This Memorial Day members of the Echebucsassa Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution returned to their roots.
The local group was formed in 1929 by Mary Noel Moody and just recently celebrated its 90th anniversary. Moody was known for her extensive work around Plant City and was crucial in fostering the library in the heart of downtown. Though the chapter was founded here, it now also covers Dade City and Zephyrhills.
One of Moody’s lasting accomplishments was when she and DAR erected a six foot tall arrowhead shaped monument in Sunrise Park, 1203 E. Baker St., to remember the city’s first post office, which was found four miles to the north of the park. The monument was built by William E. Calvert and is comprised of rocks gathered by members from Blackwater Creek near Crystal Springs.
“Since the post office was commemorated with the monument, we decided to have it cleaned up and to perform the memorial there,” Vice Regent Marie Wunderlich said. “It’s not a service memorial, but it is an important memorial. It felt like the perfect place to pay our tributes.”
On May 20 four of the members came armed with buckets and scrub brushes and polished the monument to a shine, removing rust and dirt from the surface. They then spent time combing every inch of grass they could find for trash and ensuring Sunrise Park was pristine. During the ceremony on May 26, many more members gathered in the small, triangular shaped park.
The national anthem was played in front of the monument, which was adorned with a variety of flags and two wreaths. Then a verse was read and the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day was explained to the group. To pay their respects, a verse was read from the book of Psalms and they closed the service with a short prayer. Before heading home for the evening, the group once again scanned the area and cleaned up anything out of place to leave the park squeaky clean.
Echebucsassa is considered the first name of Plant City’s geographical region. In 1884 its current name was adopted in honor of H.B. Plant who first brought the railroad to town. The DAR group has been heavily involved in its region for decades and doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
There are currently 58 members of the chapter and in Florida alone there are more than 10,000 DAR members among more than 100 chapters, said Wunderlich. DAR prides itself on being a nonprofit, nonpolitical service organization. Everything from fighting for historic preservation to erecting monuments and advancing education is on its agenda.
The Echebucsassa chapter goes before city commissioners in all of its represented towns and requests a declaration for constitution week. They also go to schools to help further knowledge on the Constitution and to libraries where they set up copies of the Declaration of Independence and hand out reprints of the Constitution to anyone interested.
“If someone has an interest in becoming involved with the Daughters of the American Revolution in the Echebucsassa chapter, than by all means we encourage them to call us,” Wunderlich said. “Now they’ll have to have sufficient evidence to substantiate she had a family member that fought and served in the American Revolution. Whether that’s Bible records, marriage certificates, we just will need some type of documentation.”
The group meets the first Wednesday of each month from October until May. Wunderlich said they are hoping to have a stronger presence in Plant City to help further their reach in schools, parades or anywhere there is a need. There’s more that can be done, she said, and DAR is all about doing the most good it can.
Those Interested
in joining that have done their homework on an ancestor and are ready for the next step are welcome to contact the group’s registrar Elaine Frank at 813-760-4691.