Arlington National Cemetery
Tomb of the unknown Soldier-Changing of the Gaurds-Tomb is gaurded 24 hours each day of every year. Never Left unattended "we look out for each other, no matter what!"
Tomb of the unknown Soldier-Changing of the Gaurds-Tomb is gaurded 24 hours each day of every year. Never Left unattended "we look out for each other, no matter what!"
IN THE BEAUTIFUL Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on a hillside overlooking the historic Potomac River is a Shrine that has become the mecca for not only all Americans who visit Washington but many prominent dignitaries and persons from foreign lands. It is the Tomb of America's Unknown Soldiers, symbolizing those of America who gave their lives in World War I, World War II and Korea, in defense of the Nation's integrity, honor and tranquility.
Following the custom inaugurated by other allied countries in World War I the Congress on March 4, 1921, approved a Resolution providing for the burial in Arlington National Cemetery Memorial Amphitheater on Armistice Day 1921 of an unknown and unidentified American soldier of World War I. The Secretary of War delegated to the Quartermaster Corps the duty of selecting the Unknown Soldier and accordingly the Quartermaster General directed the Chief, American Graves Registration Service in Europe to select from among the burials of America's Unknown Dead the bodies of four who fell in the combat area in order that one from among them could be anonymously designated as the one for burial in accordance with the provisions of the Resolution. Four bodies of Unknown Soldiers were selected, one from each of the following cemeteries Aisne-Marne, Meuse-Argonne, Somme and St. Mihiel--and brought to Chalons where they were placed in the Hotel de Ville. The fact that the bodies selected were those of Americans was determined by the location of place of death, original burial and uniforms. The utmost care was taken to see that there was no evidence of identification on the bodies selected and no indication that their identity could ever be established.
After the four bodies were arranged in the Hotel de Ville, the next step was the matter of selecting the one from among them to represent all the Unknown American Dead. This ceremony though simple was most impressive. In view of his outstanding service, to Sergeant Edward Younger, on duty with the American Forces in Germany, was given the honor of making the final selection. On Monday morning, October 24, 1921, at 10 :00 A.M. in the presence of The Quartermaster General, the Commanding General of the American Forces in Germany, the Mayor of Chalons-sur-Marne, high officers of the French Army, distinguished French citizens and eminent American and French civilians the selection was made. While a French military band played an appropriate air, Sergeant Younger slowly entered the room where the four caskets were placed. Passing between two lines formed by the officials he silently advanced to the caskets, circled them three times and placed a spray of white roses on the third casket from the left. He then faced the body, stood at attention, and saluted. He was immediately followed by officers of the French Army who saluted in the name of the French people.
The body lay in State for several hours watched over by a guard of honor composed of French and American Soldiers while the people of Chalons reverently paid their respects and left offerings of flowers and other tributes. After brief official ceremonies by the City of Chalons the casket was placed on a flag-draped gun carriage and escorted by American and French troops to the railroad station where is was placed aboard the funeral car in a special train for the journey to Le Harve. Upon arrival at Le Havre the train was met by French officials and troops and citizens of Le Havre who had gathered that they too might pay homage to America's Unknown Soldier. Accompanied by many floral tributes and escorted by French and American troops, the solemn procession moved through the City of Le Havre to the pier where the American Cruiser "Olympia", Admiral Dewey's flagship at the battle of Manila Bay, awaited with her flags at half mast to receive the precious cargo which she was to bring to the Homeland. Here, with ceremonies befitting the solemn occasion, the casket was turned over to the United States Navy and placed on the flower decked stern of the cruiser for the long journey to America. Slowly and silently the "Olympia" moved from the pier and with a salute of seventeen guns from the French destroyer, to which she promptly responded, the journey of the Unknown Soldier to his homeland began.
