Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley

Maintain and preserve the Union & West End Cemetery, to encourage appreciation and respect for its intended purpose, to improve its general appearance as an integral part of a historic neighborhood, to offer a green space for passive activity by the public, to provide a community resource for patriotic, historic and community service activities, to foster a community concern for the perpetual care of this historic site, and to develop financial resources to support continuing care of the cemetery.

Description:
Allentown's Union & West End Cemetery is in the heart of the Old Allentown Preservation district and consists of 19.6 acres. The cemetery is actually two adjacent 19th Century burial grounds. Union Cemetery opened in 1854; West End Cemetery opened in 1876. They united as a single non-profit cemetery organization on May 4, 1895. The Union & West End Cemetery is the final resting place for 714 Civil War Soldiers of which 22 were the Allen Rifles, the First Defenders to answer Lincoln's call for troops. There are also five Revolutionary War solders, famous politicians, academics, and clergyman. The Union & West End Cemetery Assoc. encourages individuals and organizations to volunteer in assisting with the maintenance and preservation of the cemetery by adopting a section to be mowed on a bi-weekly basis, research and assist with historical database entry, perform grave surveys to help us more accurately enter information into our database, cut down mulberry bushes, repair sections of fence, lawn equipment maintenance, we also encounter vandals who push over the gravestones and they need to be put back up, the vandals also destroy flags and they need to be replaced. There are a number of other opportunities to help our all volunteer board of directors maintain this historic and beautiful cemetery.

Contact people:

Nikki Clark, Secretary, (phone), (email) Charles Canning, President, (phone), (email) Everette Carr, Vice President, (phone), (email)

Address:

10th Street Allentown, PA 18102 (See a map)

Directions:

Enter in the main gate on 10th Street between Chew and Gordon.

Miscellaneous Information

Here are our special events...
	Saturday, August 11, 2007 @ 10:00 am (Raindate August 18) "Salute to the Allen Infantry" Allentown's First Defenders Civil War History w/ Re-enactors. Walking tour with program ending at the 12th Street Civil War Memorial
Number of volunteers utilized in a year...
	30