Honor and Remembrance: An Arlington National Cemetery Tour

(12 reviews)

Arlington County, Virginia audio tour: Honor and Remembrance: An Arlington National Cemetery Tour

This is a 2mi walking tour

It takes an average of 180 mins to complete.

Arlington County, Virginia

The United States

$11.99

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About the Tour

Arlington National Cemetery is a profound piece of American Heritage.

This three-hour walking tour starts at the Visitor Center. There, you’ll discover how a Virginia plantation owned by George Washington’s descendants became the nation’s most prestigious military burial ground. Over 400,000 American heroes were laid to rest here, from unknown soldiers to Supreme Court justices.

Along your way to the Military Women’s Memorial, where the tour ends, you’ll have a chance to:

Witness the precision of the Changing of the Guard ceremony performed every 30 minutes in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Visit JFK’s gravesite with its eternal flame and sweeping view of Washington, DC
Explore Arlington House, the Greek Revival mansion where America’s first First Family made landscaping decisions that affected the course of history.
Learn about Joe Louis, the heavyweight boxing champion whose matches against Nazi Germany’s Max Schmeling made him a national hero
Discover Justice Corner, where Supreme Court justices like Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are buried
Walk through Mrs. Lee’s reconstructed rose garden, where the first military burials were deliberately placed as an act of wartime revenge
Hear the stories behind memorial trees, plaques, and monuments that honor everyone from war correspondents to space shuttle crews
Understand military honor traditions, from coin-leaving customs to the silent presence of Arlington Ladies at every funeral

Experience the profound intersection of presidential legacy, military sacrifice, and national memory at America’s most revered cemetery.

This moderately challenging walk covers Arlington’s varied terrain, with several uphill climbs balanced by downhill stretches and plenty of rest stops. The tour includes indoor spaces with facilities and covers about two miles at a contemplative pace suitable for reflection and remembrance.

Tour Producer

Amy McMahon

6 tours

For travelers who want more than directions and highlights, these audio walking tours offer a deeper way of engaging with place. They invite listeners to slow down, read landscapes carefully, and explore how history, design, and human choices shape what we see.

With a background spanning archaeology, international education, curriculum design, and professional guiding, Amy approaches sites as layered texts rather than static landmarks—places shaped by intention, conflict, and change over time. Her tours focus on process as much as outcome: how memorials are conceived and built, how cities evolve over time, and how meaning is constructed through space, symbolism, and use. Rather than delivering a single authoritative narrative, she provides context and interpretive tools that encourage close observation, reflection, and independent thought.

She has spent more than two decades working across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, including sixteen years based in Egypt as an educator and school leader. She has participated in archaeological excavations in Egypt, Israel, and the United States, supervised field schools, and translated academic research into accessible public history. As a certified tour director and licensed guide in New York City and Washington, DC, she has led adult and student groups through historically complex environments, balancing thoughtful interpretation with the realities of movement, logistics, and place.

Her VoiceMap tours are designed for curious listeners who value depth, nuance, and context—people interested not only in what they are seeing, but why it looks the way it does, and how our understanding of place continues to evolve over time.

Preview Location

Location 19

Many Ways to Remember

Once across, go and stand under the trees, near the Battle of the Bulge plaque.

This is a place of personal connection for me: my grandfather served during that war and in that battle. It took place in Germany and is considered the largest and bloodiest single battle foug... Once across, go and stand under the trees, near the Battle of the Bulge plaque.

This is a place of personal connection for me: my grandfather served during that war and in that battle. It took place in Germany and is considered the largest and bloodiest single battle fought by the United States in WW2. The plaque here, well….you may have noticed along our walk so far that there’s quite a few like it throughout the grounds. I’m going to ask you to hold onto that thought. We’ll circle back to it soon.

Right now, I’d like to use this location to again take advantage of the shade and point out a few things. Because from this vantage point there is a lot to take in. Within sight you can see many different ways that Arlington remembers it’s military. Besides the ceremonial amphitheater we just walked from, the most eye-catching structure here is the tall ship mast rising above a clump of trees about 50 yards to our west. This was salvaged from the sunken US Navy battleship, the Maine. The explosion that brought it down off the coast of Cuba was blamed on the country of Spain. We live in an era where the phrase “fake news” is quite common. But in the 1890s when the USS Maine went down, the term “yellow journalism” was used to describe the media who sensationalized events to boost attention. The sinking of the ship led to headlines like “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!” which besides selling more newspapers also massively escalated tensions and successfully boosted public support for war. Today, many of the soldiers lost during the Maine’s explosion are buried in the grounds surrounding the mast. As are hundreds more who died in the ensuing Spanish-American war.