On November 9, 1921, at 4 :00 P.M., the "Olympia" reached the Navy Yard at Washington, D. C., where the flag-draped casket was solemnly delivered by the Navy to the Army, represented by the Commanding General of the District of Washington, and escorted to the rotunda of the Capitol. Here upon the same catafalque that had similarly held the remains of our Presidents, Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, the body lay in State under a guard of honor and composed of selected men of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. All during the next day thousands of patriotic individuals, including highest officials of the Government, members of the Diplomatic Corps and private citizens, passed before the casket to pay homage to The Unknown Soldier who symbolized all our Unknown and the purpose for which they died.
On the morning of November 11, 1921, Armistice Day, at 8 :30 A.M., the casket was removed from the rotunda of the Capitol and escorted to the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery under a military escort, with general officers of the Army and Admirals of the Navy for pallbearers, and noncommissioned officers of the Navy and Marine Corps for body bearers. Following the caisson bearing the flag-draped casket walked such a concourse as had never before followed a soldier to his final resting place-The President of the United States, the Vice-President, Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, wearers of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Senators, Members of Congress, the Generals of the Armies of World War I, and former Wars, and other distinguished Army, Navy and Marine Corps officers, Veterans of World War I, and former Wars, State officials and representatives of patriotic organizations. Solemnly through streets lined with thousands gathered to pay homage to those who died on the field of battle the procession moved on to historic Arlington. Upon arrival at the Amphitheater the casket was borne through the south entrance to the apse where it was reverently placed upon the catafalque. During the processional the vast audience both within and without the Amphitheater stood uncovered. A simple but impressive funeral ceremony was conducted which included an address by the President of the United States who conferred upon the Unknown Soldier the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross. Following this ceremony special representatives of foreign governments associated with the United States in World War I each in turn conferred upon the Unknown the highest military decoration of their Nation.
At the conclusion of these ceremonies the remains, preceded by the clergy, the President and Mrs. Harding and others seated in the apse, were borne to the sarcophagus where a brief committal service was held. With three salvos of artillery, the sounding of taps and the National Salute, the impressive ceremonies were brought to a close.
It was originally intended that the simple white marble Tomb placed over the grave of The Unknown Soldier immediately after the interment should serve as a base for an appropriate superstructure. Accordingly very shortly after the ceremonies on November 11, 1921, the question of selecting a suitable monument to complete the Tomb was given consideration. It was not until July 3, 1926, however, that the Congress finally authorized the completion of the Tomb and the expenditure of $50,000 therefore.
The Act referred to above provided that the Secretary of War secure competitive designs according to such regulations as he may adopt to complete the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier. The Act further provided that the accepted designs should be subject to the approval of the Arlington Cemetery Commission, the American Battle Monuments Commission and the Fine Arts Commission. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, the Secretary of War prepared a program for the completion of the Tomb and invited architects of standing reputation who were citizens of the United States to submit designs. Seventy four designs were submitted and, from among them, five were selected for further study.
The selected competitors were required to restudy their designs and prepare models of plaster of paris. When these models were received the Jury of Award studied each one, taking into consideration the surroundings of the Tomb, the Amphitheater in which it is located and which serves as a background for it, and the final effect after the completed monument was in place. After going into the matter most carefully and thoroughly, the Jury finally recommended an anonymous design to be the winning one. When their decision had been reached a sealed envelope accompanying the design was opened and it was found that the winning design was the work of Thomas Hudson Jones, sculptor, and Lorimer Rich, Architect, of New York City.
The design selected was in the form of a sarcophagus, simple but impressive, and most appropriate for the purpose for which desired. The total height is 11 feet, the width is 8 feet at the base and 6 feet 8 inches at the top, and the length is 13 feet 11 inches at the base and 12 feet 7 inches at the top. The severity of the design is relieved by the Doric Pilasters in low relief at the corners and along the sides. The panel of the front, facing the City of Washington and the Potomac, has carved upon the marble a composition of three figures commemorative of the spirit of the Allies in the War. In the center of the panel stands "Victory", with her palm branch to reward the devotion and sacrifice that went with courage to make the cause of righteousness triumphant; on one side a male figure symbolizes "Valor" and on the other stands "Peace." Each of the sides is divided into three panels by Doric Pilasters, in each panel of which is carved an inverted wreath. On the back appears the inscription "Here Rests In Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But To God". This is the only inscription appearing on the Tomb.
