DCist is proud to be the official media sponsor of Cultural Tourism DC’s free event this Saturday, Sept. 29: WalkingTown DC offers a wealth of free walking tours all day long to get Washingtonians out and discovering new things about their city and neighborhoods.

The Temperance Tour, hosted by volunteer Garrett Peck, author of The Prohibition Hangover, begins at the Cogswell Temperance Fountain at 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW at 1 p.m. and wraps up at the Woodrow Wilson House around 4, with an after-party to celebrate the ability to drink legally at the Brickskeller. More info is available at the WalkingTown web site.

Peck has been giving this tour for some time for the Close Up Foundation, a program that brings high school civics teachers and students to Washington, D.C., but this is the first time it’s been available to the wider public. He took a few minutes to answer our questions about the tour.

DCist: What attracted you to the idea of a Prohibition tour of D.C.?

Garrett Peck: Next year – 2008 – marks the 75th anniversary of Repeal, so it’s particularly timely to look back to see how Americans have adjusted to alcohol in only three or four generations.

DCist: What’s your favorite thing on the tour?

GP: I really enjoy talking with people about how influential the temperance movement was once in America. People forget how deeply ingrained it was in American culture, as it was largely pushed by evangelical Protestants. Few people remember anymore the Anti-Saloon League, which had its national kickoff meeting at Calvary Baptist Church in 1895, or that it was led by Wayne Wheeler — the Karl Rove of his day. The ASL got the 18th Amendment passed that outlawed alcohol.

Photo of Temperance Fountain courtesy Garrett Peck