GREENSPRINGS ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Journey Journal... Newfield, New York

A DECIMAL FESTIVAL... From Square One To Compound Interest

On a sun-drenched and auspicious September day, conviviality was particularly apparent at the Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve.  Human spirits were flourishing here amid pastures of bodily extinction.  Living souls were fully engaged in activities, fueled by the horsepower of concerted efforts.  Evidence of collegial harmony uniting a bevy of workers and participants prevailed.  One of the original founders of the cemetery was first spotted in an orange safety vest, helping a cohort direct newcomers to parking spaces.  

A celebration was underway to mark the tenth anniversary of the burial property’s founding.  The occasion brought together the visionaries who had launched this ecological initiative along with supporters and community folks interesting in learning more about a green, yet golden, opportunity.  

A tent served as central headquarters for a program of activities.  

Under its canopy were a microphone delineating a presentation corner, tables bearing light refreshments, and a beverage bar where an attendant served wine, beer, cider, and soda. 

Guests could park themselves either on folding chairs or atop ancillary bales of hay.   

Amid platters of fruits, veggies, cheese, and cupcakes, flickering candles lent ambience to the already naturally tranquil milieu. 

An a cappella group launched the program and set the tempo for a sequence of performances that followed, which included juggling, magic, and music. 

Key players in the cemetery’s development delivered information, updates, and grateful acknowledgment of particular contributors.  

People learned that two hundred and forty bodies have been buried there, with about one thousand more plots having been purchased and reserved for occupancy.  Thirty additional acres of land had recently been acquired, thereby enlarging the parcel of one hundred acres.  Use of a portion of the new territory for a pet cemetery is under consideration.  

Donations are solicited for projects and expenses of all sorts.

There are many opportunities for volunteer engagement, either as a one-time contribution or on a regular basis.  Assisting with burial ceremonies or greeting mourners are among the possibilities, in addition to serving as a representative at events such as tours and fundraisers.  

Rolling up one’s sleeves to tackle physical tasks is another option.  An old farmhouse alongside the access road has been pegged as a potential facility where visitors would be able to gather.  But for that to happen, it must be spruced up and adapted for that purpose.  Cleaning efforts could also be undertaken in the small building that serves as office headquarters.  Help with maintaining buildings and grounds might entail painting, gardening, or mowing.  And a parking lot is sorely needed, particularly at certain times of the year when navigating over grassland becomes a weather-induced challenge.  

Manpower is sought also to remove invasive species from the newly procured thirty-acre property.  Such an initiative is an ongoing mission throughout the entire cemetery terrain.  Non-native Norway spruce trees have been cut down in one of the meadows, consonant with a recommendation by an ecological advisory committee.  An annual December event, dubbed “Greenery Day,” draws a substantial number of people.  Last year two hundred individuals were on hand to topple the overgrown, non-native trees.  Folks who participate in this venture take home the tree tops to display as Charlie Brown Christmas trees.    

So Greensprings continues to be a work in progress… progress that has been remarkable during the past ten years, energized by the commitment of core leaders as well as the volunteers who have provided impressive donations of time, effort, and monetary support.   

As the program ebbed, in a bow to Buddhist tradition for wishing people well, a leader sang phrases as part of a “Loving Kindness Meditation,” invoking communal responses and contemplation of sentient words:  “May I be a source of healing, may I bring peace, may my heart be open, may I be awakened to my true nature, may you be a source of true healing, be at peace, may all beings awaken to the light of true nature…”  

Before a rendition of the well-known song, “Simple Gifts,” was sung, the burial coordinator referenced the emotional ramifications of burials at Greensprings.  Having participated in many interments there while believing that “nature is nurturing,” she has observed that being in a beautiful place helps to absorb mourners’ sadness. 

But Greensprings is for everyone, not just the mourners and the bodies of their deceased loved ones.  All seekers of outdoor resuscitation are welcome to connect with the land there by taking walks and using the grounds. 

Following the agenda of activities, guests were offered an opportunity to choose from a menu of “field trip” opportunities.  An ornithologist would lead a group through the territory to scout for bird sightings and sounds, where migratory bobolinks thrive along with meadowlarks, Henslow’s sparrows, northern harriers, and other winged flutterers.  The wife of one of the founders, Carl Leopold (whose body was buried on the grounds), is now a trustee who would give folks an overview of the cemetery’s plants.  The most colorful option entailed accompanying a gourde puppet bedecked in autumnal orange through the meadows to distribute milkweed seeds for propagation of butterfly habitats.

