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Staff Report

The National Park Service will host its 4th Annual Park Day at Camp Nelson National Monument on Saturday, April 13, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and is inviting anyone available to volunteer that day.

Since 1996, the American Battlefield Trust (ABT) has sponsored Park Day as an annual preservation event nationwide for Civil War and Revolutionary War sites. Park staff and volunteers will get together to participate in preservation activities, including cleaning headstones and maintaining the grounds.

The Annual Park Day will occur at the Hall Cemetery, located at the former Home for Colored Refugees at Camp Nelson during and after the Civil War. The cemetery is the final resting place for US Colored Troops, former refugees, their families and descendants, and residents of the Hall. 

NPS staff will acknowledge community members and living descendants, deliver a short program detailing the cemetery’s history and provide a training tutorial on properly cleaning headstones before the event begins.

Volunteers will meet NPS staff at Camp Nelson National Monument’s Visitor Center at 9:00 a.m. for orientation and paperwork. NPS staff will lead a vehicle caravan from the park to the Hall Cemetery, located southwest of the Visitor Center across US-27 in the Hall community. The NPS will provide all tools and supplies. Volunteers should wear long sleeves and pants and bring a water bottle. Participants will receive a Park Day bag courtesy of the American Battlefield Trust.

Camp Nelson National Monument is located at 6614 Danville Road Loop 2.