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Do you realize that most of us live within a few miles of one or more museums of art and history, open during daylight hours, with free admission, created by past and current citizens, on land that was likely donated by a generous benefactor?
I'm talking about the cemeteries that dot the landscape. They contain a wealth of historical information and display a variety of artistic expressions.
In less than a week, on Monday, May 29, we will observe Memorial Day.
In the years following the Civil War, in which more than 600,000 men died, veterans in small towns in both North and South began decorating the graves of their comrades with flowers.
In 1868, veteran John Logan established May 30 as Decoration Day, on which people on both sides of the war were encouraged to place flowers on the graves of family members and friends who had fallen during the war.
He chose May 30 since many flowers are in bloom at that time.
After World War I, the graves of those who had fallen during that war were also decorated, and so on with subsequent wars.
In fact, it became the practice in many families to go to the cemeteries and decorate the graves of deceased family members, even if they had not perished in combat.
To this day, many observe this practice.
Decoration Day came to be known as Memorial Day, but it only became an official federal holiday in 1971 when the date was adjusted from May 30 to the last Monday in May.
If in the last decade or two your family has paid to erect a monument for a loved one, then you have some idea of the immense dollar investment to create these marvelous open-air museums that we call cemeteries.
Our cemeteries are a treasure.
Just like our lawns, they require frequent mowing throughout several months of the year. Imagine mowing and trimming around all those gravestones, time after time.
It costs a lot to maintain these cemeteries. Most are maintained by churches, in too many cases comprised of dwindling and aging congregations.
In this month of Memorial Day, wouldn't it be great if we identified each cemetery where our ancestors and family members are buried and sent a contribution to the cemetery fund or the general fund of that church or cemetery association.
A modest gift is fine, and a generous donation would be great from those of us who can afford it. Donations for general cemetery care are tax-deductible.
I can envision treasurers throughout the region, delightfully swamped as they spend hours preparing checks for a bank deposit.
Let's make it happen.
(The writer resides in McVeytown.)