Entry No. 45 — the Washington, D.C. file — filed under: weird monument
Bladensburg Peace Cross
A 40-foot concrete Latin cross rises out of a highway traffic median, built 1919-25 by grieving Prince George's County families to honor 49 local WWI dead, its base engraved 'valor,' 'endurance,' 'courage,' 'devotion.' It became the center of a landmark 2019 Supreme Court church-state case (American Legion v. American Humanist Association) before a $1 million restoration returned it, rededicated on Veterans Day 2022.
The story
Stand in the median at Baltimore Avenue and Annapolis Road and you will find yourself staring up at forty feet of solid concrete looming over a roaring traffic intersection. The Peace Cross was raised between 1919 and 1925, built by grieving local families to commemorate 49 young men from Prince George's County killed in World War I. Four virtues are chiseled into the base—valor, endurance, courage, devotion—marking what began as a neighborhood tribute to local loss.
For decades, the cross sat quietly as Maryland's rural farmland turned into commuter asphalt. Once local government took over maintenance of the median, the legal knives came out. Secular organizations challenged public funding and ownership of a massive Christian symbol on state property, kicking off a constitutional fight that clawed its way to the highest court in the nation.
In the 2019 landmark case *American Legion v. American Humanist Association*, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that removing a century-old war memorial was fundamentally different from building a new religious icon, allowing the cross to stand under the Establishment Clause. After a $1 million restoration, it was rededicated on Veterans Day in 2022. You didn't hear it from us, but standing on this patch of highway grass offers a truly weird collision: local grief, high-volume exhaust, and a precedent-setting constitutional battleground.
What it's like
Visiting the Peace Cross feels less like visiting a quiet sanctuary and more like getting stranded on a concrete island inside a high-speed roundabout. You can pull off Route 1 near the adjacent green space and walk up to read the 49 names carved into the base. The vibe is unvarnished and loud—trucks rumbling past four lanes of traffic—making it a fascinating, 10-minute roadside stop.
The move: Pull off Route 1 to walk the small memorial park around its base, then cross into Bladensburg's old town for a quick bite — it's a five-minute stop that turns into a genuinely strange constitutional-law story once you start reading the plaques.
- 📍 Bladensburg, MD
- 💸 Free
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: Intersection of Baltimore Ave (US-1) and Annapolis Rd, Bladensburg, MD 20710
Hours: Added 2026-07-19 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Riversdale House Museum — Pair a modern constitutional battleground with a tour of an 1800s Federal mansion just two miles up the road.
- National Bonsai & Penjing Museum — Swap highway exhaust and concrete for a peaceful walk among centuries-old miniature trees at the National Arboretum.
- Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America — Catacombs — Follow up a debate on public religious symbols by descending into full-scale replica catacombs hidden beneath a nearby monastery.
Good to know
Where is the Bladensburg Peace Cross located?
It is situated in a highway median at the intersection of Baltimore Avenue (US-1) and Annapolis Road (MD-450) in Bladensburg, Maryland.
Why was the cross built?
Local families and the American Legion built it between 1919 and 1925 to honor 49 soldiers from Prince George's County who died serving in World War I.
What was the Supreme Court ruling about?
In *American Legion v. American Humanist Association* (2019), the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that maintaining the cross on public land did not violate the Establishment Clause due to its historic significance as a secular war memorial.
How tall is the Peace Cross?
It is a 40-foot-tall concrete Latin cross.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Wikipedia · today.umd.edu · vfw.org
last checked: 2026-07-19