Bethel Memorial Park Cleanup

On this Veteran’s Day, we invite you to join us for a community service project at Bethel Memorial Park Cemetery.

The purpose of this project is to shed light on Bethel Memorial Park Cemetery, an historical resting place that served Huntington’s Black community from 1927 to 1974. Unfortunately, it has been left neglected for the past half-century. In recent years, various community partners have joined hands in an effort to restore honor and reverence to Bethel Memorial Park.

In honor of the veterans resting within, we are planning to clean the cemetery grounds, meticulously locate and identify all veteran grave markers, place American flags in front of these markers, and, where possible, clean and restore headstones. This endeavor is a tribute to the rich history, a call to raise awareness, and an act of respect for the memory of those who served our nation.

This project is organized by our MK130 Principles of Marketing class. To gain a deeper understanding of Bethel Memorial Park’s background and significance, we encourage you to watch and share the short documentary that this class produced to support this project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuVBtEknOGA.

Projects include Grounds Cleanup; Veteran Marker Identification; Flag Placement.

With the help of research by the Westmoreland NSDAR, we have identified 63 veterans who rest at Bethel. We estimate that 35-40 have headstones. Many are in unmarked graves. To ensure each veteran is recognized, a tag with their name and biography will be attached to each flagpole. For those veterans we cannot locate a headstone for, a flag will be placed along the entrance of Bethel.

Flags will remain up until Tuesday morning so that the members of the community can visit anytime over Veteran’s Day weekend. The gates to Bethel will be open from 8am to 8pm from Saturday to Monday. To our knowledge, this is the first time Bethel will be open to the public in nearly 50 years.

This event is Rain or Shine. You don’t need to spend the entire day – even an hour or two can help. We encourage students, friends, family, and colleagues to attend and lend a hand or visit over the weekend to pay respects.

Refreshments and lunch will be available for all attendees. Make sure to wear clothes that can get dirty and closed-toes shoes. Shovels, spades, weed eaters, and small garden tools are welcome. For questions or additional information, please contact Josh Keck at keck11@mctc.edu or call 304-654-0075.

Let’s pay our respects, make a positive impact on our community, and honor our veterans. See you there!