Eagle Scout Project Inspiration
A funny thing happened on the way to get approval for this Eagle Scout project—it was rejected by the first beneficiary—a different cemetery in Loudoun called North Fork Baptist. It was at this cemetery in 2011 that the Craig Family found out they were not the first from the family tree to live in Loudoun. In fact several generations from the 1700 and 1800's were early settlers of this county. Our family is into genealogy, so this pocket of ancestors was a real surprise to us Virginia transplants. During a visit with grandparents, we had seven generations of Craig's on the same ground in this cemetery and the idea cropped up that there was an Eagle Scout project here—the cemetery is old and not well taken care of. Initially, the Veteran-focus for the project hadn't come to Jack's mind—the idea was simply to upright some headstones which had fallen over and were buried. At the last minute for approving the Eagle Scout project, the owner of the cemetery decided to decline the project. We learned later that North Fork has many more veterans than Arnold Grove, so we hope at some point the owner of the cemetery will accept more help restoring the graves.
We'd normally be very frustrated with this setback but had it not been for this experience, Jack's project would have been small in comparison. You see, while visiting North Fork in the Summer of 2012 to flesh out ideas for the project, Jack met the person who became a great mentor and helped make this project "awesome." Ken Fleming is an avid Civil War enthusiast and collector, member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and a man who has dedicated years of his free time restoring veterans headstones...100+ to date. Ken happened to be restoring a few Confederate graves here and that's how Jack learned the best way to restore a headstone. Ken also showed him how time and gravity pull at headstones as the graves settle, and they fall over and ultimately sink in the ground, to be lost forever. There are probably 100 or more lost graves in North Fork. To experience how to find one, Ken encouraged Jack and his dad to uncover a headstone. It happened to be one of the lost Civil War Veterans! (These odds are similar to a scout making Eagle.)
It was then that the Eagle Scout Project was defined, and a great friendship made.
We'd normally be very frustrated with this setback but had it not been for this experience, Jack's project would have been small in comparison. You see, while visiting North Fork in the Summer of 2012 to flesh out ideas for the project, Jack met the person who became a great mentor and helped make this project "awesome." Ken Fleming is an avid Civil War enthusiast and collector, member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and a man who has dedicated years of his free time restoring veterans headstones...100+ to date. Ken happened to be restoring a few Confederate graves here and that's how Jack learned the best way to restore a headstone. Ken also showed him how time and gravity pull at headstones as the graves settle, and they fall over and ultimately sink in the ground, to be lost forever. There are probably 100 or more lost graves in North Fork. To experience how to find one, Ken encouraged Jack and his dad to uncover a headstone. It happened to be one of the lost Civil War Veterans! (These odds are similar to a scout making Eagle.)
It was then that the Eagle Scout Project was defined, and a great friendship made.