Above is the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial. We could consider this post part of our “Things to do near Geowoodstock XIII” series, as Arlington, Virginia (which sits directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.), is 61 miles from Boonsboro, according to Mapquest. We would expect many Geocachers to combine a trip to Washington, D.C, and the surrounding area with their trip to GW. On our website, we have have 5 virtual caches within a .9 mile radius of a point centered in Arlington National Cemetery, and they are all excellent. They are:
- Sacred Ground – OU00DE
- Integrity, Service, Excellence – OU00C9
- To Hell and Back – OU0099
- Honoring the Fourth Estate – OU013A
- Odd Spots – What’s the Skinny? – OU003B
They are NOT, however, the only OCNA caches in Arlington; they are merely the 5 featured virtual caches within a .9 mile radius. You could spend a whole day finding OCNA caches in Arlington; we have 13 of them (the first 13 in that search), including another Virtual and a Webcam. Read on for more info on the 5 featured Virts.
Sacred Ground
This is the Virt at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, as pictured at the top of this post. It was created rob3K on 29 September, 2010. This memorial was Designed by Julie Beckman and Keith Kaseman of the architectural firm of Kaseman Beckman Advanced Strategies, and was dedicated on September 11th, 2008. It consists of 184 curved, illuminated benches, one to honor each of the 184 men and women who died as victims in the building and on American Airlines Flight 77 during the September 11 attacks.
Integrity, Service, Excellence
Located only .4 miles West of the Pentagon Memorial is The United States Air Force Memorial. The Integrity, Service, Excellence Virtual Cache was also created by rob3k on 26 September, 2010. The Memorial was the last project of the now deceased architect James Ingo Freed, and was dedicated on 14 October 2006, with President George W. Bush delivering the keynote speech. The three stainless steel spires of the Memorial vary in height from 201 to 270 feet. This is the only of these 5 Virtuals the OCNA blogger has found, and he can tell you it’s a very impressive Memorial, and with an excellent view of Washington, D.C. across the River.
To Hell and Back
The first of our 2 Virtual Caches in Arlington National Cemetery was created on 9 September 2010 by flyingmoose, and takes you to the grave of a famous WWII Veteran. We won’t tell you who it is, but if you Google the cache name, as suggested in the cache listing, you’ll know who to look for. Arlington National Cemetery, with a present day size of 624 Acres, was established during the Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, the estate of the family of Robert E. Lee’s Wife Mary Anna (Custis) Lee. One item of note when visiting Arlington National Cemetery; wear comfortable shoes, and plan on plenty of walking. Driving in the Cemetery is by special permit only, and generally reserved for Handicapped persons. Even most funerals use horse drawn carriages to transport the coffin of the deceased to their burial site.
Honoring the Fourth Estate
This Arlington National Cemetery cache, created 25 October 2010 by rob3k, is a perfect example of the original intent of many old school Virtual Caches, in that you will most likely be completely surprised at what you find when you get there. There were no Google Maps or Street View in say 2001; they didn’t come along until 2005. Even the blogger, who has not found the 2 Virtuals in Arlington (note he already gave you the tip that you cannot drive in the Cemetery, and he didn’t have time for them during a short 5 hour visit to the D.C. area in 2014), has no clue who is honored by the small Memorial which is the subject of this cache. You can street view it, but you cannot read it.
Odd Spots – What’s the Skinny?
The skinny house of Arlington, Virginia is rather famous, a Google search will tell you. Here you see OCNA Admin DudleyGrunt (who at the time was not an Admin) at his first ever find on OpenCaching.us. This virtual was the 59th cache created on our website on 21 August 2010, only 3 days after our official public launch, by donbadabon. To make a long story skinny, the 4 story, 12 foot wide house on N. Barton Street is the result of a dispute between a builder and the Arlington Zoning Board. For further info, the best article we’ve seen, including a couple pictures of the interior of the house, is on the website of Washington City Paper, a weekly alternative newspaper serving the D.C. area.
Sounds like some great Virtual Caching, no? And remember, we have 8 other caches in Arlington Virginia, as well as 6 Virtuals in Washington, D.C., should we not get around to featuring them in a blog post before GeoWoodstock XIII. If you think the Arlington skinny house is interesting, we have another skinny house virtual, 6 miles south of that one in Alexandria, Virginia. That house, built in 1830, is only 7 feet wide!
