Sumerset Memorial Creation and Process

On September 24, 2002, soon after the one-year anniversary, Congress approved a bill for the creation of a Flight United 93 Memorial, establishing the nation’s 386th national park. There are 2,200 acres of parkland at this national park and 1 million people visited the crash site from 2001-2011, before the completion of the memorial. ¹

A video about United 93 crash and the potential memorial before it was created:

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The plans and the start of the memorial:

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Just before the ten year anniversary of 9/11, on September 10, 2010 the Flight 93 Nation memorial was opened. ⁴

“In 2012 over 317,900 people visited the Flight 93 National Memorial in rural southwestern Pennsylvania” ⁵

The Memorial is called the Memorial Plaza. It consists of a visitor shelter and arrival court, a memorial plaza wall and walkway, hemlock grove and impact site, and wall of names. ⁶

Visitor Shelter

The picture shows the entrance to the memorial.

 

 

 

 

Memorial Plaza Wall and Walkway:

“The long sloping black wall marks the northern edge of the larger crash site and debris field.”

Visitors can also write small tributes in the wall.  The wall leads out to the Flight Path and to the Wall of names as seen below.

Hemlock Grove and Impact Site

The damaged area from the plane crash that has not regrown. There  is also where there is a boulder in the ground from the plane crash.

Wall of Names:

The Wall of Names is my personal favorite.There are 40 marble panels for each crew member and passenger that died on the plane. I like the wall of names because it allows for everyone to be individually recognized, since each person on the plane crash has their name inscribed on their own panel.

The wall of names is vaguely seen in the distance of this picture, pass the Wildflower meadow.

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Another part of the memorial is the Wildflower Meadow at the Memorial Plaza. It sits between the road and the the Wall of Names. 

  Wildflower Meadow ⁸