John F. Kennedy Gravesite, Arlington

The John F. Kennedy Gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery was designed by John Carl Warnecke after the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Warnecke, who had a long-standing relationship with the Kennedy family, worked with a team of designers, including Isamu Noguchi and the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts, to create the three-acre site.

Located on a grassy hillside near Arlington House, the gravesite offers views of the Potomac River and Washington, D.C. Visitors approach the site via a circular granite ramp leading to an elliptical marble terrace. The entrance design was developed with input from landscape architects Michael Painter, Lawrence Halprin, and Hideo Sasaki, while Rachel Lambert Mellon advised on the planting of magnolia, cherry, and hawthorn trees.

Quotations from Kennedy's presidency are engraved around the terrace, providing a reflective space for visitors. At the center of the site, a fieldstone font houses the "Eternal Flame," a gas-powered flame that burns continuously as a tribute to Kennedy's enduring legacy. The gravesite also includes slate headstones for Kennedy, his two infant children, and his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.