The marble is the finest and whitest of American marble--Yule, Colorado, marble, and same as used in the Lincoln Memorial. The Tomb is made of only four pieces of marble--the die, which is all in one piece and one of the largest ever quarried, weighing over 50 tons; the base; the sub-base, and the capstone.
An appropriation from Congress for the work was secured and on December 21, 1929, a contract for completion of the Tomb itself was entered into.
In order to provide an appropriate setting for the Tomb when completed certain changes were necessary in the grounds, roadways and landscaping in the immediate vicinity of the Tomb. To accomplish this, plans were prepared to provide an elaborate approach from the East and on February 28, 1929, Congress authorized the construction of the necessary approaches to the Tomb.
On a Virginia hillside rising above the Potomac River and overlooking Washington, D.C., stands Arlington House. The 19th-century mansion seems out of place amid the more than 250,000 military grave sites that stretch out around it. Yet, when construction began in 1802, the estate was not intended to be a national cemetery.
Arlington House "Custis-Lee Mansion"
The mansion, which was intended as a living memorial to George Washington, was owned and constructed by the first president's adopted grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, son of John Parke Custis who himself was a child of Martha Washington by her first marriage and a ward of George Washington. Arlington won out as a name over Mount Washington, which is what George Washington Parke Custis first intended calling the 1,100-acre tract of land that he had inherited at the death of his father when he was 3.
Arlington won out because it was the name of the Custis family ancestral estate in the Virginia tidewater area.
Custis hired George Hadfield, an English architect who came to Washington in 1785 to help construct the U.S. Capitol, to design his estate.The Greek revival structure which Hadfield designed took Custis 16 years to complete.
The north wing was the first structure completed in 1802. It was in this building that Custis made his home, with a significant portion of it used to store George Washington memorabilia Custis was acquiring with regularity. Among the items purchased and stored in the north wing were portraits, Washington's personal papers and clothes, and the command tent which the president had used at Yorktown.
Even after the completion of the south wing in 1804, Arlington House was still only a set of detached buildings. With the completion of the central section in 1818, the house stretched 140 feet from the north to the south wing. The central section contained a formal dining room and sitting room, a large hall and a parlor. One of the most recognizable of the section's features are the eight columns of the exterior portico, each 5 feet in diameter at the base.
George Washington Parke Custis and his wife, Mary Lee Fitzhugh (whom he had married in 1804), lived in Arlington House for the rest of their lives and were buried together on the property after their deaths in 1857 and 1853, respectively. They are buried in their original graves in Section 13, at map grid N-30. On June 30, 1831, Custis' only child, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, married her childhood friend and distant cousin, Robert E. Lee. Lee was the son of former three-term Virginia Governor Henry ("Light Horse Harry") Lee and was himself a graduate of West Point.
George Washington Parke Custis
Between 1841 and 1857, Lee was away from Arlington House for several extended periods. In 1846 he served in the Mexican war under Gen. Winfield Scott, and in 1852 he was appointed superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, his alma mater. After his father-in-law died in 1857, Lee returned to Arlington to join his family and to serve as executor of the estate.
Under the terms of her father's will, Mary Anna Custis Lee was given the right to inhabit and control the house for the rest of her life. Custis' will also stipulated that upon Mary Anna's death, full title would pass to her eldest son, George Washington Custis Lee. Contrary to popular belief, Robert E. Lee never owned the Arlington estate. Lee did serve as custodian of the property, which had fallen into disrepair by the time he returned to execute his father-in-law's will. By 1859, Lee had returned the property and its holdings to profitability and good order.
