Tuesday, June 2, 2026

Question: Who established Arlington Estate, which was later designated as Arlington National Cemetery?

Answer: Arlington Estate was originally established by George Washington Parke Custis, step-grandson of the first president, as a living memorial to George Washington. Custis’s daughter, Mary, married U.S. Army Lieutenant Robert E. Lee in 1831. Upon Custis’s death, he willed the estate to Mary for her lifetime, with the property eventually passing to her eldest son. Lee served only as executor of the will and never owned the estate. In 1864, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton officially designated the property as Arlington National Cemetery.