Dauntless guests may have opted to be led to the old, uninhabited farmhouse where the leader offered to descend into the basement for a peek at its potential.  But a number of people chose what was perhaps a less formidable and more illuminating option: an abbreviated tour of the grounds with visits to a few gravesites.  

The first stop was for a look at demonstration arenas.  Two rock-delineated gardens contained examples of native plants that families can choose to plant over graves; one has plants and the other has a small assortment of grasses.  

Nearby, the ground is dotted with examples of flat stones that would be appropriate grave markers.  

Burrowed within adjacent territory is the grave warmer (fueled by propane) that can be used if necessary to thaw the ground prior to a winter burial.  

Upon observing gravesites, individuals were given answers to their inquiries.

Plot dimensions are fifteen feet square, assuring low-density layouts and ease of maneuvering around graves with a backhoe. 

For the most part, bodies are not embalmed unless there is an extenuating circumstance.  One such situation relates to transport of a body from a state where embalming is required by law for transport to a different state.  It was noted, though, that bodies have been transferred to Greensprings by plane from California, Texas, and Georgia, but were not embalmed.

In accordance with a New York state regulation, a funeral director must certify that a body has been brought to the site of disposition.  One time a family transported their loved one’s body in a truck and the funeral director came in his own car.  

Currently, the cost for a plot to accommodate a body is $1,000., with an additional $1,000. fee for opening and closing the grave.  Small plots (290” X 90”)  can be purchased for burial of cremated remains, located in a small section of the cemetery; the cost is $350. for the space and an additional $350. to cover the fee for the burial process.    

Greensprings is characterized by heterogeneity of plot offerings.  That is, except for a field designated for Jewish burials where only Jewish people can be interred (according to the same natural principles that define green burials), there are no sections specifically for ethnic, religious, or fraternal groups.  

Across the road from the Jewish area, an expansive field labeled, “Bobolink Meadow” is where winter burials can be accommodated.  

Though New York City cemeteries are bursting at the seams, at this cemetery in the western realm of the state there's plenty of room to grow.  It was estimated that there is at least sixty percent availability of plots on land that has been surveyed, with lots of additional space in territory where surveys have not yet been conducted.    

*****

There was palpable excitement among the worker bees who had organized this afternoon affair.  It had been a success, judged by the responses and effusive affect of those who had attended the proceedings.  As a performer steered his car toward the road, he opened the window and called out to one of the organizers, acknowledging that he had enjoyed himself and he’d like to be invited back sometime.

Yes, it’s possible to enjoy oneself in a cemetery!  At this particular one, in contrast to visiting conventional burial grounds, it doesn’t entail reinforcing familiarity through observation of redundant hallmarks.  There are no headstones bearing entertaining epitaphs or paved walkways for daily strolls.  Here, unblemished by manifestations of mankind as a different type of invasive species, there’s a chance for immersion in an atmosphere that’s essentially free of human intervention.  Here, it’s possible to enjoy sensorial absorption, enabling one to get in touch with a primordial essence of beginnings and endings – the nature of natural cycles.  

Here, the presence of both the living and the dead represents a celebration of this elysian estate and all that is over, under, and around it.  On this re-appropriated parcel of land, one can’t help but feel appreciation for the impassioned spirits of those who seek to sustain nature’s bounty.   

Greensprings Facebook Page

Greensprings Website

Greensprings Photo Gallery

Finishing Touches Blog: Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve

Tompkins Weekly

The Ithaca Journal

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GREENSPRINGS NATURAL CEMETERY PRESERVE

Journey Journal... Newfield, New York

A SANCTUARY OF LEAVES FOR LEAVING

Imagine having this dream while buried in the depths of restful sleep:

You are ambling through exhilarating hilltop meadows 

under a breathtakingly alluring blue sky 

that’s crisply peppered with cumulus puffs.  

Tall wildflowers decorate the domain, boldly bespeaking patch-like formations suggestive of islands in a sea of grass… 

perpetually waving in response to the excitement of air.    

You observe the fluttering presence of winged aviators 

as they waft through the atmosphere and chirp melodically 

within enfolding branches of established trees rooted in history.  

