Bristol Hills Historical Society

HELP the Historical society honor our towns’ veterans

The Bristol Hills Historical Society is a proud participant in the National Wreaths Across America Day, when thousands of cemeteries nationwide host wreath-laying ceremonies to honor the nation’s veterans and their families for the sacrifices they made.

In 2021, we held wreath-dedication ceremonies at our two towns’ veteran memorials. Our first official participation was on December 17, 2022, when we laid wreaths on the graves of 52 veterans buried in Bristol Center Cemetery and Coye Cemetery. So many local residents stepped up to sponsor the wreath purchases that we placed additional wreaths at the veteran memorials at the South Bristol Town Hall and at Levi Corser Park in Bristol, along with multiple wreaths at another of our towns’ oldest cemeteries, Wilder Cemetery. On the day of the wreath-laying, volunteers helped locate each grave to place the wreaths and say each veteran’s name.

Thanks to this outpouring of support, we officially added Wilder to our program on December 16, 2023, along with a fourth historic cemetery, Vincent Hill in Bristol. We found sponsors for more than 75 veterans’ graves in those four cemeteries, some dating to the Revolutionary War, and three dozen volunteers helped lay the wreaths after a ceremony in the society’s 1846 Bristol Center Church. Thanks to the enthusiastic participation in the 2023 event, we plan to participate again in 2024 — perhaps expanding to more cemeteries if we have enough sponsors and volunteers.

If you are interested in helping, please contact us at bhhswreaths@gmail.com.

Sponsorships purchase wreaths hand-crafted in Columbia Falls, Maine, of all-American balsam and hand-tied with a red velvet bow. Volunteers place a wreath on each veteran’s grave and “say their name” to ensure that the legacy of duty, service and sacrifice of that veteran and their family is never forgotten.

Click here for more details announcing the December 16, 2023, event.

Sign up at the bottom of this page for the Historical Society’s free email newsletter, which will provide updates on this and other Society events. The ceremonies will also appear on our events calendars on this website and on our Facebook page.

The society thanks Bristol resident A.J. Magnan, Commander, U.S. Navy (Retired), for proposing our involvement in this project and for leading it.

Below are more photos from the 2021, 2022, and 2023 events. Click on a photo and then scroll through the collection.