GREENVILLE – The Greenville Union Cemetery, both the old and new sections, are open for the 2024 Memorial Day weekend.
Following the recent tornado, the cemetery staff, under the direction of Greenville Union Cemetery Superintendent Tracy Tryon, worked hard to have the more than 100-acre cemetery open for the holiday weekend and completed a job well done.
Greenville Union Cemetery Veteran’s Monument and Cannon
The Civil War Grand Army of the Republic Veteran likeness is the calling card of Greenville Union’s section 6, known as the veterans’ section.
Local businessman-banker Frank Mcwhinney and his wife Martha provided funding for its erection. He was an officer veteran of the American conflict of the 1860s.
This is the same person who also gave money to build the cemetery’s beautiful main entrance arch at the end of North Main Street. In addition to the stone arch, there was once a long cast iron fence stretching northward nearly to the mausoleum and huge and very heavy cast iron pedestrian and vehicle gates. These were eventually donated to World War Two’s nationwide scrap metal drive.
Mr. Mohinnen ensured that the Civil War gentleman, its base, and its inscriptions were completed in time for an official dedication program on Memorial Day, 1903.
The Cannon
A silver-painted iron U.S. Navy weapon mounted on its own stone base fits directly into the veterans’ section theme and purpose.
The letter-by-letter history of the cannon remains hidden, but research indicates it was dutifully obtained through the efforts of Greenville resident and U.S. Congressman Harvey C. Garber. A plaque on the base attests to this fact.
The cannon had its own dedication program on Memorial Day in 1904, exactly one year after that of the Civil War soldier monument a few yards to the north.