Robert E. Lee and his wife, Mary Anna, lived at Arlington House until 1861, when Virginia ratified an alliance with the Confederacy and seceded from the Union. Lee, who had been named a major general for the Virginia military forces in April 1861, feared for his wife's safety and anticipated the loss of their family inheritance. In May 1861, Lee wrote to Mary Anna saying:
"War is inevitable, and there is not telling when it will burst around you . . . You have to move and make arrangements to go to some point of safety which you must select. The Mount Vernon plate and pictures ought to be secured. Keep quiet while you remain, and in your preparations . . . May God keep and preserve you and have mercy on all our people."
Following the ratification of secession by Virginia, federal troops crossed the Potomac and, under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell, took up positions around Arlington. Following the occupation, military installations were erected at several locations around the 1,100-acre estate, including Fort Whipple (now Fort Myer) and Fort McPherson
Lee deeply regretted the loss of his home at Arlington. During the early stages of the war, foreseeing the probable loss of his home and belongings, Lee wrote to his wife about Arlington:
"It is better to make up our minds to a general loss. They cannot take away the remembrance of the spot, and the memories of those that to us rendered it sacred. That will remain to us as long as life will last, and that we can preserve."
Lee continued to feel responsible for the estate and earnestly hoped that the slaves who were left behind would be educated and freed, according to the provisions of George Washington Parke Custis' will.
The property was confiscated by the federal government when property taxes levied against Arlington estate were not paid in person by Mrs. Lee. The property was offered for public sale Jan. 11, 1864, and was purchased by a tax commissioner for "government use, for war, military, charitable and educational purposes."
Arlington National Cemetery was established by Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, who commanded the garrison at Arlington House, appropriated the grounds June 15, 1864, for use as a military cemetery. His intention was to render the house uninhabitable should the Lee family ever attempt to return. A stone and masonry burial vault in the rose garden, 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep, and containing the remains of 1,800 Bull Run casualties, was among the first monuments to Union dead erected under Meigs' orders. Meigs himself was later buried within 100 yards of Arlington House with his wife, father and son; the final statement to his original order.
The federal government dedicated a model community for freed slaves, Freedman's Village, near the current Memorial Amphitheater, on Dec. 4, 1863. More than 1,100 freed slaves were given land by the government, where they farmed and lived during and after the Civil War.
Neither Robert E. Lee, nor his wife, as title holder, ever attempted to publicly recover control of Arlington House. They were buried at Washington University (later renamed Washington and Lee University) where Lee had served as president. The couple never returned to the home George Washington Parke Custis had built and treasured. After Gen. Lee's death in 1870, George Washington Custis Lee brought an action for ejectment in the Circuit Court of Alexandria (today Arlington) County, Va. Custis Lee, as eldest son of Gen. and Mrs. Lee, claimed that the land had been illegally confiscated and that, according to his grandfather's will, he was the legal owner. In December 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, returned the property to Custis Lee, stating that it had been confiscated without due process
On March 3, 1883, the Congress purchased the property from Lee for $150,000. It became a military reservation and Freedman's Village ceased to exist; however, the gravesites that were once part of the village remained on the grounds
The Challenger shuttle crew, of seven astronauts--including the specialties of pilot, aerospace engineers, and scientists-- died tragically in the explosion of their spacecraft during the launch of STS-51-L from the Kennedy Space Center about 11:40 a.m., EST, on January 28, 1986. The explosion occurred 73 seconds into the flight as a result of a leak in one of two Solid Rocket Boosters that ignited the main liquid fuel tank. The crewmembers of the Challenger represented a cross-section of the American population in terms of race, gender, geography, background, and religion. The explosion became one of the most significant events of the 1980s, as billions around the world saw the accident on television and empathized with any one of the several crewmembers killed.
