Arlington National Cemetery, JFK Gravesite

I like visiting cemeteries. They offer history lessons, mortuary monument fashion shows, and countless little poignant stories of long lives and short ones.

Arlington National Cemetery gets 4 million visitors a year. It is a huge place. Unlike the Congressional Cemetery in southeast D.C., it is a solemn place. It’s here where presidents lay a wreath on Memorial Day at the Tomb of the Unknowns. It’s here that John F. Kennedy and Jackie are buried, around the corner from Bobby Kennedy and now Ted. Signs throughout the cemetery point to the JFK gravesite and its eternal flame, which is in a beautiful spot below the Arlington House. There is a guard there shushing people, so it is a somber place. Bobby Kennedy’s memorial around the hill is a still pool, above which are engraved passages from some of his important speeches. If you were alive in 1968, the scene will likely to take you back to that horrible time.

Above the graves of the Kennedys is Arlington House, which has a fascinating history. The House was built by George Washington Parke Custis, the grandson of Martha Washington, raised from his infancy by Martha and George Washington, as a monument to George Washington. Custis and his wife, Mary Lee Fitzhugh, lived in the house until their deaths in 1853 and 1857, with their married daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, and her husband, Robert E. Lee.

Lee didn’t spend much time at Arlington House, as he was busy fighting the Mexican War and was later superintendent of West Point. After his father-in-law died in 1857, however, he returned to restore the estate to profitability. The Lees lived in Arlington House until 1861, that fateful year. After Virginia seceded, Lee resigned his commission and, well, certainly, you know his next career move. His wife fled, leaving their slaves behind. After the war, the estate was confiscated and turned into a military cemetery for the thousands of Union soldiers. A Freedmen’s Village was created there.

Pierre L’Enfant was also re-interred in front of Arlington House, where he has a splendid view of the Potomac and the city that he planned.

Be sure also to visit the Tomb of the Unknowns and its honor guard and the memorial to women in the military and the WWII Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), who were granted veteran status only in 1977.