Arlington House

Address:George Washington Memorial Parkway Turkey Run Park
McLean, Virginia
Tel: (703) 235-1530

Visit the house of the greatest general in the South at Arlington House in Arlington, Virginia. Arlington House, formerly the mansion of Robert E. Lee and family for over thirty years, is located directly across from the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Today, visitors to Arlington House can explore a museum in the Greek style mansion right near the shores of the Potomac River.

Arlington House was originally built between 1802 and 1817 for George Washington Parke Custis, a step grandson of George Washington. Arlington House's most prominent features, even then, were the eight massive, five foot wide columns of the portico. Custis' only daughter to survive to adulthood, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, went on to marry the future Confederate general Robert E. Lee, and the two inherited Arlington House and its 1,100 acre estate. During the Civil War, Union forces occupied Arlington House and used it as a headquarters to supervise some of the forts that served as part of the defenses of Washington. Later, with military cemeteries at Washington and Alexandria filled with Union dead, Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs selected Arlington as the site of a new cemetery, ordering graves to be placed just outside the front door of Arlington House to ensure that the Lees could never return. In 1925, the War Department began to restore the Arlington House, transferring control of the estate to the National Park Service in 1933, which established a memorial to Lee in 1955.

Today, Arlington House and the Robert E. Lee Museum are home to self-guided tours, including the site where Lee wrote his letter of resignation from the Army. You can still see Mrs. Lee's flower garden, as well as exhibits and artifacts relating to the Lee and Custis families. Arlington House also provides what is considered the best view of Washington, D.C., with the possible exception of the Washington Monument. Rangers and volunteers are stationed throughout Arlington House to provide valuable information to visitors. After their tour, visitors to Arlington House can find food available at any of the dozens of restaurants in downtown Washington, ranging from fast food, to classy restaurants, to cafés.

To get to Arlington House, visitors should take the Blue Line of the Metro system to the Arlington Cemetery station, which is about a 10 minute walk from Arlington House. Bring the whole family to Arlington House and see the simple elegance of Civil War era American history!