Iwo Jima Memorial
On February 19, 1945 about 70,000 marines invaded the small Pacific Island of Iwo Jima which was under control of the Japanese army. The island was a strategic objective due to its airfield which was used for kamikaze attacks.
By capturing the island, the Allied Forces would not only prevent attacks from the island but it would also give them a base from where the Japanese mainland could be reached by B-29 Superfortresses.
By capturing the island, the Allied Forces would not only prevent attacks from the island but it would also give them a base from where the Japanese mainland could be reached by B-29 Superfortresses.
Korean War Memorial
There is a cluster of trees near the base of the triangle. The soldiers are coming out of the trees towards home, which is represented by the American Flag. The memorial is in the form of a triangle intersecting a circle. Walls: 164 feet (50 m) long, 8 inches (200 mm) thick; more than 100 tons of highly polished "Academy Black" granite from California: more than 2,500 photographic, archival images representing the land, sea and air troops who supported those who fought in the war are sandblasted onto the wall. Within the walled triangle are 19 stainless steel statues designed by Frank Gaylord,each larger than life-size, between 7 feet 3 inches (2.21 m) and 7 feet 6 inches (2.29 m) tall; each weighs nearly 1,000 pounds (500 kg). The figures represent a squadon patrol, drawn from each branch of the armed forces; fourteen of the figures are from the U.S. Army, three are from the Marine Corps, one is a Navy Corpsman, and one is an Air Force Forward Air Observer. They are dressed in full combat gear, dispersed among strips of granite and juniper bushes which represent the rugged terrain of Korea.
When reflected on the wall, there appears to be 38 soldiers, representing the 38th parallel. To the north of the statues is a path, forming one side of the triangle. Behind, to the south, is a 164-foot-long black granite wall, created by Louis Nelson, with photographic images sandblasted into it depicting soldiers, equipment and people involved in the war. This forms the second side of the triangle. The third side of the triangle, facing towards the Lincoln Memorial, is open.
To the north of the statues and path is the United Nations Wall, a low wall listing the 22 members of the United Nations that contributed troops or medical support to the Korean war effort
A further granite wall bears the simple message, inlaid in silver: "Freedom Is Not Free"
Abraham Lincoln Monument
Soon after Lincoln became president, seven southern states seceded in response to the president's condemnation of slavery.
One year later, four more states seceded and in April 1861 the Civil War started. During the war, Congress approved the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in the United States. The Civil War ended in April 1865 with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee. Six days later, Abraham Lincoln was shot by an assassin in Ford's Theatre. Two years after his assassination, Congress formed the Lincoln Monument Association. Its task was to build a memorial dedicated to Abraham Lincoln. It would take until 1901 before a site for the memorial was chosen. In 1911 the Lincoln Memorial Bill was signed by President Taft, providing $2 million funds for the memorial. Construction started in 1914. The design by the New York architect Henry Bacon was based on a greek temple with 36 doric columns. Each column represents one state of the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. When the memorial was completed in May 1922, the Union had expanded with 12 more states, so the names of the 48 states were carved on the outside of the memorial's walls. After the admission of Alaska and Hawaii, a plaque was added with the names of the new states.
Inside the 99ft/30m tall marble temple is a large sculpture of Abraham Lincoln seated in a chair. The sculpture, designed by Daniel Chester French, was originally intended to be 10ft/3m tall. Henry Bacon realized the statue would be dwarfed inside the large building so the size was almost doubled to 19ft/5.8m. The northern wall contains an inscription of Lincoln's second inaugural speech, the southern wall has the Gettysburg address inscribed, considered one of the most important speeches in American history. Above the inscription is a mural depicting the angel of truth freeing a slave.The memorial is often used as a gathering place for protests and political rallies. The most famous was the March of Washington in 1963, when Martin Luther King delivered his famous speech 'I have a dream' from the Lincoln Memorial
Vietnam War Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors the men and women who served in the Vietnam War. Its main monument, known as 'The Wall' is the most visited memorial in Washington.
