Photograph by Todd A. Shillington

Memorial Cannon
8-inch Columbiad

Local legend says that vets of the 8th NY Heavy Artillery,
many of whom lived in the area,
would set off a blank charge in this gun every Memorial Day. They did this right up into their eighties.
Fearing for their safety, the regimental surgeon,
himself quite aged, climbed up on the gun,
drove a rat tailed file into the touch hole, and broke it off.
Since he had been a member of the regiment,
he was spared the wrath of his old comrades.

Mount Rest Cemetery
Lake Ave. South at Townline Rd.
Bergen, NY