Might these buoyant cherubs be angels?  

It is beautiful here.  

Borne of quiescence, calm prevails.  

You conclude that you are in heaven.

Then you wake up.  Suddenly, you realize your mind had transported you to a place in the real world that is Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve... the first green burial property in New York State and one of the first in the country.  

Your refreshing nocturnal interlude had put you in touch with a destination opportunity that can, indeed, be grasped when heaven calls.  

*****

This parcel of land encompassing one hundred and thirty acres that welcomes the dead is situated between forested territory south of Ithaca, in Newfield, New York.  Here, the unpretentious fusion of conservation initiatives with unadulterated surroundings poses a refreshing diversion from granite-studded grounds of conventional cemeteries. 

Formerly farmland, the expanse of primarily grasslands is bordered by both Arnot Forest, a 4,000-acre bird mecca owned by Cornell University, and the Newfield State Forest that encompasses 4,000 acres of protected woodlands. 

Here, where wildlife thrives in a habitat preserved for them, humans merge with beings living and dead in this creature compound.  Reverence for nature prevails.   

Seeded In Collaboration

Aware of the burgeoning concept of green burials, two women in Corning, Jennifer Johnson and Susan Thomas, had been nurturing an aspiration for the establishment of a natural burial site.  They even conceived the name, “Greensprings,” for a property that was not yet a reality.  

Meanwhile, in Ithaca, other individuals subsequently began thinking along similar lines.  Tom Eisner, an environmentalist and Cornell University professor, was contemplating a measure to memorialize people by placing a plaque at an entrance to a nature preserve.  Mary Woodsen, an Ithaca environmentalist and science writer, had been harboring thoughts about prospecting for a natural preserve specifically designated for scattering of cremated remains.  To this end, Mary collaborated with a like-minded preservationist and founder of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, Carl Leopold.  This man had won national acclaim as a plant physiologist and conservationist and had settled in Ithaca as a Cornell faculty member.  

In 2000, these three Ithaca locals joined forces when Tom Eisner inspired Mary and Carl to help establish a site for scattering of cremated remains.  At that time, thoughts had not turned to the prospect of using a preserve for burials.  But the focus changed in 2001, after Mary took a trip to visit South Carolina’s Ramsey Creek Preserve, the first natural cemetery established in the United States.  Having witnessed a lovely green burial, she returned energized and motivated to take action.  Her cohorts, however, initially felt disinclined due to the monumental complexities of such a project, thinking it would be too difficult.

At the time, they were not aware of the two Corning trailblazers who shared such an aspiration.  But, as Mary has said, these women were “way ahead of the game.”  In 2002 someone told Mary about Jennifer and Susan, prompting a phone call and subsequent joint meeting with Tom, Carl, and a few other like-minded folks.  Everyone was eager to work together, thereby setting the wheels in motion.    

Acquisition of property for this purpose was facilitated by the largess of the town supervisor, Herb Engman, who, as an ardent ecologist, was anxious to preserve the area’s beautiful terrain. Originally, he had intended to sell his one hundred acres of undeveloped holdings. After initially adopting a strategy for Greensprings to make payments over time, he eventually donated the land in a spirit of  commitment to the project.  He is now president of the cemetery’s Board of Trustees. 

Another member of the Land Trust, Joel Rabinowitz, became involved in 2004, joining the Board as the first non-founder.  He was immersed in the development and process while also participating in burials, eventually filling the role of director a year after the cemetery opened in 2006.  

The elected Board of Trustees, currently numbering nine individuals, is complemented by a bevy of volunteers who function in many different ways.  One of the founders, Jen Johnson, is the burial coordinator – a job that entails communication with providers as well as families and sometimes participation as the ceremonial officiant.  

The project has evolved over time into a successful enterprise, attracting attention through national publications and garnering approval for certification by the Green Burial Council.   

Bedding Down With Mother Nature

In accordance with green burial principles, bodies are buried under conditions that promote decomposition and a return of organic elements to the earth.  Their intimacy with the soil is facilitated by forbiddance of obstacles, particularly, metal caskets and concrete or steel vaults as well as plastic or other synthetic items.  Only biodegradable materials are permissible.  Preservation that stunts decay is contrary to such “composting” objectives, so embalming is prohibited, except under extenuating circumstances.  In spite of the low-density, fifteen-foot-square plots, little or nothing besides a body goes in the ground.  Bodies are wrapped in cotton, silk, wool, or other natural fiber fabric within simple cardboard coffins, natural caskets, or clothed in shrouds.

