I haven’t written a ton on this blog about local history or sites (I blame the whole work thing…), but that’s part of what I want to post here. So, since we ventured out to the cemeteries on Memorial Day weekend, I thought I’d post a few pictures. Saturday night we joined some friends for an event at the battlefield, where annually for about the last decade the Boy Scouts have put lanterns out around the graves:
Close-up of the luminaria at Fredericksburg National Cemetery.
It’s breathtakingly eery (especially when they play Taps), beautiful, and very impressive.
A wider view of the cemetery.
And on Sunday we were downtown and saw the city/Confederate cemetery open (its gates are often locked), and seized the opportunity to head inside. Lots of neat old graves, and lots of names that we recognized from street names in town. And this:
The Confederate cemetery.
One of those moments. Virginia is beautiful (look at that picture!) and historic, and I certainly understand the desire to remember any and all veterans, especially on Memorial Day. But that commemoration can also carry uncomfortable (for me, anyway) undertones.
