Best New National Parks: The National September 11 Memorial and Museum and the Flight 93 Memoral Plaza

The September 11 Memorial is completed and will open as the installation "Reflected Absence" on the 10th Anniversary of the national disaster in New York City: September 11, 2011. Required free vistors' passes are needed to attend this opening and are available through the website link below.

Already in August 2011 at the announcement of the opening, a protest group wanted the iconic steel-beam cross left standing in the Twin Towers debris to be removed from the memorial. This will likely not occur, because government opinion has been broadcast that this is a graveyard and the cross can stand as a marker to all those lost. This includes the 9/11 World Trade Center deaths, the 6 World Trade Center deaths from the 1990s attack, the Pentagon attack on 9/11, and the crashed hijacked Flight 93 from Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

The names of all of those lost individuals are engraved around the lip of the two 1-acre man-made waterfalls standing in the footprints of the World Trade Center. In addition, unidentified human remains recovered in the debris of the trade towers are buried in respect on the site in a dedicated repository. This is a tomb that we can visit. Further, symbols of many major world religions are being formed from metal debris left at Ground Zero and will be added to the memorial and the museum.

The two man-made waterfalls set among a new forest are powerful, understated and dramatic. A virtual tour is available at the website link below. Free passes are timed at 30 minutes and the restriction may not feel like enough time to visit and meditate on the events the waterfalls commemorate.

The related September 11 Museum contains thousands of artifacts related to the national disaster on September 11, 2001 during the George W. Bush Administration. Artifacts relate to the the lost individuals in the tradgedies and their families, and will open one year after the opening of the beautiful Twin Waterfalls memorial on September 11, 2012. At the time of that opening, a gallery of photos of the deceased from the terrorist attacks will be displayed on back-lit displays, with stories of their lives included so that American and the world will not forget these individuals.

The separate Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania offers its dedication on September 10, 2011, the day before the September 11 Memorial opening. A good memorial tour for those wishing to pay respects to the lost will take in the Flight 93 Memorial on Saturday 9/10 and the September 11 Memorial on Sunday 9/11, followed by the Pentagon site that Monday 9/12. However, the three sites are worth the time to visit anytime of the year. At one point in the past, the Pentagon even had a shopping mall in its lower level; I don't know if that is still true, but 60 minute tours of that facility are gladly provided.

National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor
New York, NY 10006
Telephone: 212-312-8800

Timed Passes (30 minutes) are required for visitors to the 9/11 and Flight 93 Memorials and are obtainable online. Timed visits are required for publicized safety reasons.

The time-resttricted passes to the memorial may create an obstacle to viewing the monument, because many of the American monuments require passes and a 30-minute is not much time. It is likely not enough to digest the display, pay respects and spend time meditating on the disaster and where it is taking the US. This time and pass requirement includes the Washington Monument and other DC sites as well as the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania and others. Not only is public safety likely an issue, but perhaps also is the possibility of terrorists or protesters gathering at these sites in order to damage the memorials in some way or to harm their visitors. .

Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 12:30 PM

The Flight 93 Memorial Dedication will occur in Phase One of a permanent site from 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM. The dedication will include several musical tributes, the placing of wreaths for the lost, and other tributes. Related activities will last throughout the afternoon. In addition, the memorial will offer an evening event. Check at the National Park Service Link for updates and new events at this memorial. Phase Two will include the planting of 40 separate groves of trees, one grove for each of the passengers on Flight 93.

A large Field of Honor is planted at the site, filled with daisies and Queen Anne's Lace among native grasses. A wide sidewalk to the memorial is fit with benches and stone seating beside green spaces and trees. Through the gateway and visitor's shelter is a set of five rows of benches from which to enjoy the Field of Honor. The plaza along the actual crash site is fit with larger banches, but only Flight 93 families have access to the crash site, through a large stone gateway.

At dusk of this memorial day, luminarias will be lit at the Flight 93 Memorial Plaza. This will include 2,982 lights to account for every life lost in the combined attacks on September 11, 2001.

Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 9:30 AM

At 9:30 AM, the 10th Anniversary Memorial Service will remember the patriots on Flight 93 and the other 9/11 disaster sites. 9:30 AM is the exact time at which the passengers and crew on Flight 93 decided to implement anti-terrorist actions that stopped a major part of the terrorist attack on America on 9/11. Again, there are to be musical tributes, wreath placements, and other activities to fill the day.

The Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville PA will open for regular attendance of visitors at 2:00 PM pm Monday, September 12, 2011.

Temporary Address

1060 Lambertsville Road
Stoystown, Pennsylvania 15563

814-893-6322