Visiting the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft with Kids

When the iconic Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. was built in the 1910s and 1920s before opening officially in 1922, giant pillars were placed under the main structure to mitigate the swampy terrain. And from that time, the space between those pillars was mostly empty. Until now.

In June 2026, the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Museum opened to the public, and in July 2026 I was able to visit with my family, including my 4 kids. Based on lots of research online and my personal experience visiting with my family, here's what I think families should know about visiting this cool new museum:

Where is the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Museum?

The Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Museum is located under the Lincoln Memorial, which sits on the National Mall at 2 Lincoln Memorial Circle NW in Washington DC. 

The entrance to the undercroft museum specifically is to the right of the stairs if you are looking at Abraham Lincoln with the reflecting pool to your back, through the same doors as elevator access to the Lincoln statue itself. 

Once you go through a security check, you head through some additional doors and such to get into the undercroft museum itself!

Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Theater

When you walk in, you're directed first to a theater area. The theater area makes really interesting use of the space, projecting the movie into three sections between the pillars, with background imagery projected onto the pillars themselves. It looks so cool! Right now, the undercroft is showing a short version of their intro film as they finish a longer version. I honestly really liked the short length for visiting with kids and hope they'll consider rotating in the shorter version alongside the longer version so that families who prefer a shorter film have that option. 

It would also be so cool someday for them to have some special showings of Lincoln-related movies there! 

Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Exhibits

The majority of the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft consists of historical exhibits about the construction and symbolism of the memorial itself and about Abraham Lincoln. There were lots of things that kids could touch which made it a lot more fun and engaging for them, and there were some really special things that nobody could touch, like the Emancipation Proclamation! (*note: in mid-July some of the historic documents were removed to prevent them from being damaged by the extreme heat. I don't know if that is temporary or if they'll be returned when the weather improves.)

Another favorite part of the museum for my kids is a chair that looks just like the chair in which the giant statue of Lincoln in the memorial above sits, but is sized appropriately for undercroft visitors to sit in. It was so cute and it seemed like everyone visiting the museum stopped to have their family take a picture of them in the chair. 

The Lincoln Memorial Undercroft is a smaller space than many DC museums because they're filling the space they have rather than constructing a separate museum building and that's always going to limit how many exhibits they can have, but I thought they did a great job of really packing interesting things into the space they do have. 

One of my kids even said this was his favorite museum he saw in DC! 

Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Gift Shop

The Lincoln Memorial Undercroft space includes a nice gift shop, which had a wide variety of Lincoln and Lincoln Memorial themed gifts, like one of my kids picked an Abraham Lincoln finger puppet and there were Lego-type-brick models of the Lincoln Memorial for sale and other things along those lines. The undercroft gift shop also has National Park themed gifts, and several free-to-use National Park stamps for those who collect them in books.

Junior Ranger booklets however were available just outside the entrance to the undercroft and elevator area, not in the gift shop, so be sure to ask a ranger if your kids would like one!

Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Restroom and Amenities

The Lincoln Memorial Undercroft has clean, spacious bathrooms, including one with a full-size changing table for adults/teens/big kids (which may be the nicest I've seen anywhere.) The Undercroft also has nice water fountains so although outside food and drink isn't allowed in, you can get a nice cold drink of water, which you might need after hiking to the monument!

The Lincoln Memorial Undercroft is wheelchair accessible; strollers are not allowed unless they fold up tiny (21" by 29") and you carry them. To me it seemed like they would have easily fit, so I hope they reconsider that policy (because it's awful to get there on foot with a preschooler without a stroller between the limited parking and no metro stops super close vs a lovely and easy stroll on the mall if you do have one.)

 

What to bring to the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft with kids

If you are visiting the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft with kids, based on our experience visiting with our four kids, I recommend bringing:

• Good walking shoes to get to the monument
• Refillable, clear water bottles (make sure they're empty before you head in, but you may want water for the walk there!) 
• Non-spray sunscreen
• A blank journal or even a blank bookmark to stamp with the NPS stamps
• A Lincoln penny, because kids love seeing that they are in the building pictured on the penny. If you also bring a crayon and some paper, your kids can make crayon rubbings of the penny you bring while sitting on the steps and yes, you *could* do that anywhere, but being in the place you are making art of makes it so much cooler!

Also note that bags over 18" by 16" by 8" aren't allowed as of July 2026. While this is a decent bag size and easy to fit a lot of useful stuff in, it is smaller than some of my favorite diaper bags I've used over the years, so make sure to measure yours before heading to the memorial and museum and be ready to swap for a smaller option before going to the undercroft if yours is too big.

More information about the Lincoln Undercroft

For now, visiting the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft required timed entry visits which are free online. There's lots more info about the Lincoln Memorial Undercroft Museum on the Lincoln Memorial National Parks page

For more info on visiting D.C. with kids, check back soon! Lots of helpful posts are in the works and I'll link to some of them here once they are done.