SHANKSVILLE PA – The Lincoln Highway cuts across Pennsylvania from Beaver, at the state’s far western end, to Philadelphia at its eastern border. Also known as U.S. Route 30, it is a generally busy road, with up to four lanes in some places. Hundreds of thousands of vehicles travel parts of it daily.
It is expected to be even busier today (Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025) near Shanksville PA. The tiny borough is home to slight fewer than 200 people. It also is only 9 miles from the nation’s Flight 93 Memorial.
The memorial, dedicated in 2011, honors 40 people who heroically died when a plane overtaken by terrorist hijackers crashed into a field. Actions by the plane’s passengers and crew to fight back thwarted an attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, later determined to be the attackers’ final destination.
Today Shanksville marks the 24th anniversary of the sacrifice of those aboard Flight 93, as well as thousands who died from similar plane attacks in Manhattan NY at the World Trade Center Towers, and in Arlington County VA at The Pentagon.
A ceremony scheduled at the Flight 93 Memorial is anticipated to include “moments of silence, the reading of names, and the laying of wreaths” to again honor its victims of Flight 93, according to a news article by Associated Press reporter Philip Marcelo. The service will be attended by U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.
The Deafening Silence
Travels With The Post last visited Shanksville and the Flight 93 Memorial on April 27, 2018, as part of a four-day journey to other municipalities. Although seven years have since passed, a review of its recorded notes and digital photos serve now to reinforce the feelings experienced then.
The silence was deafening. The grief was palpable.
The carefully constructed memorial officially opened on the 10th anniversary of 9-11. Wide expanses of field and mature wooded areas were left untouched where possible, or restored as needed. The place feels not only unpopulated but isolated, and reflects nature’s seasonal changes.
Visitors there speak in hushed tones. Some lay wreaths and flowers. A few cry openly.
What You’ll Find at The Memorial
New to the grounds as of September 2020 is the Tower of Voices, a 93-foot structure located near the memorial entrance and visible from Lincoln Highway.
It is intended to be a readily recognizable landmark feature, and includes 40 wind chimes. They have been engineered to produce 40 different, distinct, and musically compatible notes, representing each of the victims. The chimes reportedly can be heard as visitors arrive.
The memorial itself consists of several interactive areas. It offers a Visitor’s Center with interpretive exhibits that describe the flight, its occupants, and the tragedy.
Also at the center, guests can leave their own messages pinned to a display board that is cleared every few days. Each message, however, is archived as part of a continuing tribute. Millions of such notes are now held within the memorial’s files, the National Park Service indicates.
Possibly the most memorable exhibits inside the center are banks of telephones. Visitors can pick up their handsets and listen to recorded messages left by flight passengers as they made a final attempt to communicate with their loved ones.
Hearing them is both haunting and hallowing. In conversations among other people who visited the memorial on the same day, several said they felt as if they were aboard as the tragedy unfolded.
Beyond the center is Memorial Plaza, described as a long sloping black wall that “marks the northern edge of the larger crash site and debris field.” The area past the wall is the final resting place of the passengers and crew.
In 2024, the park service began a 10-year-long effort to define the open field crash site with 40 groves, further honoring the victims. Its planning, landscaping, and planting are under way.
Farther along is the impact point, a distance from the memorial’s observation deck, and marked by a large boulder. Near it is the Wall Of Names, a row of marble panels dedicated to each of the victims. It aligns with the northward flight path of the plane as it descended.
The memorial at Shanksville is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but is closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. Its grounds and trails are open sunrise to sunset, year around, including all holidays, weather permitting.
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When Travels With The Post hits the road, readers figuratively come along. Its occasional “road trip” articles are intended to describe and show what’s available at a location of interest, and why it might be worth considering a visit. Find other Post road trips here.
All photos by Travels With The Post
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