Prospect Hill Cemetery and Their Flags

I live in Lancaster County, but I cross the Susquehanna River occasionally to visit ancestors in York County.  I start in York City, work my way west to Chambersburg, up to Shippensburg and continue in a circle back across the river into Harrisburg and wind my way home either down thru the river towns or a little inland.  It doesn’t matter; I have people buried all over this area!

About a year and a half ago on one of our autumn rides, we stopped by Prospect Hill Cemetery in the City of York to visit kin.  The most awesome sight greeted us and overwhelmed us.  It was a clear day with beautiful blue skies, just the right backdrop for literally thousands of red, white and blue American flags planted on the hillside at the entrance of the Cemetery.

 

Prospect Hill Cemetery, York, Pennsylvania

There were so many flags, you simply could not get them into one picture, unless you had a wide angle lens, which my cheap (cheap in comparison with some of the big boys!) little digital camera doesn’t!  I had to take three different pictures to cover the scope of the display.  What you see above is the center of the display with the Cemetery Office at the top of the hill.

 

Prospect Hill Cemetery, York, Pennsylvania

The above photo is looking to the left, the bottom, looking to the right.

 

Prospect Hill Cemetery, York, Pennsylvania

Now, according to their website, there are over 5,000 flags, representing deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They are taken down in the fall and replaced in the spring.  I stopped in the office while I was there and the woman who recorded the deaths told me each time she received a new name it brought tears to her eyes.  

If you are ever in the mid-state Pennsylvania area in spring, summer or fall, make it a point to stop by this cemetery.  You will be overwhelmed.  I was.