Julia Pierpont Day

Julia Pierpont Day is a holiday proclaimed by West Virginia in 2005 as a day to honor Julia Pierpont as the originator of "Decoration Day," known today as Memorial Day. It is held on the Saturday before Memorial Day.

Historians agree that Memorial Day dates back to the Civil War. Although there are different stories about the exact origin of Memorial Day*, many historians believe that Julia Pierpont was the originator of what was then known as "Decoration Day".

Julia Pierpont was the wife of the restored Governor of Virginia, Francis H. Pierpont of Fairmont, (West) Virginia, also recognized as the "Father of West Virginia".

The story goes that while living in the Governor's Mansion in Richmond Virginia in 1866, Julia Pierpont felt that the graves of Union soldiers buried in the Hollywood Cemetery, overlooking Richmond, looked shabby and abandoned. . She and a Miss Woolsey, a New Yorker who teaches at a school for African-American children, decided to decorate and beautify the graves. They, along with the Pierpont children, children from African-American schools and many friends, gathered together and "paradised" to the cemetery to bravely decorate the graves.

When people across the state heard about the event, it was met with approval and condemnation. A few weeks later, thousands of people from all over Virginia participated in another Decoration Day by giving speeches and decorating the graves of Confederate soldiers. News of the event spread across the country, and more Decoration Day events followed.

Julia Pierpont is credited with inspiring the country. Many historians feel that her first observations of Decoration Day prompted further such observations and culminated in General John A. Logan, Commander-in-Chief of the Great Communist Army. peace, proclaimed May 30 as the annual national "Decoration Day". May 5, 1868.

Each year, the Saturday before Memorial Day is set aside to pay tribute to Julia Pierpont by getting the graves of veterans ready for Memorial Day.