Saturday, December 3, 2011

Illumination 2011

Dunkard Church, looking North Northwest, 17:04 Hrs., Saturday, December 3, 2011


At the break of dawn thousands of volunteers began laying out one candle for each casualty
 of September 17, 1862.


By early evening nearly 23,000 candles, now lit, glowed in the swales and meadows of the field.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wish i were there! John Banks

Jim Buchanan said...

It is quite a sight. The view eastward from the Visitor's Center is astonishing--a sea of candles riding limestone waves as far as you can see.

The volunteers come from all over and they number in the thousands. Companies of them from Southside Va, Lancaster, Pa, Rocky Mount, N.C., Rockville, Md. and a hundred other places.

The Dunkard Church field was laid out by a group of engineers who used survey tools to align the rows over the uneven ground. Others were laid out by Boy Scouts, church groups, civic organizations, families and friends.

Some years the weather can be challenging--snow, wind, rain--but this year it was clear, cold, and still.