Maine Avenue Fish Market, SW DC by Wikimedia Commons
Home to the oldest open-air fish market in the United States, Main Avenue Fish Market offers the freshest catches on a daily basis while affording the visitor the opportunity to take in the sights and smells of the bay. Enjoy an outstanding meal at the wharf. After hundreds of years in business, the marketplace has perfected the mouth watering art of succulent seafood.
Also known as the Fish Wharf, Maine Avenue Fish Market is one of only a handful of open-air fish markets still surviving on the East Coast of the country. Just five blocks south of the monuments, the Fish Wharf is a favorite of locals while being overlooked by tourists who are busy seeing all of the monuments.
Each store along the Wharf deals in its own specialty, making for seasoned experts with centuries-old traditions in each shop. The Wharf opened in the 1790’s, when fishmongers would boat down the Potomac to buy seafood and bring it back up to the Wharf. Today, a line of barges is docked next to the market to honor the tradition.