Arlington Cemetery Gift Shop

When you first read the title of this article, you may find it quite unusual and even offensive. A gift shop is usually a fun place, a place where people come with a smile on their face to buy a cool gift or item to remind them of the visit they had to that specific place. But a cemetery is a sad thing, where people walk in with no smile on their faces (usually with tears on their face)…a place that makes everyone to think of death and the suffering that it brings. So it may seem quite unusual to find a gift shop in a cemetery. But actually the Arlington cemetery is not just an ordinary one, and we’ll discuss more about it now.




First you should know that it is located in the Arlington County, Virginia, United States of America and it is a military cemetery. It was established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House (so this is where it has its name from). It is located close to The Pentagon and directly across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial from Washington DC. You can get here by car or using the Washington Metro system,  and getting of at the Arlington Cemetery station.

It has a total area of 624 acres (2.53 km²) and it contains around 300,000 gravesites of veterans and military casualties dating back from the American Civil War, and through all the history until today. So there are even soldier victims of the military actions from Afghanistan and Iraq.  The Arlington Cemetery is administered by the Department of the Army while the Arlington House is administered by the National Park Service. Today it  is divided into 70 sections and it will probably be expanded in the future. For example section 60 is the burial ground for the victims of the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. There are many important generals, majors, soldiers and other military personalities buried here, and among them there is the former president of the United States of America – John F. Kennedy with his wife and their two children. So it is not just an ordinary cemetery, and it can be visited by anyone who wants to visit the resting places of important soldiers or personalities that lost their lives for the country. Among the things that you can visit here are : the Tomb of the Unknowns, the Arlington Memorial Amphitheater, the Arlington House, and other burial sites or memorial stones or buildings.

And since there are visitors here, there is also a gift shop. But of course you won’t find the things that you find at a regular gift shop (such as funny items, jewelry, decorative objects and so on). From this store you can buy maps, historical displays and other objects containing information about this location and about the soldiers buried here. So if you ever have the chance of visiting Washington DC, be sure to visit this place too and have a moment of silence for the lost American soldiers. And remember that these are hallowed grounds and that you should conduct yourself with dignity and respect at all times.

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