Arlington National Cemetery: Memorial Drive

Arlington, Virginia: Spanning from the Lincoln Memorial to the Hemicycle, Memorial Drive is not only the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery but also a symbolic link between the Union and Confederacy.

Memorial Drive was dedicated by President Herbert Hoover in 1932. It begins with the Memorial Bridge. The symbolic bridge spanning the Potomac River connects the North and South into one nation. The eastern entrance of the bridge is guarded by the “Art of War” sculptures, Sacrifice and Valor.

On Memorial Drive between and the cemetery gates lie several monuments that are not officially a part of the cemetery. These monuments include:

• Seabees Memorial
• Armored Memorial
• United Spanish War Veterans Memorial
• Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd Monument
• 101st Airborne Division Memorial
• 4th Infantry Division Monument

Once you pass through the memorials, you are now at the Hemicycle that makes up the western boundary of Memorial Drive. The walls of the Hemicycle make up the Women in Military Service Memorial. To either side of the Hemicycle are the north and south iron gates to the cemetery. The north gate or Schley Gate is names after Admiral Winfield Scott Schley and the south gate, Roosevelt Gate is named after President Theodore Roosevelt.

Memorial Drive is the main entrance into Arlington National Cemetery that hosts over four million visitors a year.

For more photos, visit my Arlington National Cemetery photo page.