Arlington

High above the Potomac River overlooking Washington, D.C., Arlington House once stood as a proud symbol of America's founding generation, built by the family of George Washington and later home to Robert E. Lee and Mary Custis Lee. Before the Civil War, the estate echoed with music, gardens, family gatherings, and the quiet confidence of a young republic still struggling to define itself.

But when the nation shattered in 1861, Arlington's location overlooking the capital made it impossible to ignore. Union troops occupied the estate early in the war, and as the conflict grew bloodier, the Federal government seized the property and transformed it into a military cemetery for the mounting dead of the Union armies. What began with a single grave soon became endless rows of white stones spreading across the hillsides surrounding the mansion.

As generations passed, Arlington evolved from a private family home into the most sacred military cemetery in the United States, where veterans from every American conflict came to rest beneath the same soil. Arlington: The House Above the War tells the sweeping story of how one estate became forever entwined with sacrifice, grief, reconciliation, and the enduring memory of a nation shaped by both division and unity.