Arlington House

I owed Atley a day to skip school since his little brother had one several weeks ago and apparently we keep close track of who gets to miss more school and "it must be even."  I think my sons might be socialists.  Anyway, Atley had to settle for a half-day excursion.  We went to Arlington Cemetery to visit the home of Robert E. Lee.  It has been on his Civil War To-Do-List for a while.  I envision him as an old man spending his retirement participating in Civil War Battle Reenactments every weekend.

One of the most interesting things we have discovered about Virginia architecture is how they created  faux stone finishes. At Arlington House and Mt. Vernon, it looks like the structure is built of stone but it is actually planks of wood with a paint and sand mixture to create the look of stone. 

We learned that years after the sting of the Civil War was over the U.S. Government built the bridge you can see in the distant background.  It provided a straight line of sight from Robert E. Lee's home to the Lincoln Memorial to demonstrate how we became united as a nation once again.

Atley at JFK's grave trying to figure out the whole Eternal Flame thing!