Arlington National Cemetery – Arlington, Virginia

Arlington National Cemetery is a United States military cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia located across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.. Its 639 acres are the burial grounds of American military and political figures, including many killed in the nation’s conflicts beginning with the American Civil War and those reinterred from earlier conflicts. The United States Department of the Army, a component of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), manages the cemetery. Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial is administered by the National Park Service.

Quartermaster General of the Union Army Montgomery C. Meigs so upset with the death of his son buried him on the front lawn of Robert E. Lee’s home so it could never again be used as a residence.

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial – Arlington, Virginia

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial, formerly named the Custis-Lee Mansion, is a Greek Revival style mansion located in Arlington County, Virginia that was once the home of Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee. It overlooks the Potomac River and the National Mall in Washington, D.C. During the American Civil War, the grounds of the mansion were selected as the site of Arlington National Cemetery, in part to ensure that Lee would never again be able to return to his home. The United States has since designated the mansion as a National Memorial. Although the United States Department of the Army controls Arlington National Cemetery, the National Park Service, a component of the United States Department of the Interior, administers Arlington House.

Equestrian Statue of John Dill – Arlington, Virginia

John Dill (1881 – 1944) was a senior British Army officer with service in both the First World War and the Second World War. He played a significant role during the Second World War in the formation of the “Special Relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States. He is the highest ranking foreign military office buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Herbert Haseltine (1877–1962) was an Italian-born French/American animalier sculptor, most known as an Equestrian sculptor.

Mount Vernon Slave Memorial – Fairfax County, Virginia

The slave memorial at Mount Vernon is located approximately 50 yards southwest of George and Martha Washington’s tomb, on a bluff above the Potomac River. This sacred ground was used as a cemetery for those enslaved and a few free blacks who worked at Mount Vernon in the 18th and 19th centuries. The burial ground here has the remains of 150 slaves and free black men. It is critical to remember that although Washington was important in the founding of the country we should not overlook or forgive his vile past as a slave owner

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George Washington’s Mount Vernon – Fairfax County, Virginia

Mount Vernon is the plantation home of the first president of the United States George Washington. The Washington family acquired land in the area in 1674. Around 1734, the family embarked on an expansion of its estate that continued under George Washington, who began leasing the estate in 1754 before becoming its sole owner in 1761. The mansion was built of wood in a loose Palladian style; the original house was built by George Washington’s father Augustine, around 1734. George Washington expanded the house twice, once in the late 1750s and again in the 1770s. It remained Washington’s home for the rest of his life. Following his death in 1799, under the ownership of several successive generations of the family, the estate progressively declined as revenues were insufficient to maintain it adequately. In 1858, the house’s historical importance was recognized and it was saved from ruin by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association; this philanthropic organization acquired it together with part of the Washington property estate. Escaping the damage suffered by many plantation houses during the American Civil War, Mount Vernon was restored.

The estate is on the banks of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia

Visitor Center

Beautiful grounds leading up to the main house

Ample signage and information panels explaining every aspect of the house and grounds

Interiors of the main house

Bedrooms

Kitchens

Beautiful view of the river

Out buildings

Working farm

Tomb

Slavery is not glossed over

Grounds and surrounding woodlands with signage