Washington, D.C.
September 20, 2024
The Lincoln Group of D.C. will host a walking tour of Arlington National Cemetery— hallowed ground created by the Lincoln administration—on Monday, October 14, a
federal holiday. Everyone's welcome.
Our longtime tour director, Craig Howell, will take us on a mostly-level walk for about two hours around the cemetery sections closest to Arlington House. Among the Civil War
grave sites and memorials we'll discuss will be those for Philip Sheridan, Montgomery Meigs (pictured above), Arthur MacArthur, James Tanner, George Crook, John Schofield, Horatio Wright, and Johnny Clem. Craig will also review the tortured history of Arlington House itself, the emerging family histories of its enslaved population, and the cemetery's original
amphitheater with its adjacent tomb of more than 2,000 unknown soldiers.
If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Craig at: craighowell1@verizon.net. The tour itself is free, but because it's a long climb up to Arlington House and because
the quickest path is closed for repairs, most of us should plan on riding the hop-on/hop-off trams that start at the cemetery visitors' center and circulate through the cemetery
grounds. We plan on catching the tram around 12:30 p.m., and that should drop us at Arlington House by 1 p.m. Round-trip tickets are $19.50 for adults, $15 for seniors, and
$8.75 for veterans and active servicemembers. Tram tickets may be purchased in advance at: https://www.arlingtontours.com. However, you should be able to buy your
tickets at the visitors' center.
Those who don't mind an invigorating walk up to Arlington House will have to use the Custis Walk and the Custis Steps. There are a couple of ways to approach these steps
from the visitors' center, one passing the Kennedy family gravesites entrance and one passing by the William Howard Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln sites.
Give yourself up to half an hour to get to Arlington House if you choose to walk. When you arrive at the top, you'll be on the front side of the house. Please go around to the back of the tram stop to rendezvous with our tram passengers arriving around 1 p.m.
Allow plenty of time for clearing security at the visitors' center, a short walk along Memorial Drive from the Arlington Cemetery Metro Station on the Blue Line. Parking in
the main lot on Memorial Drive next to the Visitors Center is $3/hour. We should conclude our tour at Arlington House roughly at 3 p.m. Those with tickets can ride a tram back to the visitors' center. Or you can join Craig as he walks the rest of our group back there, with a stop by the tomb of Robert Lincoln. We should be back at the visitors' center between 3:30 and 3:45.
You may bring something to drink, but food may not be consumed within the cemetery.
Again, to RSVP, contact Craig at: craighowell1@verizon.net.
Photos from Library of Congress.
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