My archives page: http://photomatt.net/archives/
The rewrite rule I use to get it show up where it does is:
RewriteRule ^archives/?$ /arch.php
Here's the actual file:
<?php require('header.php'); ?>
<h2 class="title" style="background: no-repeat url(/images/titles/Archives.png);"><a>Archives</a></h2>
<h3>By date</h3>
<ul>
<?php
get_archives('monthly', '', 'html', "", "", true);
?>
</ul>
<h3>By category</h3>
<ul>
<?php
wp_list_cats('optioncount=1');
?>
</ul>
<?php include_once('footer.php'); ?>