The public is invited to the annual Memorial Day Observance, taking place at the historic Montgomery Cemetery, located at One Hartranft Ave. in West Norriton.
The Montgomery County Historical Society organizes the annual observance, which will begin at 11 a.m. The event will feature wreath lying, military reenactors, as well as other ceremonial observances.
After the ceremony, light refreshments will be served at around 1 p.m. Other activities of the Memorial Day observance will include walking to certain gravesites.
The event is free and open to the public. Visitors should meet at the Aderman Gatehouse at the cemetery by 11 a.m.
As listed in the Norristown Patch directory, Montgomery Cemetery is a historic formal garden-type cemetery that has been in existence for over 150 years. The Historical Society of Montgomery County owns and maintains the site, which is no longer an active cemetery, and oversees its continuing restoration.
According to Karen Wolfe, executive director of the Historical Soceity of Montgomery County, the Society took over responsibility for the entire cemetery in the 1990's after years of neglect, vandalism and wear had taken their toll.
"Through the efforts of community groups, Civil War groups and private citizens, the Society has been able to return the cemetery to some of its former beauty. We are privileged and honored to be the caretakers of this historic hallowed ground," Wolfe said in an e-mail. "Over 400 veterans are at rest at Montgomery Cemetery, many of whom paid the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation. We enjoy the hopes and freedom that these young men and women must have cherished when their lives were cut short in defense of our Nation."
Wolfe said that the annual Memorial Day observance stems from the words of Theodore Bean, the society's first preseident and Colonel during the Civil War. She said Bean wrote in his jounral on Dec. 31, 1864:
“Here ends the year full of tragic interest and glorious history, full of sorrow to many who have lost the youthful promise of home.”
"This is the reason the Society has the Annual Observance at the Historic Montgomery Cemetery," Wolfe said.
Among the 400 veterans laid to rest at the cemetery areive Civil War Generals, including the Civil War Generals are Gen. Samuel K. Zook, who fought at Gettysburg, where he received, fatal wounds; Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, Brevet Maj. Gen. John Frederick Hartranft, Brevet Brig. Gen. Matthew McLennan and Brevet Brig. Gen. Adam Jacoby Slemmer.
According to Wolfe, the wreathes will be placed on all five Civicl War Generals' graves with special ceremonies at General Hancock's Mausoleum, General Hartranft's memorial, General Zook's grave and the Zook Post No. 11 Grand Army of the Republic Plot.
In a previous Patch article , 33 Civil War veterans are interned at the Gen. Zook Post No. 11 plo. The post provided a proper military burial for the veterans, whose families were unable to afford to bury them.
Also in the article, Wolfe further explained that Hancock played a “major” role in the action at Gettysburg, who went on to run unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate in the 1880 presidential election. Hartranft, also went on to serve as the governor of Pennsylvania in the 1870s. According to the article, 10,000 people attended when the large obelisk monument was erected on Hartranft’s grave at Montgomery Cemetery.
For more information, contact the historical society at 610-272-0297.