Arlington House, Robert E. Lee Memorial

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial sits high above the Potomac River, its columns facing directly toward Washington D.C. The home was built between 1802 and 1818 by George Washington Parke Custis, who intended it as a living memorial to his step-grandfather, George Washington. From its earliest days, this was designed to honor the legacy of the nation’s founding.  

In 1831, Robert E. Lee married Custis’s daughter, and through that marriage, Arlington House became part of their family life. Lee and his family made this their home for nearly three decades.

It was here that one of the most consequential personal decisions in American history began to unfold. In 1861, as the nation stood on the brink of Civil War, Lee faced a choice between remaining in the United States or following his home state of Virginia. He left Arlington soon after and went on to write his resignation, a decision that would define his place in history.

During the war, the Union Army took control of the estate, and the surrounding land was transformed into Arlington National Cemetery. The placement of graves across the property was a deliberate act to ensure that Lee and his family would never return.

Arlington House became part of the National Park Service in 1933 and in 1955, Congress designated it as a memorial to Lee. The home was once built to honor George Washington and now overlooks a landscape that tells the story of a nation divided and ultimately reunited.