A blog about living in Aberdeen, New Jersey.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

History: Decoration Day Parade in Matawan, May 1884

The 31 May 1884 edition of The Matawan Journal describes the route of the annual Decoration Day parade in Matawan.

It is expected that the line will parade up Main street to the intersection of the Old Bridge turnpike; countermarch down Main St. to the Morristown road thence they will proceed to Rose Hill cemetery,
where the graves of soldiers and firemen will be decorated. They will then return to town, and up Jackson to Church; cross Church to Broad; down Broad to Little; cross Little to Main, and up Main to the vacant store formerly occupied by Chas. A. Geran, where a collation, provided by ladies of Matawan, will be spread for all in the line.

A collation is a light meal. The term has Roman Catholic origins.

Decoration Day memorialized Civil War dead in many parts of the North after the war.

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