I’m walking through history right now at Linden Cemetery in rural Christian County, Missouri. Beneath this sunny sky, accompanied by birds, breeze and traffic from a nearby road, I’m thinking about May 30, 1915 when I’ve read that 500 people gathered here for Decoration Day. Ozarkers came to decorate graves with flowers, to reminisce and remember “friends and loved ones who have gone to that undiscovered country from which no traveler returns,” the local newspaper columnist noted.
In the past, Decoration Day was a big deal for cemeteries across our rural region and beyond.
The observance began after the Civil War to honor fallen soldiers. Over time, it grew into decorating graves of all loved ones. Today, that event has morphed into Memorial Day. There is a parallel of quote “decorating” graves with flowers, but the events are quite different. In the past, Decoration Day was recognized on May 30 and was a reunion-like celebration.
And that effort took those folks to the Linden Cemetery in 1915. The day was filled with dinner, at least one talk from a Professor Hendricks and decorating the graves. As the paper put it, “after the exercises were over, all returned to their homes feeling that they had done their duty in remembrance of the departed friends and relatives.”
That sounds pretty solemn, but Decoration Day was also about fun, friends and family.
"When I was doing interviews with people, I had somebody, one man, tell me that it was a bigger day than Christmas," said Abby Burnett, an expert on Arkansas cemeteries and customs, traditions that often mirror rural Missouri in days gone by. "You got new clothes for Decoration. You saw your relatives. You had the best food. You saw your cousins."
Burnett said Decoration Day often came after a once-a-year clean-up. After all, they didn’t have lawnmowers like we do today.
"The cemetery was only cleaned once a year," Burnett said. "Just before Decoration, you have a working day. And there are pictures of people, women in big bonnets, old clothes, men in overalls, really looking dirty, holding their implements, rakes, shovels, loppers, and they would go in and lop out all the brush, restack any stacked-stone graves, write any toppled tombstones and get it ready for the Decoration. And that was a whole separate thing, because it was so much work."
These stories make me turn to May Kennedy McCord, an Ozarks chronicler in the early 20th century. In 1938, she wrote about Decoration Day with nostalgia, recalling its place in close-connected community life. Here’s part of what she wrote:
“There is something so sweet about Decoration Day in the country and little village graveyards that just simply is not there in the formality and ceremony of the larger cemeteries. We know where everyone is buried and when they were buried. We know all their people – we know the circumstances of their death. We visit and recall the old days. We divide flowers and there is such a sweetness of spirit and such a tenderness and sense of peace out on the sun-bathed hill.”
“Sometimes we would take a picnic lunch — not to spread out with everybody, but just for ourselves, and sit on the steps out there, maybe eat it, or spread a blanket somewhere," said Lola Belle Underwood, who remembers Decoration Day observances long past.
She has lived most of her 89 years in rural Webster County, Missouri and attended various observances as a child. The flowers her family brought were often what they found nearby. She points to a jar on her table filled with purple, white and pink flowers, including some vibrant peonies. She said that was similar to what they took to places like Marshfield and rural Pleasant Hill.
"We brought what we had in our yard," she said. "We always took it in a Mason jar. As I recall, Marshfield had water fountains there, but out in the country, we'd take our own jug of water to fill with the vases. My sister was talking to one of her friends this morning, and she said they always took tin cans and aluminum foil tin foil to decorate it up a little bit make it look a little nicer."
At other times, people made flowers from crepe paper. One book from the 1920s gave detailed instructions to make 30 different types, ranging from Apple Blossom to Wisteria. Sometimes the flowers were dipped in wax to make them last longer.
But they didn’t stay the same forever and neither did Decoration Day. Burnett said that was likely due to cascading social shifts around the Great Depression and World War II. People left the Ozarks – for war and in search of a better life – and many of them didn’t return.
"Everything starts changing," Burnett said. "But people, even the ones, when they do come back...I don't think the traditions were maintained."
"An official nail in the coffin was in 1971, when Memorial Day as we know it now was declared a federal holiday. People today visit cemeteries gradually, eliminating the reunion-like feel of Decoration Day when folks were there at the same time. But there are still places across the Ozarks that specifically mark Decoration Day with a service and dinner on the grounds, even if it’s not on May 30.
For a second, let’s go back to Linden. As I walk through the cemetery, I’m thinking about the people buried here and the little white church where folks used to gather. Perhaps some of the people buried here were at that Decoration Day in 1915. But to me, all of these layers remind me of the importance of place and connection to where we are. Even if Decoration Day isn’t widely recognized any longer, we can still find meaning in the places and spaces that link generations of us.
