BBC - Great American Railroad Journeys (2016) Part 13 Georgetown to Mount Vernon

Great American Railroad Journeys

Michael Portillo crosses the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America, armed with Appleton's General Guide to the United States, published in 1879.

Part 13 Georgetown to Mount Vernon

On this leg, Michael soaks up some old-school jazz in Washington's U Street neighbourhood, where the big band jazz king Duke Ellington was born and began his career. He also grabs a bite at Ben's Chili Bowl, the legendary diner chosen by President Obama for a snack before his inauguration. He follows his guidebook to the United States Naval Observatory, the nation's timekeeper, where he discovers how and why the railroads established four time zones across the continent in 1883. Heading south to Alexandria in Virginia, Michael explores a former slave market and hears how African Americans were bought and sold. He ends this leg in Mount Vernon, the Palladian home of the nation's first president George Washington, where he gets into a spot of bother at an archaeological dig.

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