City: Arlington, VA

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (703) 607-8000

Description: With its sea of white headstones spread across 612 wooded, hilly acres overlooking the capital city, Arlington National Cemetery is perhaps the most famous burial site in the world, and one of Washington’s most popular tourist attractions. This is the final resting place for more than 260,000 American military personnel who served in conflicts from the Revolutionary War to the present. Among the many famous graves are those of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert; President William Howard Taft; 16 astronauts, including Mercury’s Virgil “Gus” Grissom and those aboard the space shuttle Challenger; and prize-fighter Joe Louis. It’s also the site of the Women in Military Service Memorial, the country’s first national memorial honoring all women who have served their country in the armed services. Dedicated in October 1997, the memorial at the cemetery’s main gateway includes a hall of honor, a 196-seat theater, exhibit space, and details and photos about registered servicewomen.Also on the cemetery grounds is the Tomb of the Unknowns, where crowds gather to view the somber Changing of the Guard every hour on the hour from October 1 through March 31 and every half-hour during the day and hourly at night from April 1 through September 30. (The tomb made headlines in 1998 with the discovery that the “unknown” bones of a Vietnam soldier buried there actually belong to Air Force First Lieutenant Michael J. Blassie, whose plane was shot down in 1972.)Majestic Arlington House, Robert E. Lee’s former home, sits high on a hill facing the Lincoln Memorial. When Lee left to command the Confederate forces, the neoclassical mansion and its several thousand acres of surrounding property were seized by Federal troops and became the headquarters for the Army of the Potomac. Three Union forts were built on the land, and casualties (both Northern and Southern) from local battles were buried here beginning in June 1864. Arlington House is also where Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the French architect who drafted the original plans for Washington, is buried. Continuous 30-minute Tourmobile tours run daily (except on Christmas) from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. April through September and from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. October through March. Tours depart from the Arlington Cemetery visitor center, where you’ll also find exhibits and a gift shop. Admission to the cemetery is free, but there’s a fee for parking and tours. The cemetery is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. October through March and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. April through September. It has its own Metro stop.