Revolutionary War patriots memorialized at local park
BECCA OWSLEY The News-Enterprise
A new memorial was added Sunday afternoon to the landscape of Freeman Lake Park.
A special service involving the Col. John Hardin Chapter Kentucky Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Capt. Jacob Van Meter Chapter Kentucky Society Daughters of the American Revolution took place lakeside to unveil the American Revolution Patriots Memorial, an obelisk featuring the names of the American Revolution Patriots with a connection to Hardin County.
Beverly Heath, a member of DAR, said the organization’s goal is to honor the patriots that fought in the Revolutionary War and to preserve history. The local chapter has 92 members and celebrates it’s 75th anniversary in January. The local SAR organization has 42 members and is five years old.
The day included many dressed in early American clothing and traditional elements were included in the ceremony, including a drum and fife.
Many of the men were dressed in Revolutionary War uniforms and a few women and young girls wore long dresses and bonnets to add to the atmosphere of the day’s celebration.
Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory recognized the city and park officials that helped create a spot in the park for the memorial that included a brick pathway and concrete area around the memorial.
“Elizabethtown is very proud to have this,” he said, adding all veterans are important to this community.
During the ceremony, Gregory read a proclamation declaring the day American Patriots Day in recognition of the memorial unveiling.
Janet Coleman, regent, Capt. Jacob Van Meter Chapter of the NSDAR, said the city did most of the groundwork for the project and helped get it completed.
She said those who are a part of DAR have a connection to history through their ancestry. She said organizations like those who organized the memorial help people find their place in American history through researching their ancestry.
Coleman, along with John Humphries, president of the Col. John Hardin Chapter of NSSAR, unenvied the memorial Sunday afternoon.
The memorial includes the names of 247 patriots who lived in the boundaries of Hardin County in 1793. They served in the American Revolution sometime between 1775 and 1783.
Bricks surrounding the memorial have the names of other patriots from the original 13 colonies.
Becca Owsley can be reached at 270-505-1416 or bowsley@thenews enterprise.com.