Hang a left after rising out of the Congress Heights Metro stop, walk about two blocks and cross the street. There, old meets new. Construction equipment is pawing at dry soil and temporary silver fencing surrounds parts of St. Elizabeths, the dilapidated former mental hospital, sitting in Ward 8. The city is building an arena here.
Check in with the man at the makeshift booth, then walk along the outer edge of the St. Elizabeths eastern campus. Peeling paint, broken windows and wayward antennas fill what would be a perfect horror film landscape. St. Elizabeths opened in 1855 as the first federally operated psychiatric hospital, and that is what it looks like.