restriction of burials mainly to those who die on active
duty or retired military service were imposed. Additionally,
growth and development of the cemetery infrastructure did
not keep pace with the emergence of Arlington as a
national shrine. Increasing auto congestion, noisy buses
within the gates, and tourists in a holiday mood contra-
dicted the atmosphere of dignity and repose. To clarify
varying functions and uses, to reorganize them while pre-
serving the traditions of the Cemetery, and to delineate
orderly patterns of growth, the architectural firm of Keyes,
Lethbridge & Condon, in collaboration with landscape ar-
chitects Sasaki, Dawson & DeMay, were retained by the
Department of the Army, April 1966, to prepare a compre-
hensive plan for the future development of Arlington Na-
tional Cemetery, including the adjoining 200 acres of the
South Post of Fort Myer.

The architects were also commissioned to develop prelimi-
nary designs for those elements of landscape and structure
that were necessary to carry out the objectives of the com-
prehensive plan. Some of these objectives were as follows:

a. to develop and extend the grounds of the Cemetery as a
place of peace, reverence and natural beauty; and to
create a strong sense of continuity between the new and
older sections of the Cemetery.

b. to provide adequate public facilities for parking, and for
the orientation and guidance of many millions of per-
sons who visit the Cemetery each year; and to plan these
facilities in a way that would help preserve the essential
qualities of the Cemetery from the impact of this ex-
traordinary number of visitors.

c. to provide a suitable building for the administrative serv-
ices of the Cemetery, and for the reception of persons
who come to arrange for, or attend, funeral services at
the Cemetery, the building to be located in an area apart
from conflicting tourist activities.

d. to provide an interdenominational chapel for funeral
services within the new grounds of the Cemetery.
e. to provide a building or group of buildings in which to
house and service the vehicles and mechanical equip-
ment necessary for the operation of the Cemetery.

f. and lastly, to suggest modifications in the area of the Amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknowns that might

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, c. 1942

ARLINGTON, PAST AND PRESENT

Natural features of what is now Arlington Cemetery reflect
the profile of the upper Potomac estuary with low tide-
water lands backed by high terraces which mark the begin-
ning of the Piedmont Country to the west. The upper por-
tions of Arlington are such a terrace, at about the same
elevation as Capitol Hill in Washington; the contours of
these terraces have been softened through the passage of
time to a gentle roll of hills surrounding the city. The origi-
nal inhabitants were Piscataway and Nanticoke Indians; the
first Europeans in the area after the earlier explorations of
Captain John Smith were traders under charter from Lord
Calvert. In 1634 Leonard Calvert founded St. Mary's City on
the lower Potomac, and from that point settlement spread
rapidly up the river. Grants of land to gentlemen planters
were in most cases large, although traders, trappers and
small farmers followed one another in procession up the
valley. By the beginning of the eighteenth century most of
the land on both sides of the Potomac had been taken up
and developed.

Captain John Alexander, who had surveyed a grant from
Governor Berkeley to one Robert Howsing in 1669, 6,000
acres on the west bank, bought it the next year, and in 1778
his descendants sold 1,100 acres of it to John Parke Custis,
only son of Martha Washington by her first marriage. He
named it Arlington, after the Custis family home on the
Eastern Shore. Young Jack died in the Revolution and the
estate passed to his son, who was adopted by George
Washington. From 1802 to 1820 George Washington Parke
Custis developed it, intending it to be a memorial to
Washington. With the assistance of architect George
Hadfield, he built a handsome Greek Revival mansion
on the hill overlooking the capital, furnishing it with
objects from Mount Vernon. Still the most prominent fea-
ture of the hillside, it is notable for its classic lines, warm
colors, and the "sheer audacity of its monumental pil-
lars." Custis' only child, Mary Ann Randolph Custis, mar-
ried Robert E. Lee there in 1831, and for the next thirty years
it was their home; here their seven children were born,
and here Lee made the critical decision of his life. On April
20, 1861 he submitted his resignation from the Union Army,
"a Union that can only be maintained by swords and bayo-
nets... has no charm for me." He and his family left shortly,

'Works Progress Administration, Washington, City and Capital, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1937.

This view is from a lithograph by F. H. Lane after a drawing by P. Anderson. It was issued by T. Moore's Lithography, Boston, 1838, and shows the city from the Virginia side of the Potomac. The entrance to Tiber Creek is now Constitution Avenue. Ships are passing under the Long Bridge.