Though it is difficult for a backhoe to dig a shallow grave, the question of depth for interment is an ongoing one.  The old model of “six feet under” thwarts participation by biologically active, aerobic microbes living beneath the surface where oxygen is readily available. In an effort to capture potential for their engagement, burials at Greensprings are at a depth of four and a half feet.  

Bird's Eye View

At first glance, there is little to suggest the presence of bodies underground.  Conventional headstones and markers or alternative statuary are nowhere to be seen.  Instead, there may be a natural fieldstone flush to the ground over a site, sometimes nestled in tall grasses or brush.  It can be engraved at a family’s expense.  

An assorted collection of stones is situated alongside the cemetery office.  

Sometimes family members dig up rocks from the soil here that is full of them, placing them around the perimeter of a gravesite for additional delineation.

During the month of June, the idiom, “pushing up daisies” may come to mind among astute observers who realize the tall islands of daisies amid the otherwise green landscape are actually covering graves. The oxeye daisy is apt to be the first flora to bloom over a disturbed site, representing an unintended invasive species while announcing colorful significance.   

Gravesite locations are designated and recorded in accordance with a grid system. Simple markers serve as directional guides to sites. 

Phlox Marks The Spot

Families are permitted to plant certain native perennials, grasses, and ferns over graves.  An inclusive list of allowable varieties is given to them with guidelines, and samples are grown in small demonstration gardens.  

Gravesite planting can be a therapeutic form of expression for bereaved family members who reside in the vicinity of the cemetery.  Tending to living flora above the surface affords an opportunity to render ongoing ministrations in the name of the one whose body lies below, to whom tender loving care can no longer be directly administered.
  

A large area of colorful blossoms exemplifies a mother’s committed nurturance in response to the loss of her son who had died in his early twenties. 

Trees and shrubs can be selected by families and planted by staff, but only in a memorial grove by an area designated for sequential burials, that is, where more than one plot is allocated for additional family members

Generally, graves are situated amid wild and untamed meadows, except for intervention of ongoing efforts to remove invasive species. 

Mowing is minimal, thereby averting substantial carbon emissions from equipment.  Trails are maintained through routine cutting, but around grave sites the mowing is done only once a year, in October and November.  

Home On The Range

Attending a burial here is apt to endow mourners with an experience unlike any they’ve witnessed at conventional cemeteries.  Significantly removed from a main thoroughfare, the drive along a rural road to access Greensprings sets the stage for that which is to follow.  A sense of retreat from the frenzy of familiar sights and sounds greets them upon stepping out of their cars.  Here on a hilltop surrounded by and exposed to everything natural, one becomes keenly conscious of a peaceful balm… unless the wind is having a say in the matter.  All senses are activated, instilling the essence of life in this neighborhood of the dead.  

Final proceedings are conducted in a manner more homespun than commercial.  The contained or shrouded body is placed on a rudimentary cart for the journey to its final resting place.  Dubbed, “the pallbearer’s friend” or the “spirit barge,” students in a BOCES welding class were commissioned to construct this all-terrain means of conveyance featuring durable tires.  

A commonplace farm utility vehicle, often called a mule, is utilized as a mechanical mode for transporting people through the fields.  It helps individuals for whom walking in this terrain is difficult.  Most mourners, however, walk to the burial sites.  

Upon arriving at the gravesite, the pallbearers (who are often family members) lift the casket or body and lay it on cross pieces straddling the open grave.  Ethnic, religious, or military practices may be part of variable observances that transpire.  A meaningful service of committal usually precedes the lowering of the casket by hand (rather than mechanically) using lowering straps.  A ceremonial shoveling of dirt may follow, or the entire grave can be filled in by mourners, if desired.  The grave is covered with a mound of dirt that recedes over time as the body decomposes underneath it and eventually becomes flush with the ground.  Evergreen boughs are placed over and around the grave.  

