Kennedy Assassination
Kennedy Gravesite
Arlington National Cemetery
(All Photos Courtesy Sean Rich)
The grave area is paved with irregular stones of Cape Cod granite, which were quarried around 1817 near the site of the president’s home and selected by members of his family. Clover, and later, sedum were planted in the crevices to give the appearance of stones lying naturally in a Massachusetts field.
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Daughter (stillborn)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Robert Kennedy’s grave is at the foot of this slope.
the John F. Kennedy Grave
On Dec. 4, 1963, the two deceased Kennedy children were reburied in Arlington, Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, who had predeceased JFK by 15 weeks from Brookline and the stillborn daughter from Newport, R.I.
Originally, the site was grassed and surrounded by a white picket fence. The initial plot was 20 feet by 30 feet.
But no one had anticipated the large number of people coming by to pay their respects. this presented a problem. Cemetery officials and members of the Kennedy family recognized that a better solution was required. The entire site is 3.2 acres and is federal land, not Kennedy property.
Reconstruction was completed in 1967 to the more familiar cobblestone plot we see today. President Kennedy and his two deceased children were quietly reinterred to this new grave. Cardinal Cushing formally blessed the new site in a private service, which was attended by Mrs. Kennedy, Senators Robert and Edward Kennedy and President Lyndon Johnson.
On May 23, 1994, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was buried next to President John Kennedy. Today the eternal flame burns above and between them and they are each flanked by a deceased child.