Mini-Challenge for 24 Hour Readathon

My current book: An Unlikely Friendship: A Novel of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley by Ann Rinaldi.

Dewey's mini-challenge is to post five interesting facts about the setting of our book.

My book is unusual in that it has several settings: Lexington, Kentucky; Springfield, Illinois, Washington, D.C., and those three are just in reference to Mary Todd Lincoln! I believe Elizabeth Keckley spent most of her childhood in Virginia before moving to St. Louis, and then later Baltimore, and then Washington D.C..

Lexington, Kentucky:

it is the second largest city in Kentucky.
It is the home to Transylvania University.
It is the birth place of Mary Todd Lincoln. Tourists can even visit one of her childhood homes that has been turned into a museum.

Washington, D.C.

If Washington, D.C., were a state, it would rank last in area (behind Rhode Island), 50th in population (ahead of Wyoming), first in population density, and 35th in gross state product.
Washington, D.C. is the capital of the United States, situated within the District of Columbia (abbreviated as "D.C.").
The city and the district are located on the banks of the Potomac River and bordered by the states of Virginia (to the west) and Maryland (to the north, east and south).
Washington is a popular destination for tourists, the site of numerous national landmarks and monuments, the world's largest museum complex (the Smithsonian Institution), galleries, universities, cathedrals, performing arts centers and institutions, and native music scenes.