Friends to host 2nd Annual Remembrance Illumination in Soldiers’ National Cemetery

(11/10/2004) Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg will present the second annual Remembrance Illumination on Saturday, Nov. 20, from 5:30-9:30 p.m. in the Soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg. More than 3,500 luminary candles will be lit on the graves of Civil War soldiers; the event is free and open to the public.

Related activities will take place from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Rupp House History Center, 451 Baltimore Street. Guests at the Rupp House include popular living historian James Getty, portraying Abraham Lincoln, and author Kent Gramm, honorary Remembrance Illumination chair. More than 150 volunteers are helping the Friends make this event possible.

"The Friends, as part of its mission, is committed to honoring the resources associated with the Battle of Gettysburg," said Barbara J. Finfrock, Friends’ chair and acting executive director. "We are honored to present this event as a testament to those who sacrificed so much and have such an important place in American history."

Visitors will be able to enter the National Cemetery via both of its entrances­Baltimore Street and Taneytown Road (across from the National Park Service visitor center). In keeping with the solemnity of the event, no flash photography or video camera lights will be permitted within the Cemetery from 6 to 9 p.m.

Founded in 1989, the Friends has given more than $6 million to the National Parks at Gettysburg. The organization’s mission­on behalf of all generations of Americans­is to honor, support, protect and enhance the resources associated with the Gettysburg National Military Park, the Battle of Gettysburg and the Eisenhower National Historic Site.

For more information about the Remembrance Illumination or about the Friends, call 717-334-0772 ext. 225, send an E-mail to dneil@friendsofgettysburg.org or visit www.friendsofgettysburg.org.