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Overlooking Washington, D.C. and the Potomac River, the Arlington House
is preserved as a memorial to Robert E. Lee, who spent 30 years of his life
there. The house was originally built by George Washington Parke Custis,
grandson of Martha Washington by her first marriage to Daniel Park Custis.
Built upon an 1,100-acre tract of land which Custis had inherited, the mansion
was intended as a living memorial to George Washington. Work began on the
Greek revival structure in 1802 and took 16 years to complete. George Washington
Parke Custis had one surviving daughter, Mary Anna. In 1831, she married
her childhood sweetheart and distant cousin, Robert E. Lee. For 30 years
until the American Civil War, Arlington House, and all the land that is
today Arlington National Cemetery, would be the Lees' home.
Arlington House was the home of Robert E. Lee and his family for thirty
years and is uniquely associated with the Washington and Custis families.
George Washington Parke Custis, Lee’s father-in-law, built the house between
1802 and 1818 to be his home as well as a memorial to George Washington,
his step-grandfather. Lee made his historic decision to resign from the
US Army at Arlington House and wrote his resignation letter in his second
floor bedchamber. Arlington House, with its associated slave quarters
and gardens, are now preserved as a memorial to Robert E. Lee, who gained
the respect of Americans in both the North and the South and used his
influence after the Civil War to help heal the nation.
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