Civil War Gravestone Preservation initiative
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This charity participated in the state-wide commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. We cleaned all of the gravestones of the 397 Veterans of this war throughout 15 cemeteries in Middleborough. Dozens of Volunteers tirelessly worked with the permission and cooperation of the cemetery associations who are the stewards of these sacred grounds.
The Massachusetts Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission was a state-level entity established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to "organize sesquicentennial tributes to the Civil War and Massachusetts's role therein". It was established on April 4th, 2011 and ended with the "Returning of the Flags" event on December 22, 2015. We began our work during the summer of 2015 and continued through October 2017. We ended our work with an Exhibit and Reception, which was attended by the Massachusetts Sesquicentennial Commission's Vice-Chair, Dr. Tom Turner. The white marble and granite gravestones had become covered with 150 years worth of mold and lichen. On many stones, the names, historical references, and artwork were obscured. We worked with the Veterans Affairs office of Middleborough for the listing of the Veterans. Because of our time in the cemeteries, we have been able to improve the accuracy of the records held by that office. While in the cemeteries, we found GAR Post 8 medallions. We consulted with the Middleborough Historical Association for the books that listed the GAR medallions unique identifier for the name of the Veteran who the medallion belonged to. These books saved us countless hours or research and helped us correct many examples of "misplaced Valor" in our cemeteries. The Middleborough Historical Association partnered with us in hosting the Exhibit and Reception, presented by President Doug VanTran. We learned about the Civil War through the inscriptions and art on the stones. We hosted our 1st "Civil War Veterans Photo Gallery" for the month of November 2016. Dana Zaiser, of the "Olde Colony Civil War Round Table" happened to come across our exhibit and reached out to us. In February 2017, several volunteers from this charity travelled to Dedham to present to his organization the work we were doing in Middleborough. Here we learned that "Civil War Round Tables" are organizations that work to promote and expand interest in all aspects of the Civil War. There are hundreds of such organizations, including the "East Bridgewater Civil War Round Table" and the "New Bedford Civil War Round Table". Our Exhibit and Reception was attended by OCCWRT Vice-President Dana Zaiser. The Friends of Middleborough Cemeteries thanks every person who volunteered and contributed towards the completion of this initiative. |
Click the image to watch our Reception.
Grand Army of the Republic Post 8, located in Middleborough, served the Greater Middleborough area. The post created these medallions, each with a unique numeral identifier, forever linking the grave to the GAR member.
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