On Friday, May 22, 2009, I took part in the annual lantern tour organized by Mark Tennant. This tour focuses on the many Union soldiers buried in the Grafton National Cemetary located on the south side of downtown Grafton (not the new cemetary at Pruntytown a few miles away). For this year’s tour, we had excellent weather; a nice turnout of reenactors, consisting of 4 civilian and ten military personnel and a crowd of around 100 interested spectators.
The program began just before dark and consisted of opening remarks by Mark, followed by a historical presentations including one by Sylvia Hayhurst on mourning customs of the Civil War era and a presentation by noted local historian and writer Hunter Lesser.
Mark then commenced the tour by leading the crowd to the graves of a number of soldiers he has researched and discussing each individual’s particular history by the light of lanterns held by two reenactors assisting him. Appropriate music was provided by bugler John Wible from Youngwood, PA.
As usual, the program was interesting and well-received by the crowd. All the participants should feel some pride in a job well done. Mark in particular, has put a lot of work into this project and has come up with a very impressive small event.
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