MORAVIA - The newly refurbished gate to Indian Mound Cemetery will always remain open to welcome visitors who want to learn about the history that the cemetery holds.

The gate was dedicated Saturday morning to the memory of the 130 known Civil War veterans who are buried or memorialized in the cemetery.

These men left their home for the same reasons that people choose to serve today, to keep this country together and free those who were oppressed, said Roger Phillips, a member of the cemetery association, at Saturday morning's ceremony. “Today is to remember them,” Phillips said.

“People do not want to be forgotten,” Phillips said. “It's very sad when you look at a grave and think, ‘I have no idea what that person did.'”

These people are part of our history, and it is important to make sure that citizens know how much history there is here, Phillips said. Twenty-three soldiers who died during the war have memorials at the cemetery, though their bodies were never returned. Another 107 veterans were buried after they returned from the war. All of them worked hard to make Moravia what it is today, Phillips said.

After the ceremony, participants had the opportunity to be taken through the cemetery on a tour that highlighted the lives of six veterans. Boy Scouts from Troop 55 led the tour as part of their partnership with the cemetery to help with the renovations.

Travis Allen, a Scout who helped lead this project, received cemetery records from Phillips and Frank Foti that documented where the veteran's graves are. Travis led a group of Scouts across the cemetery to find each of the graves and verify that the records were correct.

“It got really tiring hiking up and down the hills,” Travis said of searching for the graves. “It was pretty fun though; kind of like a little treasure hunt.”

The information that the scouts gathered was used to update records and create a brochure that gives visitors a self-guided version of the tour using 27 markers that are placed throughout the cemetery. Logan Withers led a team of Scouts that replaced all of the old markers with new ones that were easier to use.

“It took a long time to get there, but it feels good to have accomplished something this difficult,” Logan said of the project. “It was fun to get a chance to actually be the leader.”

The projects celebrated Saturday have helped make Travis and Logan eligible to become Eagle Scouts, the highest rank of the Boy Scouts.