Cemeteries and memorials to visit The United States Of America

Founded between 1914 and 1922 in tribute to President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), this memorial is the work of Daniel Chester French, who inspired him to build the Doric Greek temples. Wall paintings in the interior are signed by Jules Guerin. The magnificent white monument houses a huge statue of Lincoln seated (6 metres high). It was on these steps that Martin Luther King gave his famous speech «I have dream» on August 28, 1963 (you can see a small note on the exact location where the latter was held). This is one of the most recognizable points in the federal capital, and it is also where many people in Washington come to admire the sunset, the Lincoln Memorial Pool of Lincoln Memorial, to admire the Washington Monument mordoré and its perfect reflection in the water mirror. The place is worth more than a glance: it is the whole soul of the city that is gathered here!

Opened since 2004, this memorial, bathed in light, consists of a large central fountain and numerous small monuments representing the states involved in mobilization. A wall of gold stars symbolizes the fallen American soldiers. This memorial is strangely a place full of life during the beautiful season with the children running and the rooms that have their feet in the water.

This is a large memorial that should not leave you indifferent. Here, at a loss of sight, all the names of the Americans died during the Vietnam War (1955-1975).

The monument itself consists of three elements: a granite wall bearing the names of the American war of Vietnam's 58 249 victims (dead and missing), built by Maya Ying Lin in 1982 (controversial company under Reagan, who did not want construction of the monument); the statue of Three Servicemen (added in 1984) by Fredrick Hart; and Vietnam Women's Memorial (added in 1993), signed Glenna Goodacre.

It is, of course, a great place for many American families and the atmosphere is very solemn.

This memorial is dedicated to American soldiers killed during the Korean War (1950-1953), a war that will give rise to South Korea and North Korea. A large steel statue represents a group of 19 soldiers who advance under the rain on the battlefield.

The dome and colonnades of this emblematic building in the Mall pay tribute to the 3rd President of the History of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, whose impressive statue stands under the dome. This memorial is Roosevelt's initiative. His architect, John Russell Pope, wanted to pay tribute to the taste of Jefferson for Roman architecture and palladian (those who visited his home of Virginie in Virginia), drawing on the Pantheon of Rome. Between late March and mid-April, the memorial emerges from the trees of the 3 000 cherry trees of Japan in bloom, a gift made by Japan in 1912.

Located on a mountainous plateau overlooking the city center, the historic cemetery dating from the Victorian era is a popular attraction for visitors. Created in 1878, the cemetery first welcomed the graves of the newcomers from Deadwood: minors, prospectors, prostitutes, bandits… In the 1880 s, the city's Catholic cemetery was closed and merged with Mount Moriah's. Many dead have been transferred and other graves, already present, have been displaced. Also, it is not uncommon for employees to find human bones even today when they are forced to dig the ground. The cemetery is particularly famous for the graves of Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane (who claimed that he was her husband and the father of his children) and the locally famous Potato Creek Johnny.

In summer, stop at the Visitor Center to get a plan and more information on the cemetery. The site is divided into 4 sections: the part dedicated to the Jewish community, the Potter's Field which brings together unknown people buried without a distinctive sign, a part dedicated to the many dead children of typhus, plague and cholera, and another to the workers deceased during a fire in a sawmill.

Washington D.C. is certainly the federal capital of the United States, and as this bears the memory of all states, but not only bears the memory of the District of Columbia. And it is this memory that is welcomed here with this dome that recalls and honours the inhabitants of the District dead for their homeland during the First World War.