Keene, New Hampshire, is one of those picturesque towns that seems to embody all that is appealing about rural New England. The main street runs into the town square, where a small, park-like area centers around a soldier’s statue. Surrounding the square are all the buildings necessary for small town life. And even now, but for the loss of the horse watering trough, the town looks very much as it did in 1884 when Oliver Wendell Holmes arrived to give the Memorial Day address.

Memorial Day that year had perfect weather – it was clear and sunny but not too hot. Most of the businesses were closed, leaving the town’s inhabitants with the day off. The local GAR – the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans’ organization dedicated to preserving the memory of America’s harshest war – had used the morning hours to place spring flowers on veterans’ graves that were too far from the town center to be included in the day’s events.