Arlington House, Arlington

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial stands on a hill within Arlington National Cemetery, overlooking the Potomac River and the national capital. Constructed between 1802 and 1818 for George Washington Parke Custis, step-grandson of George Washington, it served as his family residence and a memorial to Washington.

Custis displayed objects associated with George and Martha Washington there. Robert E. Lee later lived in the house after marrying Custis’s daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis. Attributed to architect George Hadfield, the mansion is an early example of Greek Revival architecture in America. Its central section features a monumental portico with eight columns extending across two stories. Restored rooms present the house largely as it appeared in 1860, using period furnishings, family objects, paintings, and interpretive displays. Surviving quarters behind the mansion contain exhibitions about the enslaved African Americans who lived and worked on the plantation. Up to 63 enslaved people lived and labored on the estate during the decades before the Civil War. Union forces occupied the estate in 1861, and the United States Army began burying soldiers there in 1864, establishing the cemetery that surrounds the house. Administered by the National Park Service, the site interprets the Custis and Lee families, slavery and freedom, the Civil War, military service, citizenship, and changing public memory of Lee.

Visitors can explore the mansion, restored slave quarters, museum exhibitions, gardens, and grounds while viewing the surrounding cemetery, Potomac River, and national capital from its elevated position.