File:Arlington National Cemetery - looking S at rear of Schley Gate - 2011.jpg

English: Inside the main gates at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. This image is looking south at the rear of the Schley Gate, which is the northern of the two ceremonial gates at the entrance to the cemetery.

The gates were constructed in 1932 as part of the construction of the Hemicycle (now the Women in Military Service to America Memorial) and Memorial Drive, which linked Arlington's new main gate to the Arlington Memorial Bridge and the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Arlington had expanded toward the Potomac River, making the old McClellan Gate and Sheridan Gate unuseable as an entrance as both were now deep inside the cemetery. Each gate consists of four granite pillars trending southwest-to-northeast. The southwesternmost pillar connects with the retaining wall that forms the Hemicycle. The gate itself is between the second and third pillars, while black wrought iron fences connect the outermost pillars to the innermost ones. A fifth pillar is set inward toward Memorial Drive from the northwesternmost pillar, and is connected to the fourth pillar by a black wrought iron fence. The two innermost pillars are topped by granite eagles, while the other three are topped by decorative funeral urns.

The two innermost pillars (topped by eagles) are shown here. Each pillar is pierced with an archway, to permit pedestrian access when the gates are closed to vehicular traffic.The Schley Gate depicted here is open for the public.

Gold gilded lamps top the hinge of each gate. On each gate, front and back, are two gold wreaths 30 inches (76 cm) in diameter. Each wreath cradles the shield of the U.S. Department of War (the precusor to the U.S. Department of Defense) as well as the armed services that existed in 1932. On the Schley Gate, these are the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard. (The United States Air Force did not exist until 1947.) Each gate is divided into 13 sections by wrought iron fasces, and above six of the sections are iron spikes topped by gold stars.

Just visible to the right are steps which form the final segment of Custis Walk. Custis Walk was built parallel to an old Civil War road that used to lead from Arlington House to the northwest gate (Ord & Weitzel Gate) of the cemetery. In 1893, Custis Walk was constructed to provide a walkway and staircase up the hill to Arlington House. That's because the Washington, Alexandria, and Mount Vernon Railway had constructed an electric trolley station in front of the cemetery at Sheridan Gate.

Sheridan Gate was located just a few feet east-northeast of where Custis Walk intersects Ord & Weitzel Drive. Custis Walk (which had numerous steps in it) was designed to make it easy for passengers to alight from the trolley station and make it up the steep grade to Arlington House more easily than walking up the steep roads.