Individuals in attendance become absorbed in the proceedings and the aura of it all.  "We've seen people come to a burial in pain and leave with joy," says Mary Woodsen.  "It can be transformative for people to lower their beloved dead into the grave themselves.  It's so different than the conventional approach, where you walk away after a committal service and a mechanical lowering device does the committal instead."  

Anyone who attends a natural burial may experience attitudinal remodeling.  Witnessing the basal return of a body to earthly elements can prompt a mutation of one’s death perception… that, in this context, the end of life begets new beginnings.  A green burial awakens the senses, causing people to take note of its logic while tapping into their internal reservoirs of feelings and spurring pervasive absorption that won’t be forgotten.

One woman documented her experience with these words:  “I went to a burial at Greensprings in the winter, with snow on the ground. There was a horse there to pull the body on a sleigh. The horse had black and silver livery, and it was so cold you could see the breath from the horse. The person who had died was in a shroud—you could see the shape of her body and there was greenery on the body for simple, natural decoration. People participated in filling the grave. There were a lot of tears, and there was something about that environment that seemed to welcome their heartbreak; the earth welcomed the body. They weren't putting the body in a lead-lined box and keeping the body from the earth. It was raw, painful, and beautiful. I wonder if the stark simplicity of such burials allows us to more deeply take in what has happened — and thus provides for some measure of healing.”  (Saoirse McClory, “Greensprings Completes a Natural Life, by Jayalalita for Green Leaf, GreenStar Natural Foods Market, originally published May 5, 2013)

*****

Perhaps the green burial movement in this country has ignited a newfound appreciation for the utility of human substance within an amazing sphere of creation.  Perhaps people are progressively welcoming opportunities for riveting connections impelled by expressive proceedings of death.  Increasingly, interest is being stoked by efforts like those of the Greensprings trailblazers who broke ground and unearthed an opportunity for ecologically conscientious bodily disposition.  Long live their spirit of devotion to the natural life cycle and organic renewal!  

Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve

Greensprings Photo Gallery

GreenStar Natural Foods Market Article

Tompkins Weekly

The Ithaca Journal

Finishing Touches Blog: Anniversary Celebration

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UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY CEMETERY

JOURNEY JOURNAL... West Point, New York

SUBTERRANEAN SPECIAL FORCES

The pastoral burial property is located in the Hudson Valley Highlands within the gates of the United States Military Academy.  

Photo Source: Wikipedia.org

Sheltered by trees, the West Point Cemetery, America’s oldest military cemetery and a national historic landmark, has served as quarters for men and women deployed to heaven from the time of the Revolutionary War (1775-1783) to the present.  Though not officially designated as a military cemetery until 1817, this promontory that was originally known as the “German Flats” had been utilized for interments of soldiers and local residents for several decades before that time.  After its formal classification as a cemetery, remains from several small gravesites scattered elsewhere on the post were moved here, along with others found during excavations for new construction projects.   

With a nod to the significance of this 8,000-strong underground detachment, the spirits of comrades, classmates, and others are mired in the hearts and minds of patriots still engaged in life’s operations.  Besides the military academy’s superintendents, past and present members of the Corps of Cadets, as well as its faculty and staff, leaders of every American war have been buried here.  Their physical remains and that of their families have been joined also by those of acclaimed engineers, athletes, and clergy… the old as well as the young:  

The Medal of Honor distinguishes twenty-four of the decedents.  

The number of West Point superintendents tallies twenty-five, including Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer, Class of 1808, who was afforded the title, “Father of West Point.”  Major General Winfield Scott was dubbed the “Grand Old Man of the Army.”  Names that tend to surface in elementary school history reviews include the Civil War cavalry commander, Colonel Custer, Class of 1861, and Major Anderson, Class of 1825, commander of Fort Sumter at the onset of the Civil War.  

Of more recent recognition might be Lieutenant Colonel Edward White from the Class of 1952, who was the first American to walk in space and subsequently died aboard Apollo One.  Interment of William Westmoreland, Class of 1936, who had been an extolled commander of various military operations, took place in 2005.  The cremated remains of Persian Gulf War commander and Class of 1956 graduate, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, were buried amid majestic military pomp in February, 2013, next to the plot of his father (Class of 1917), who was the founder of the New Jersey Police.      

