How many Capitol Hill residents know of this little gem of a park where over 500 union war soldiers are buried? It is on Howe Street between 10th and 15th.
For the past 10 years various neighbors have taken turns raising the flag over the park. This was started when the parks department was thinking of turning it into an off leash dog area. They recognized the error of their ways but asked the neighborhood to help them with the up keep. A friends of the GAR was started and now the park is healthy and green.
The person who raises the flag the most was looking for more stimulation so has been raising the flags of other countries loosely related to the park. On St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish flag, on Canada Day the Maple Leaf and coming up, the French flag on Bastille Day.
Come visit the park and see the French tricolor on the 14th.
I always thought that a civil war cemetery in Seattle was an anachronism considering there was almost no white settlement out here at the time. But I guess the veterans migrated West to die out here
“The person who raises the flag the most was looking for more stimulation so has been raising the flags of other countries”… hahaha, this is wild and almost flew under my radar
http://www.fgar.org/
Here’s the website for the Friends of the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery Park with all sorts of info about the cemetery including its history, all-volunteer revitalization and a list of those buried there (vets and spouses). Last update seems to be circa 2005.
Waiting for this to turn into a dog park thread. Oops.
Great little find. I found it by accident while taking a new walking route last year.
We used to walk the dog over by there. We once met one of the volunteers there who mentioned that the flag pole was actually one of the poles that used to be part of the Flag Pavilion at Seattle Center (now replaced with Fisher Pavilion or whatever). I always thought that was kinda cool that they recycled the flag pole for a second life at the cemetery.