South Overlook

East-slope paths and the Grand Staircase connect the park grounds with the riverfront. The south-end connection includes concrete stairs. A separate step-free route to this exact terrace isn’t clearly identified, so check access details before heading down if stairs could limit your route.

Kiley and Saarinen began the landscape plan during the 1947 memorial competition. Their original, heavily wooded and asymmetrical plan was never built: federal money was unavailable, and the railroad trestle still blocked the riverfront. A 1957 agreement cleared the way for a revised, symmetrical design aligned with the Old Courthouse, with open cuts and tunnels carrying trains between the Arch and river.

The Arch’s catenary curve repeats in the curved walks, south-end stairs and overlook retaining walls. Kiley kept refining the landscape with the Park Service after Saarinen died in 1961; the grounds were installed after the Arch was completed in 1965. The Arch and its surrounding grounds became a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

The rolling berms do more than soften the park’s edge. They conceal the railroad cut, roads, a shipping and receiving point, and a major highway, making the infrastructure disappear into the landscape.

For a photo, look for the curved retaining wall or stair profile against the river. Those low, sweeping lines repeat the Arch’s shape without needing the monument itself in the frame.