The sidewalk that leads to the ship’s mast can be seen just a few yards north of where we’re standing. And right alongside that path, in a specially chained off area, are three white memorial stones faced with bronze plaques. These honor groups of heroes lost during the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle explosions, and the soldiers who died during the Iran hostage crisis of 1980. All three of these tragic events have taken place during my lifetime. The Challenger explosion had an incredible impact on me. I was school-aged when NASA selected a teacher to join a shuttle crew. The space agency was incredibly successful in getting the whole country emotionally invested in Christa McAullif’s journey from a classroom into outer space. And as a burgeoning history geek myself, seeing a social studies educator being chosen for this mission deeply personalized it for me. The loss of the whole crew upon lift-off was devastating, on so many levels. There’s an incredibly moving poem which then-President Ronald Reagan quoted from when he addressed the nation after this tragedy, and it’s carved into the back of that memorial.

There are a couple more points of interest that you can see from here. With the amphitheater behind you, look leftwards. Across the field of burials you’ll see a tall column with a sculpted eagle perched atop and surrounded at its base by cannons. This is the memorial dedicated to those who fought in the Spanish-American War. Between this column and the mast of the battleship Maine is the section of the cemetery where those who fought in the war are interred. And just beyond it is an area dedicated to the nurses, with a poignant statue of a woman in mourning.

Looking more closely to our left, about 20 yards from where we’re standing and still on this side of the road, you’ll notice that one of the giant trees has a sidewalk circling it, with a low chain fencing it from the grass. This is where the grave of Audie Murphy is located. He’s considered the most decorated soldier of WW2, and possibly in all of American military history. In his post-war years his handsome looks led to a 20-year Hollywood career. His grave is one of the most visited within the cemetery.

So, from this vantage point you can see how there are many ways that Arlington pays tribute to its military family. In addition to the iconic white marble tombstones, grand structures have been built for services to be held. Statuary, columns, memorial plaques and military equipment highlight the unique role of women, stand tall over fields commemorating historic eras, and offer poetry for the explorers of stars. The individuals, the crews, special divisions, platoons, entire armies, volunteers and enlisted, named and not, whether remains are present or missing: Arlington finds a way to remember.

If you haven’t yet taken some time to yourself to wander amongst the stones, this would be a great place to do so. When I lead groups of students here, this is where I provide them with independent time. I encourage them to walk the rows, to read the names, to stand in front of the memorial plaques. Some even place pennies on the headstones. There are no set protocols for walking amongst the burials and commemorations. Only the expectation that we do these soldiers the honor of remembering their service.

When you’re ready to continue, return to this road, face the amphitheater, and head left. Read More

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Major Landmarks

Arlington National Cemetery
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
President John F. Kennedy Memorial
Arlington House

Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
1 Memorial Ave, Fort Myer, VA 22211, USA
Total distance

3km
Final location
York Dr, Arlington, VA 22202, USA
Distance back to start location

685.03m

Directions to Starting Point

The tour begins within ANC's Welcome Center. There is a security check to enter the Welcome Center and grounds. Please wait to begin the listening experience until after you've gone through security. Cemetery staff requires all visitors over the age of 16 to carry photo ID. Paid parking is available within a garage or a lot on site. As well, the DC Metro has a dedicated stop for the cemetery that is located a 5min walk from the main gate.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

The full cemetery grounds cover about 640 acres of land and it's campus contains numerous unique memorials, monuments and burials. This tour follows a route that includes the most famous locations within the cemetery, but you may want to consider expanding your time and exploring more. Additional sites to visit in the Arlington area: Marine Corps Memorial (also known as Iwo Jima), the Pentagon & the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, the Air Force Memorial.

Best time of day

Access to the grounds is through the Welcome Center which is open to the public 8am-5pm every day of the week. The ceremony of the Changing of the Guards is the only specifically timed event along the tour. During winter months (Oct 1-Mar 31) it takes place every hour, at the the top of the hour. During summer months (Apr 1-Sept 30) every half hour, at the top and bottom of the hour. If you want to watch the ceremony, arriving at the location 10 min early is highly recommended, especially during the busy summer season. The tour content does provide flexibility in the tracks associated with the ceremony and it is easy to manage your timing in this area by manually re-sequencing the tracks located around the amphitheater so that you attend the ceremony that you prefer.

Precautions

The cemetery grounds are self-contained with very few places along the tour's route that provide places to sit. Be prepared for a considerable amount of time on your feet. The portion of the grounds that the tour route covers does include hills (categorized gentle to moderate) which could be challenging for those with mobility issues. The walk is designed with frequent stops and you are encouraged to set the pace that is best for you. Even during cooler months bring a water bottle and consider sun protection. Also, ANC has been undergoing a series of internal roadwork projects that are expected to continue through 2026. This tour's route follows along the primary pathway that the general public takes and therefore should not conflict with any of the restricted pathways. However, the cemetery's grounds crew has been very good about providing clear signage for detours when necessary. As well, because of the added layer of respect and dignity expected within the cemetery grounds, please plan to listen to the audio tracks using a headset, thank you.

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