Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Custis Lee, a descendant of Martha Washington. The cemetery is situated directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., near to the location of The Pentagon, and is served by the Arlington Cemetery station on the Blue Line of the Washington Metro system.
More than 245,000 persons are buried in an area of . Veterans and military casualties from every one of the nation's wars are interred in the cemetery, from the American Revolution through the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pre-Civil War dead were reinterred after 1900.
Arlington shares with Mill Springs National Cemetery, the only other open cemetery in the system, the distinction of being the oldest military burial ground in the United States.
Arlington National Cemetery and United States Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery are administered by the Department of the Army. The other National Cemeteries are administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs or by the National Park Service.
Arlington House (Custis-Lee Mansion) and its grounds are administered by the National Park Service as a memorial to Lee.