Women are part of the encampment here as well.  A Revolutionary War heroine, Margaret “Molly” Corbin, engaged in battle as a surrogate for her mortally wounded husband and became the first female to be awarded privileges as a disabled veteran.  Second Lieutenant Emily Perez, Class of 2005, was the first female minority graduate, killed in 2006 by a bomb while leading a convoy; she was the first female African-American officer from West Point to die in combat, specifically, during the Iraq War.

So many individuals represented here had garnered plaudits for their accomplishments, while others were destined to the compound because of familial attachments.  The remains of some of the country’s most notable figures may be stationed next to those of people unknown to the masses; long-established gravesites and headstones are within range of newly excavated earth. 

Lying within a plain of dirt in close proximity to one another, this mosaic-like squad of the famous and those relatively undistinguished according to societal standards attests to an oft-quoted reality:  Death is the great leveler and all earthly glories vanish in death.  

“In the democracy of the dead all men at last are equal. 

There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the grave.”

                                                                                                         ~ John James Ingalls

Visitors may come to attention here, prompted by realization of a deviation from other military burial grounds.  In contrast to the Academy's campus milieu otherwise manifesting strictly defined formations and obligatory precision, the appearance of its cemetery might be unexpected.  Instead of the familiar sea of white tablets lined up repetitively in equidistant rows at other countrywide sites, there is a heterogeneous mix of stone memorials placed irregularly.  Rather than uniformity there is diversity.

Personally acquired stone memorials of various sorts are situated among the standard military versions.  

Some of the older ones are especially eye-catching because of their distinctions.  The headstone commemorating an eminent Army football coach, Earl “Red” Blaik, is in the shape of a football positioned for kick-off.  The body of a Civil War veteran, Egbert Viele, was interred in a two-story pyramid under the guardianship of two stone sphinxes.   

Photo Source:  ForUsAll Campaign for West Point, Cemetery Marketing

One- and two-hour bus tours are operated to enlighten people about the lives of historical figures and afford them an opportunity to absorb the surroundings.  Visitors are welcome all year round, throughout the week from sunrise to sunset, free to explore the grounds on foot.  There has been no master plan for plot arrangements and assignments.  Caretakers have made an effort to place the remains of classmates and friends close to one another.  Those that are casualties from the major wars may be in clustered sections.  

The caretaker’s cottage, erected in 1872, stands appropriately in guardianship adjacent to gravesites.

Photo Source: Wikipedia West Point media file

Originally, the Old Cadet Chapel was located across from the post’s clock tower at Bartlett Hall.  In 1910 when demolition was its proposed fate, a cadre of cadets who wanted it saved for posterity prompted its relocation to the cemetery.  

           Photo Source: Wikipedia West Point media file               

Contemporary columbarium walls follow the circular pattern of the cemetery’s layout.  

Photo Source:  ForUsAll Campaign for West Point, Cemetery Marketing

These burial grounds so rife with historical relevance are also filled to the gill with underground occupants.  After two centuries of open enrollment, so to speak, the capacity of this twelve-acre parcel is dwindling.  At the current rate of occupancy – one hundred forty to two hundred remains per year – it had been predicted that options for full bodily burials would evaporate within a decade.  Fortunately, that prospect has been addressed by the Academy and its graduates who have taken steps for expansion of the grounds as well as the construction of columbaria.  A development project was boosted by a monetary gift from the Class of 2011.  Plans include an embellishment of the modern age – a smartphone app that will enable visitors to identify sites.  

As a member of the association of graduates, Lieutenant Colonel Freed Lowrey, Class of 1967 and a Vietnam War veteran, has been active in raising funds for the project.  He aspires to be buried here in the company of classmates and comrades who died in the warfare they experienced together.  

“I want to be among soldiers.  I want to be among people of my own kind who have served and done so much for the nation and have sacrificed so much.  

I could be in Arlington, I could be in any national cemetery, but this is – and I’m not a religious person – I mean, West Point’s almost my soul.”  

                                                                                                    ~ Freed Lowrey

Noted in a mission statement, the intent of the West Point Cemetery is to deliver a final salute to those who have served the country.  Through commemorative actions and memorial tributes, may it be said, “Well done; be thou at peace.”

West Point for Us All: campaign marketing

Expanding hallowed ground at West Point cemetery

Wikipedia: United States Military Academy grounds and facilities

Wikipedia Media File: Caretaker Cottage

Wikipedia File: Old Chapel

John Ingalls Quote

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