Wreaths Across America Kicks Off Trek from Maine To Arlington

Wreaths Across America is getting ready to load up and drive from Columbia Falls, Maine to Arlington National Cemetary in Washington D.C. to transport wreaths to be placed on graves in remembrance of those buried there.

Wreaths Across America evolved from the Worcester Wreath company in Harrington, Maine. According to Wikipedia, in 1992, the company had a surplus of wreaths after Christmas was over. The founder of Worcester Wreath Company, Morrill Worcester, decided to donate 5000 wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, to honor the cemetery's dead. Volunteers and a trucking company helped get the wreaths to Arlington.

This went on for 13 years until a photo taken in 2005 of the gravestones covered with wreaths went viral. Thousands of people across the country wanted to do the same at their veteran cemeteries. The next year, Worcester Wreath supplied wreaths to over 230 state and national cemeteries and veterans monuments. In 2006, Worcester created Wreaths Across America to place wreaths on every headstone at Arlington National Cemetery.

Wreaths Across America's "Escort to Arlington" travels down the East Coast starting December 7 at West Quoddy Head Light, in Lubec and will arrive at Arlington National Cemetery on December 14, which is National Wreaths Across America Day. There are stops all along the route in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

If you'd like to meet the escort along the route, there's a complete list of stops at Wreaths Across America's website. Keep in mind all stops are not public, so check the list carefully before you head out to meet them.