Flight 93 National Memorial

Recently, on a “solo dawdle” through the Appalachian Mountains, I discovered the Flight 93 National Memorial was 45 min from my campsite at Confluence, PA... I felt compelled to visit.
I spent an afternoon at the memorial and I found it to be a very moving experience that brought back a rush of emotions. Not only is it a place of honor to the 40 courageous men and women who lost their lives on 9/11 but also a reminder of the extraordinary job our National Park Service does to showcase and preserve what it means to be an American. 

National Park Service - Flight 93 National Memorial

Congress authorized the design and construction of the Flight 93 Memorial in 2003. The work of Paul Murdoch Architects and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects was selected from over 1000 entries that were submitted to an international two-stage competition. The design consists of a:

• Visitor Center Complex that includes visitor center, exhibit area, and the Flight Path Walkway and Overlook that traces the trajectory of Flight 93 on that tragic morning.
• Memorial Plaza with its Wall of Names sits at the edge of the crash site, which is the final resting place of the passengers and crew; sacred ground.
• Memorial Groves, Allée, and Wetlands Bridge that consists of 40 Memorial Groves, one for each of the passengers and crew, that runs along the Ring Road  from the Visitor Center Complex to the Wetlands Bridge.

The visitor Center opened on September 10, 2015.

Flight Path + Memorial