Memorial Day

 In my town Memorial Day is celebrated on the 30th across the street on the Meeting House Green.  We will be in attendance to hear the speeches and music and watch the wreath laying at the memorials honoring those that served from this town.

On Thursday last week Dan and I did a drive around south of here starting in Keene, NH and heading south then east, then north before heading back home.  While we were setting out I decided it would be a great opportunity to check out other Civil War monuments.

Here are the ones we saw, stopped at and compared to the one above which is across our street.

In Marlborough, NH.

The Civil War monument predominates.

There were other memorials.

In Jaffrey, NH there was only a Civil War monument in front of the library.  Other memorials must have been elsewhere.

The statue looked very much like ours.

The third one we spotted was in Peterborough, NH.  This one was very different for several reasons: what it was made of, no mustache, and its location in front of the G.A.R. Hall.

G.A.R. stands for Great Army of the Republic.  It was an organization made up of veterans of the Union Army.  It disbanded once the last veteran died.

This hall looks like it has seen better days.  

The plaque called it The War of Rebellion.

The statue was the only memorial. The G.A.R. Hall now housing a distillery is not well cared for.  We had to slip under a chain fence to climb the stairs to see the memorial.  The property is full of weeds and tall grass.  Not very respectful.

Of the four statues I liked the Petersborough one the best though not its setting. The best setting is ours!

[When we returned home I wrote a letter to the editor of the Petersborough newspaper to bring their attention to how poorly the property is being maintained and how it shows a lack of respect for these veterans.]