September 22, 2006

September 22, 2006

This morning we head south of downtown DC, across the Potomac River to Arlington Cemetery. Our first stop is the Visitor’s Center to pick up a map. We then walk to JFK’s grave. The eternal flame is alit above the headstone. Thirty yards to the left is also RFK’s grave. From here we head up the hill towards what looks like a Greek temple. It is Arlington House. Arlington was once the home of Robert E. Lee. At the beginning of the Civil War, when Lee resigned his Army commission and joined the Confederacy, his property was seized by the Union Army. They immediately began burying Union soldiers next to the house. Unfortunately the house was never owned by Lee but by his wife, who was not an enemy combatant. In the late 1870’s his ancestor’s successfully sued for the return of the property but at this point had to settle for a payment from the government. We tour the antebellum house. The house has a beautiful view overlooking DC. What looks like sandstone columns with a marble top turns out to be faux painting. (And I thought that was a modern invention.) Behind the house is a small but interesting museum on Lee’s life. Interestingly Lee’s father-in-law, George Washington Custis, who owned Arlington, was the grandson of Martha Custis Washington, George’s wife. From there we walk to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watch the changing of the guard.

Afterwards we take the Metro back to the Mall and take a tour of the Bureau of Engraving. We watch them print and cut millions of dollars but the tour is rather boring. We finish the day at the Air and Space Museum and see the parts we missed on our first stop. This museum is huge. Even though we breeze quickly through it, we spend another two hours there.