Friendship Cemetery
"Where Flowers Healed a Nation"
After uploading my National Board Renewal (yes, it was insane!), I decided to take a day for myself and went to Columbus, MS. I spent a couple of years in Columbus when I attended Mississippi University for Women (MUW) to earn my Paralegal Studies Degree and I have many fond memories from there. But it had been a long time, so a trip was overdue.
First on my list that morning was Friendship Cemetery. It was here that a southern tradition of putting flowers on a loved one's grave in memory began. My family does it every year and has since before I was born, puts flowers on our loved ones' graves on the "2nd Sunday" in May - Mother's Day. Tradition began in Columbus when two women set out to place flowers on the graves of their Confederate soldiers. But as they walked among the graves which included Yankee soldiers, their hearts hurt for the families who wouldn't be able to honor their loved ones in the same way so, in a kind gesture, they placed flowers on ALL soldiers' graves. It was the beginning of the modern day Memorial Day. And it was known as the places "Where Flowers Healed a Nation."
The cemetery is sitting on a bluff overlooking the Tombigbee River and was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It was founded in 1849, is made up of 65 acres, and has veterans from at least 6 wars beginning with the American Revolution.
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