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Organized on May 10, 1866, the Ladies' Memorial Association of Fredericksburg established, owns and maintains the Fredericksburg Confederate Cemetery. The Association cares for the graves and honors those Confederate soldiers who died in this area's four battles of the War Between the States. The Cemetery was dedicated in May of 1870 to 3,553 men from 14 states who were reinterred here -- including five Confederate Generals. The Cemetery is a major Fredericksburg historic attraction with 150,000 visitors each year. It is open free of charge seven days a week. Association members are available to assist researchers. We maintain listings and biographical information of soldiers buried in the Cemetery. Since 1867, the Association has held an annual Memorial Day ceremony in the Cemetery. Washington Avenue, where the Cemetery is located, is the most traveled thoroughfare in the City of Fredericksburg. More visitors traverse this street than any other in our city and the Cemetery is an integral part of the history that these visitors come to see. Two Local Firms Aid Cemetery with Free Major Repairs
Two local firms -- Carroll Memorials and Mike Witt's A Cut
Above Landscape and Tree Service -- have come to the aid of the Fredericksburg Confederate Cemetery.
Both donated their services for two major projects which help
insure the preservation of the hundreds of Confederate soldiers' gravestones which surround the Confederate Soldier
Monument.
Huge ancient trees were the culprits in both cases.
Carroll Memorials
In January 2006 during a windstorm, a huge oak tree -- roots
and all -- toppled into the gravestones to the left of the Monument. The City of Fredericksburg cleaned up the debris.
The tree's fall cracked and felled nineteen of the soldier's
stones.
Carroll Memorials, a 58-year-old local company, came to the
rescue, as they have in the past. In early May they pieced together the marble headstones using an adhesive. Some of the headstones are about half their original size since not all the parts were salvageable.
Mrs. Nancy Cole, Carroll's office manager, said, "Carroll
Memorials frequently donates services to the community as a way to say `thank you' for local support and business over the years."
A Cut Above Landscape and Tree Service
Meanwhile,, to the right of the Monument, another oak tree
had been casting menacing shadows for several years. Huge and rotting it had lost its last leaf a season ago. More
soldiers' stones were sure to be damaged if the tree fell and it was truly standing on borrowed time.
Mike Witt, owner of A Cut Above Landscape and Tree Service,
offered his time and company resources to remove the tree. It was a tremendous and painstaking job, especially in the mid-July heat and the presence of a hive of bees.
Mr. Witt's team also groomed branches of other trees in the
Cemetery at no charge.
"It's just my way of contributing when I can," Mike Witt
said.
The Ladies' Memorial Association is profoundly grateful to these two local businesses who are continuing a proud Fredericksburg tradition.
Mrs. Nancy Cole, Carroll Memorials, 1529 Olde William St.,
Fredericksburg, VA 22401; 540-373-8651. Mike Witt Helps Again
Without being asked, Landscaper Mike Witt has come to the
Cemetery's aid again, just as he did in 2006.
Last year Mr. Witt, owner of A Cut Above Landscape and Tree
Service, removed a huge rotting oak tree which endangered the Confederate soldiers' stones.
This year he and his workmen cleared out dead and broken
branches, cut hanging limbs from trees and removed piles of trash. Plans call for his work in the Cemetery to be featured in a national landscape magazine.
All of his work in the Cemetery has been done without charge.
We thank you, Mr. Witt!
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