The construction of a memorial was approved by Congress in 1980 as a result of campaigns by Vietnam Veterans. The project was financed privately; the necessary funds were collected by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. They announced a national competition for the design of the memorial.
One of the 1421 entries in the competition was submitted by Maya Ying Lin, a 20 year old student at Yale University. Her design was the result of an earlier class assignment. She only received a B grade on the assignment, but a jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selected her design.
One of the 1421 entries in the competition was submitted by Maya Ying Lin, a 20 year old student at Yale University. Her design was the result of an earlier class assignment. She only received a B grade on the assignment, but a jury of architects and sculptors unanimously selected her design.
Lin's design was very simple: two black triangular granite walls are sunk into the ground at an angle of 125 degrees. Each wall is 250ft or 76m long. Both walls start at a height of 8 inches (20cm) and meet at their highest point where the walls are 10ft (3m) high. Inscribed in the wall are the names of more than 58,000 men and women who were killed in the Vietnam War or who are still missing in action. A diamond next to the name indicates the person was killed, a cross indicates the person is missing. If a body is identified, the cross is circled. The austere design of the memorial, a scar in the earth, was controversial. Some Vietnam Veterans opposed the design which lacked statues or an American flag. To silence the critics, a group of statues was erected near the Vietnam memorial in 1984, two years after the wall was dedicated. Over time, people started to better understand the powerful image of the wall. The cleavage in the earth symbolizes the country divided over the Vietnam War, while the seemingly endless list of names visualizes the many sacrifices that were made better than any traditional monument could have done.
In 1993 another sculpture, depicting three women and a wounded soldier, was added to the Vietnam Memorial. It honors the women who served in the Vietnam War.
Pentagon
Pentagon History began in 1941 when Brigadier General Brehon Sommervell decided the War Department needed a temporary solution to its critical shortage of office space.
The rapidly expanding War Department envisioned a single structure in which to house all its components, as opposed to constructing multiple temporary structures as was then the practice. Congress was cautious about the size of the expenditure and the enormity of the project, but anxious about events in Europe and the Far East that could require U.S. military intervention.
Congress appropriated the funds necessary to construct the War Departments new home (approximately $83 million) on August 14, 1941. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 11, 1941.
The original site chosen for the Pentagon was a tract of land known as Arlington Farms. The site was bordered by five roadways thus dictating the concept of a pentagonal shaped building. Fearing the enormous building would interfere with the view of Washington DC from Arlington Cemetery, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt directed the building be moved three quarters of a mile down river.
The new location chosen was at the site of the old Hoover Airport, a brick factory, a pickle factory, a race track, and a low-income residential area known as Hells Bottom. On this site, the final design concept of an open air court surrounded by five concentric pentagonal rings (or corridors) traversed by ten spoke-like corridors was constructed.
The architectural style of the Pentagon is Stripped Neo-Classical. The building was constructed out of reinforced concrete made from 380,000 tons of sand dredged from the Potomac River and supported by 41,492 concrete piles. The designers ingenuity not only created a building that reflected the architectural style of the nations Capitol but also saved enough steel to build one battleship.
At the height of construction, over 1,000 architects worked in an adjacent hanger producing enough prints to supply the 14,000 construction workers and tradesmen. Three shifts worked 24 hours a day, every day, constructing the Pentagon wedge by wedge. These wedges were occupied as they came on-line. The building was dedicated on January 15, 1943, nearly 16 months to the day after the groundbreaking.
The Pentagon sits on 34 acres of land including the five acre center court, making a footprint large enough to accommodate five Capitol buildings. The Pentagon has 6,500,000 gross square feet of space, 7,754 windows, and 17 1/2 miles of corridor. In spite of the buildings tremendous size, it takes only seven minutes to walk between any two points of the building because of its unique design.
