Memorial Plaza

The Memorial Plaza culminates at the Wall of Names. The field beyond is the crash site and serves as final resting place.

NPS/Chuck Wagner

 

Memorial Plaza

The Memorial Plaza is the quarter-mile northern-boundary to the crash site, which is the final resting place of the passengers and crew members. A visit here culminates at the Wall of Names, which features forty white polished marble stones inscribed with the names of the passengers and crew.

Directions

The Memorial Plaza is located 3.5 miles from the main entrance, past the Visitor Center and is accessible via Approach Road (see maps). Parking, a waterless restroom and visitor shelter is available next to the Memorial Plaza. The Wall of Names is a quarter mile from the visitor shelter. The Memorial Plaza is also accessible to pedestrians walking from the Visitor Center via the Allée (east) or the Western Overlook Trail (west).

Accessibility

Temporary use wheelchairs are available at the Memorial Plaza Visitor Shelter located next to the Plaza parking lot. Check additional accessibility information about parking, wheelchairs, service animals, visitor services and more.

Restroom Access

Waterless restrooms are available at the Memorial Plaza located next to the parking lot. The nearest flush restroom with running water is located at the Visitor Center Complex.

Pets

Pets are not permitted on the Memorial Plaza or the Wall of Names (with the exception of service animals).

Pets must be on a leash at all times and are permitted in the parking lot at the Plaza and on the gravel trails that connect to the Plaza. During summer months, a mown grass pathway parallels the formal walkway and allows pets to access all trails.

Please do not leave pets unattended anywhere at the memorial. For best practices visit our pets page.

Leaving Tributes

Message cards are provided for visitors who wish to leave a written memory inside the Visitor Shelter located next to the Memorial Plaza parking lot. Visitors are welcome to leave small tribute items in a niche located at the mid-point on the Memorial Plaza. Items left in the niche must be hand carried. Visitors wishing to leave wreaths may do so in the designated wreath laying area at the Memorial Plaza. All wreath laying ceremonies require a special use permit. For additional information about tributes visit our management page.

 

Visitors arrive at the Forecourt and Visitor Shelter.

NPS

Forecourt and Visitor Shelter

A gateway to the Memorial Plaza, the forecourt and visitor shelter mark the approach toward the crash site and landscape that serves as final resting place for the passengers and crew. The forecourt hosts six outdoor signs that share the September 11, 2001 story of Flight 93. The shelter provides a location for visitors to leave messages, ask park rangers or volunteers questions, and temporarily escape inclement weather.

 

Visitors attend a scheduled summer program at the Memorial Plaza.

NPS/Brenda Torrey

Flagpole and Benches

Located beside the Memorial Plaza Visitor Shelter, the flagpole and benches are a meeting point for scheduled ranger programs (unless otherwise noted). Programs begin Memorial Day weekend and are offered daily through Labor Day weekend. For the latest schedule, check the memorial calendar before your visit. This area is also designated for wreath laying ceremonies for visitors who have a permit.

 

A walkway extends from the visitor shelter to the Wall of Names. The crash site (left) and Visitor Center (right) are visible.

NPS/Brenda Torrey

Plaza Walkway

The Memorial Plaza extends one quarter mile alongside the area where Flight 93 crashed on September 11, 2001. Ten years later, after the dedication of the permanent memorial in September 2011, this walkway replaced a security fence that protected the crash site, debris field, and ultimately, the resting place of the forty passengers and crew. Today the Memorial Plaza allows visitors a walk beside this hallowed landscape.

 

The grove of Eastern hemlock trees and sandstone boulder are visible from the Memorial Plaza.

NPS/Chuck Wagner

Hemlock Grove and Impact Site

A walk along the Memorial Plaza provides visitors the opportunity to view the impact site and a grove of eastern hemlock trees that were damaged as a result of the Flight 93 crash. A visible gap in the tree line serves as a lasting "scar" from where over 80 damaged trees were removed.

Near the base of the hemlock grove sits a native 17.5 ton sandstone boulder, placed in 2011 to indicate the edge of the impact site. During the 2001 crime scene investigation, the FBI methodically excavated the impact site over the course of thirteen days. The crater was later backfilled in October 2001 at the direction of the local coroner. Today the impact site and hemlock grove are closed to the public. Families of the passengers and crew of Flight 93 have access to visit this final resting place.

 

The Wall of Names marks the flight path and final approach of Flight 93.

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Wall of Names

Located underneath the flight path and final approach of Flight 93, the Wall of Names is constructed from white marble. Forty individually selected and polished marble stones are inscribed with each of the passenger or crew member names. Black granite denotes the flight path. From the Ceremonial Gate, constructed of hemlock wood, visitors can look down the flight path to the last piece of granite etched with the time of the crash and the impact site marked by a distant sandstone boulder.

Want to learn more about each passenger and crew member of Flight 93? Read the biographies of all forty heroes and find out which ones made a phone call on the plane.