Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is high on everyone’s list of places to visit when they come to the National Capital Region.

More than 4 million people visit the cemetery annually, many paying their final respects at graveside services, of which about 100 are performed weekly. More than 300,000 people are interred or inurned in the cemetery, many graves dating to the origin of the cemetery, the Civil War.

Now there are veterans from each branch of service and from every major conflict in which the United States has fought. Even Soldiers from the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Mexican War have been re-interred here. It continues to receive those who have died while on active duty to their country.

Funerals, including interments and inurnments, average 28 a day.

Each year, more than 6,000 funerals are conducted at Arlington National Cemetery. Coupled with some 2,500 other ceremonies, from wreath-layings to tree plantings, the cemetery plays a very active memorial and ceremonial role in the country’s remembrance of those who fought for America’s freedom.

A focal point of cemetery activities is the Memorial Amphitheater, which was dedicated May 15, 1920.

Today, the 5,000-seat white marble amphitheater is the site of official ceremonies on Memorial Day and Veterans Day honoring the sacrifice and the service of America’s men and women in uniform as well as a national Easter sunrise service conducted by military chaplains.

Adjacent the amphitheater, on an elevation overlooking a terraced mall, is the Tomb of the Unknowns. The tomb contains unidentified remains of American combatants from three major 20th century conflicts. First to be buried was an unknown Soldier from World War I, placed below a large marble sarcophagus Nov. 11, 1921, Armistice Day. Unknown service members from World War II and the Korean War were added Memorial Day 1958 in their own crypts.

A third crypt sits empty, dedicated with the inscription ‘‘Honoring and keeping faith with America’s missing servicemen, 1958-1975” on its stone entablature, and was the resting place for 14 years of an unknown who fought in the Vietnam War. Solemnly interred as the Vietnam unknown on Memorial Day 1984, Air Force 1st Lt. Michael Blassie was as solemnly removed May 14, 1998, after the remains were identified through DNA analysis to be the remains of the downed pilot he was suspected to be. The present dedication was performed Sept. 17, 1999 — National Prisoner of War⁄Missing in Action Recognition Day.

Since April 6, 1948, the Tomb of the Unknowns has been guarded 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, by the 3rd U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard). The tomb guard is changed every hour duringdaylight from Oct. 1 to March 31, every half hour from April 1 to Sept. 30, and every hour at night.

Other remains have been at the cemetery and then removed as well. Polish patriot and world-famous musician Ignacy Jan Paderewski for 51 years lay in the crypt below the Mast of the Maine, the battleship sunk in Havana Harbor just over 100 years ago. The remains were ceremoniously returned to his homeland June 27, 1992, after it emerged as a free country after the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

Nearby, an eternal flame marks the site where John F. Kennedy, the nation’s 35th president, is buried. The president's brother, former U.S.attorney general and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was laid to rest at this location in 1968, and thepresident’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, in 1994. They are the most-frequently visited graves in the United States.

Arlington is one of more than 100 national cemeteries throughout the United States, but one of only two administered by the Department of the Army. The cemetery at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Washington, also falls under the administration of Arlington National Cemetery — and thus the Army.

The 652 acres of Arlington National Cemetery were once part of the 1,100-acre Arlingtonplantation owned by Mary Anna Randolph Custis, one of George Washington’s relatives. She married Lt. Robert E. Lee on June 30, 1831, and lived at Arlington House for 30 years.

Lee resigned his commission in 1861 when the war between the states seemed certain and left the estate forever, rather than fight against his native Virginia. Federal troops crossed the Potomac not long after that, fortified the estate’s ridges and turned the home into the Army of the Potomac’s headquarters. Arlington House and the estate were confiscated in May 1864 and sold to the federalgovernment when the Lees failed to pay $92.07 in property taxes in person.

Union forces built three fortifications onthe land, and 200 acres nearby were set aside as a national cemetery May 12, 1864. Sixty-fiveSoldiers were buried there on June 15, 1864, and by the end of the Civil War more than 16,000headstones dotted Arlington Plantation’s rolling hills.

A Freedman’s Village established at the estate in June 1863 provided food, housing, medical care, employment training and education for former slaves who migrated to the area. More than 3,800 residents of Freedman’s Village are buried at Arlington, their headstones noting their names and the words ‘‘civilian” or ‘‘citizen.”

The village continued in existence for more than 20 years, but in 1882, the Supreme Court ruled that the government unlawfully confiscated the Arlington estate. Forced to make compensation, the government paid the descendants of the former owners for the site and turned it over to themilitary. On Dec. 7, 1987, the people in the village were given 90 days to leave.

Those wishing to visit Arlington National Cemetery may park in the cemetery’s large visitor’s parking lot or ride the Metro-rail subway and get off at the Arlington National Cemetery station. The Visitors Center orients newcomers to the cemetery and assists those who have loved ones buried there to find gravesites.

Visit www.arlingtoncemetery.org for moreinformation.