Nestled between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, granite pillars stand against the buzz of the nation’s capital. On quiet moments between swells of tourists and sightseers, the memorial has a particular sense of presence, drowning out white noise with the sound of bubbling fountain water. Every aspect of the memorial is designed to bring visitors to a place in which tragedies of the past are given a space to be remembered. Standing at the heart of Washington D.C.’s National World War II Memorial, visitors realize every feature tells a story.
No decision regarding this space is made without thought and consideration. Managed by the National Parks Service, every design element, every pillar, even down the choice of grass selected for the landscape, is evaluated for the way the memorial is used by members of the public. As evidence of this, the National Parks Service recently installed 11,000 square feet of PremierPRO Bermudagrass, developed by Dr. Milt Engelke and Dr. Virginia Lehman, and licensed and marketed by Sod Production Services of Charles City, Virginia, as a part of a trial of turfgrasses varieties across a number of national parks.
