By the way, there an excellent gallery of Washington photos here, if you want to see more: Large, excellent photo gallery of top-notch Washington photos: http://www.kestan.com/dcstock/stockphotohome/index.htm

UNION STATION:

The magnificent Union Station building, on Massachusetts Avenue west of the Capitol, has played host to 17 Presidents and countless foreign dignitaries since it opened in 1907. Building a new station meant that the previous tracks & terminal could be removed from the National Mall, & all of the city's railroads would be under one roof, with a station large enough to handle large crowds, and impressive enough to reflect the Capital's role.

Designed by architect Daniel Burnham, assisted by Pierce Anderson, the building combines two major influences - Roman architecture & Beaux-Arts. Burnham continued the well-developed tradition of using a triumphal arch for the entrance to a major terminal. He linked the monumental end pavilions with long arcades, with enclosed loggias in a long series of vaulted bays, in the Beaux-Arts style. The stone inscriptions and allegorical sculpture are also Beaux-Arts. Expensive materials were used such as marble, gold leaf, and white granite from a previously unused quarry.

Like the fate which befell most American railroad stations, the financial and physical condition of Union Station deteriorated after World War II as train travel declined and federal funding created a competitive interstate highway system. The Railroads considered giving the station away in 1958, or razing it and constructing an office building on the site. Several options had been considered since then. It was refitted & used as a visitor center for the Bicentennial celebrations in 1976, but the national visitor center never became popular. Since the station was in danger of imminent structural collapse, the main presentation area in the station, “The Pit”, was closed in late October , 1978.

Union Station was closed for restoration and refurbishing in 1981. "The Pit" was transformed into a new basement level, and the main hall floor was refitted with marble, & the decorative elements of the station were restored. The station reopened in its present form in 1988. The former "Pit" area was replaced with a movie theater complex and a large food court. A variety of shops opened along the Concourse and Main Hall. A new Amtrak terminal was established behind the original Concourse. (Amtrak owns and maintains the building and its main headquarters are located here.) The Washington Metro transit system of buses and subway trains, & two commuter railroads also use the terminal as a hub.

Today, Union Station’s marble floors echo with the footsteps of over 29 million people each year, making it the most visited site in all of Washington, D.C [Historically, the busiest era for the station was during World War II when as many as 200,000 people passed through the station in a single day.]

ARLINGTON HOUSE - the abbreviated but interesting history of the mansion.

[The long & fascinating story can be found here: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/historical_information/arlington_house.html]

Now pay attention. This gets a tad convoluted. The house was owned and constructed by the first president's adopted grandson, George Washington Parke Custis. It was intended as a living memorial to George Washington. Construction on the Greek revival mansion began in 1785 & took 16 years to complete. The most recognizable feature is the portico with 8 columns.

Custis married Mary Lee Fitzhugh in 1804 (there’s Lees all over the place in this story). They lived in Arlington House for the rest of their lives, & and were buried together on the property after their deaths in 1857 and 1853, respectively.

Their only child Mary Anna Randolph Custis, married her childhood friend and distant cousin, Robert E. Lee. Lee. (Are you with me so far?) After his father-in-law died in 1857, Robert E Lee returned to Arlington to join his family (he’d been away to the wars a lot) and to serve as executor of the estate. Contrary to popular belief, Robert E. Lee never owned the Arlington estate, he just served as custodian of the property. He & his wife lived there until 1861.

Following the ratification of secession by Virginia, federal troops crossed the Potomac and took up positions around Arlington & military installations were erected around the large estate. Lee was away fighting wars & feared for his wife’s safety, so she abandoned the estate.

The property was confiscated by the federal government for unpaid taxes owing. It was offered for public sale Jan. 11, 1864, and was purchased by a tax commissioner for "government use”. On June 15, 1864, the grounds were appropriated for use as the military cemetery located there today. The Lees never attempted to regain control of Arlington House.

After his death in 1870, their eldest son George Washington Custis Lee (are you still with me?) sued the county, claiming that the land had been illegally confiscated (no kidding) and that, according to his grandfather's will, he was the legal owner. He won (yippee) & the property was returned to him in 1882. He then sold it back to them for $150,000 on March 3, 1883 & it became a military reservation. The rest, as they say, is history.

JOHN F. KENNEDY GRAVESITE:

John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, made two official visits to Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) before he was buried there. The first time, on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1961, he placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns & said these prophetic words that, sadly, still ring true today - “It is a tragic fact....... that man's capacity to devise new ways of killing his fellow man have far outstripped his capacity to live in peace with his fellow man." His 2nd official visit, again on Armistice Day, was 11 days before he was assassinated. On Nov. 22, 1963, while on a campaign trip to Dallas, President Kennedy was shot and killed.

Many believed he would be buried in Massachusetts near his home, but the wishes of Jacqueline Kennedy, his widow, were stated simply - "He belongs to the people." [There are only two U.S. presidents buried at ANC, the other is William Howard Taft, who died in 1930.] She also wanted the funeral to be modeled on Abraham Lincoln’s funeral ceremonies. The research was conducted and that wish was accomplished.

One of the three potential burial sites at ANC was recommended & that choice, the current site on the slope below Arlington House (Custis-Lee Mansion), was approved by Mrs. Kennedy. She also wanted the grave marked with an eternal flame. The state funeral, performed by the Archbishop of Boston, was held on Nov. 25, 1963, at 3 p.m., the 24th funeral of the day at ANC. Many world leaders attended, & 50 Navy and Air Force jets flew past the gravesite, followed by the president's plane, Air Force One, which dipped its wing in final tribute. On Dec. 4, 1963, the two deceased Kennedy children were re-buried beside him at ANC - son Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, who had predeceased JFK by 15 weeks, and an unnamed stillborn daughter.

The initial burial plot proved inadequate for the throngs of people who visited the site, especially during the first year when more than 3,000 people an hour visited the site, and an estimated 50,000 people visited on weekends. Three years after Kennedy's death, more than 16 million people had come to visit the Kennedy plot. Cemetery officials and members of the Kennedy family decided that a larger, more suitable site was required, & construction was completed by July 1967, & the remains quietly re-interred to the permanent grave. [The entire 3.2 acre site was set aside to honor the memory of the president, & the is land retained for the nation as a whole, not deeded to the Kennedy family.]

The current grave area is paved with irregular stones of Cape Cod granite, which were quarried around 1817 near the site of the president's home and selected by members of his family. Clover & sedum were planted in the crevices to give the appearance of stones lying naturally in a Massachusetts field. Lighted by Mrs. Kennedy during the funeral, the Eternal Flame burns from the center of a five-foot circular flat-granite stone at the head of the grave. On May 23, 1994, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, his widow, was buried here as well.

A lot more details can be found here at the ANC web site: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/visitor_information/JFK.html