Blue Star Memorial Highway (Surry County)

Elkin, NC

Gold Star Families Memorial Monuments honor the families of American service members who died in the line of duty, a tradition of remembrance rooted in the service flags families displayed during wartime. This monument in Elkin joins a nationwide network of such memorials dedicated to those who gave their lives for the country. It stands as a gathering place for reflection on sacrifice that reaches across generations of American conflicts.

Boone, NC

On a college campus in the North Carolina mountains, this memorial honors the students, faculty, and staff who left their studies and their work to serve the country — and died in that service. It draws no distinction of rank or era, holding in one place the losses of every generation the wars touched. Memorials like this turn a place of learning into a place of remembrance.

Davidson County, NC

This Blue Star Memorial Highway marker, sponsored by the Garden Clubs of Davidson County with the county's Veterans Council, pays tribute to the armed forces that have defended the United States. It belongs to a national program launched by garden clubs in the mid-1940s to honor World War II servicemembers and later expanded to all who serve. The blue star draws on the service banners once hung in home windows during the war.

Catawba, NC

The Veterans Garden of Honor in Catawba, North Carolina, is a community memorial dedicated in 2015 to honor local men and women who served in the armed forces. Like thousands of veterans memorials in towns across America, it gathers the sacrifice of many generations of service into a single place of remembrance and gratitude. Its dedication reflects a small town's enduring commitment to those who wore the uniform.