Remember Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day, Historical Hikers!

For those with an interest in visiting historical places, Memorial Day holds a special, twofold significance.

Obviously, as the unofficial beginning of summertime, Memorial Day weekend is the time that all our favorite destinations are all on a summer schedule. Parks will be fully staffed and all the trails will be open by now. Hotels, restaurants, sporting goods stores, souvenir shops and yes, the tourist traps have been gearing up for this weekend, ready to receive tribute from tourists like ourselves.

Of far more significance however, is the meaning of Memorial Day. It is the day Americans reflect upon our fellow citizens who made the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of freedom and liberty. Nobody who makes history his or her hobby needs to be reminded of this. The sacrifice and courage of these men and women are the reasons why such places are preserved as tourist destinations.

The very first Americans to fall in defense of freedom did so on April 19th, 1775 in the small village of Lexington, Massachusetts. It was this small action that marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. It was this war that marked the beginning of the United States a nation. It was the United States that marked the beginning of freedom, democracy, and the right to better oneself in the modern world.



Americans continue to face dangers to democracy to this very day and hour. In 1775 the threat came from British grenadiers enforcing the will of the despotic king. In 1861 the threat came from secessionists who wished to continue the evils of slavery indefinitely. In 1917 nationalistic belligerents from Germany and Austria-Hungary assailed American democracy. In 1941 Americans went to war to stop ruthless totalitarianism and genocide. For fifty years more, the menace came from communist aggression. Today the foe is terrorism and religious fanaticism.

The directions from which threats come may change over time, but the resolution of the US citizen-soldier to confront them has been constant. Without such courage and resolution there’d be no America.



We who visit historical buildings, parks and cemeteries such as Valley Forge, Guilford Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Andersonville, Arlington, and the Arizona Memorial do so to get a more intimate perspective to the hardship and sacrifice so many Americans endured to bequeath to us the free and beautiful nation we so love today.