Blue Star Memorial Highway A tribute to the Armed

Murfreesboro, NC

This monument in Murfreesboro, a small Chowan River town in northeastern North Carolina, honors the local men and women who served in the wars of the twentieth century. From the trenches of World War I through World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, communities like this one sent generations of their sons and daughters into conflicts fought across Europe, the Pacific, and Asia. Rather than singling out one war, the memorial gathers a full century of service and sacrifice into a single civic tribute.

Greensville County, VA

Blue Star Memorial Highways trace to 1945, when New Jersey garden clubs began planting living tributes of dogwoods along a highway to honor World War II service members. The name echoes the blue-star service flags that families hung in their windows for a loved one in uniform. The program spread nationwide through the garden-club federations, and this Virginia marker, placed with the state highway department, carries that remembrance to travelers along the road.

Northampton County, NC

Blue Star Memorials began in 1945 as a garden-club tribute to armed-forces members, named for the blue-star service flags families hung for loved ones at war. This Northampton County, North Carolina marker was placed by the Garden Clubs of District XII with the Garden Club of North Carolina. It links a rural corner of the state to a national tradition of remembrance.

Mecklenburg County, VA

The Blue Star Memorial Highway tradition dates to 1945, when garden clubs first planted memorial trees along a New Jersey road to honor World War II servicemembers; the program soon went national. The blue star recalls the service flags families displayed at home during the war. Placed by the Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs with the state's Department of Transportation, this marker in Mecklenburg County honors all who have defended the United States.