Mount Vernon-George Washington's estate, he lived here as president.
Mount Vernon was home to George Washington for more than 45 years. First known as Little Hunting Creek Plantation, the Estate was originally granted to Washington's great grandfather John Washington in 1674. It eventually passed to Washington's older half-brother, Lawrence, who renamed the property Mount Vernon after his commanding officer, Admiral Edward Vernon of the British navy. George Washington inherited the property upon the death of his brother Lawrence's widow in 1761.
Over the years, Washington enlarged the residence and built up the property from 2,000 to nearly 8,000 acres. He divided the acreage into five working farms, including the Mansion House Farm, where he lived with his family. At the Mansion House Farm, Washington sought to create a landscape combining beauty and functionality in a serenely harmonious setting.
When Washington inherited the estate, the farmhouse that we now call "the Mansion" consisted of four rooms and a central passage on the first floor and three bedrooms on the second. The process of enlarging and improving the house began in the years before Washington's marriage in 1759, when he raised the structure from one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half stories and extensively redecorated the interior. The north and south wings of the house were begun just before the start of the Revolutionary War. The very last room, the Large Dining Room, was completed after the war's end.
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Further, Washington added a stunning two-story porch, or "piazza," overlooking the Potomac. Here family and guests would gather in warm weather to enjoy the breeze off the river. (For more on the piazza, see "Related Links," top right.)
Another Washington addition to the house was a cupola -- which served as both a decorative rooftop element and a practical device. With windows open, the cupola helped to cool the house on sultry summer days. After the war, Washington added to the Mansion its final crowning touch -- a dove of peace weathervane atop the cupola.
In designing his estate, Washington organized the outbuildings, lanes, and gardens in a way that reflects both the practical and aesthetic sides of his nature. From the north to the south are situated the outbuildings, or "dependencies," where the work of the plantation took place. Along the east-west axis are the gardens and pleasure grounds. The work area, although located very near the Mansion, was designed so it would not intrude upon the property's scenic beauty.
Today the Mansion has been restored to its appearance in 1799, the last year of Washington's life
Dinner: Old Country Buffet
Legends of Alexandria Ghost tour
Alexandria's history reaches back more than thirteen thousand years. From the first Native Americans to settle here, to the bustling city it is today, the timeline of Alexandria's history is filled with events that helped shape the United States of America into the country it is today.
A vital seaport during colonial times, Alexandria is George Washington's hometown and part of the original Washington, DC. Thomas Jefferson entertained guests at Gadsby's Tavern. Civil War general Robert E. Lee moved to Alexandria with his family when he was only 4 years old. As a young man, Lee dreamed of becoming a doctor. Instead, he became one of the most famous figures in the American Civil War.
Alexandria served as one of the largest slave trading ports prior to the Civil War. Occupied by Union forces from the onset of the Civil War, Alexandria was both vital in the defense of the nation's capital and essential in the war effort as a transportation and hospital center for the Union.
The Edmonson sisters became figures of the anti-slavery movement after they tried to escape Alexandria and were caught. Their story sparked a national controversy as activists struggled to free them.
The founder of Alexandria's Apothecary Shop, Edward Stabler, was also a famous member of the anti-slavery movement. Stabler used his own money to buy slaves, then grant them freedom.
In the 1930's, famed Alexandria African American attorney Samuel W. Tucker was one of the architects of the Civil Rights Movement. Alexandria's Old Town district was established in 1946 as only the third historic district designated in the United States . Its remarkable concentration of historic buildings with a storied past create a rich backdrop for today's vibrant contemporary lifestyle.
United States President Gerald R. Ford also called Alexandria home. The 38th president of the United States lived in his home in Alexandria's Clover neighborhood until shortly after being appointed to the presidency.
These famous names are just a few of the incredible men and women who have impacted Alexandria. Their lives helped shape the city you see today, with a rich history that makes Alexandria truly unique.
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