In the late 1920s, the architect Thomas Harlan Ellett, in collaboration with the sculptor Paul Manship, designed the architectural features of the cemetery, including a memorial peristyle with fluted Doric columns, and flanking it, a chapel and a museum.

[2][3] The burial area is divided into four equal quadrants by paths lined with linden trees, at the center of which is a large sundial surmounted by an American eagle.

A large rose-granite urn sits at the center of the white marble peristyle, embellished with sculpted drapery and a winged horse symbolizing the flight of the immortal soul to the afterlife.

Inside the museum, an inlaid marble map created by the mosaic artist Barry Faulkner depicts the St. Mihiel offensive.

Above an ivory-tinted altar, a mosaic depicts St. Michael the Archangel, sheathing his sword, flanked by a pair of doves of peace holding olive twigs.