and a Scottish mother. I went to school in London and lived there most of my life so I speak with a British accent (but am American!) I worked as a tour guide, among other things, in London and, having lived in DC for ten years now, I have been giving many tours of the US capitol city for about seven of those years. People tend to think of politics when they think of DC and there is that element of course but it is also one of the world's most beautiful cities, with glorious architecture and art surrounding us on all sides, monuments and memorials to our history, lovely trees and flowers on wide boulevards. I have worked as a tour guide in Charles Dickens' home town, Rochester, Kent, England, led tours for the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, lectured for the National Arts Collection Fund (UK) and in DC I worked for more than a year as a guide on a hop-on hop-off tour bus company, I do fun ghost tours some nights, lead educational tours for middle school students , and lead tours of art museums in DC for various companies. I really believe in imparting information in a fun and entertaining way - I also work as a professional story-teller and our nation's capital has many stories to tell. We can work together before your tour to customize it to your interests, from seeing the outside of the White House and the historic buildings around it in Lafayette Square, to the noble Capitol building where the Congress meets and the world famous memorials such as the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the Viet Nam wall and others. I am very interested in art and architecture and have led many guided tours of the National Gallery of Art, the stunning Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution Museums. I can also show you lesser known examples of amazing architecture such as the Willard Hotel, the National Building Museum and Union Station. I have done a lot of school tours and really enjoy relating to children, so families are very welcome! I am certified as a guide at the magnificent Washington National Cathedral, which requires rigorous training and testing before guides are allowed to lead tours there so I can tailor an itinerary to include this unforgettable sight. A lover of history and finding out of the way quirky stories, I also love classical music and opera, the works of Charles Dickens and Gilbert and Sullivan and classical jazz such as Ella Fitzgerald. I hope to welcome your guests to DC soon! We will have a great time! Stephen