Acadia National Cemetery is a 6.2 acre

Department of Veteran Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

(VA) national cemetery located in Washington County,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. The cemetery will serve the burial needs of Veterans, their spouses and eligible family members.

History and location

On September 27, 2017, the land at 1799 U. S. Route 1, Jonesboro, Maine was donated to the VA by Worcester Holdings, LLC. Worcester Holdings, LLC was founded by Morrill and Karen Worcester, who also run the nonprofit group

Wreaths Across America Wreaths Across America is an American nonprofit organization established in 2007 by wreath producer Morrill Worcester, assisted by veterans and truckers. Its primary activity is distributing Veteran's wreaths for placement on graves in military c ...

. This cemetery will be the second national cemetery in Maine and is part of the VA National Cemetery Administration Rural Initiative to provide access to VA burial benefits for Veterans who reside rural areas and who have not previously had reasonable access to a national or state Veterans cemetery. Togus National Cemetery in Chelsea, Maine, is the only other VA national cemetery in the state and is currently closed to new interments. A contract to build the cemetery was awarded in August 2018 and is expected to be completed in early 2020. The first phase of cemetery development will offer more than 1,400 casket and cremation spaces. The cemetery will provide burials for caskets, in-ground and columbarium burials for cremations, as well as a memorial wall for remains that are unrecoverable or identified, were buried at sea, donated to science or cremated and remains scattered. The cemetery will have a capacity of 7,086 gravesites when fully constructed.

References

External links

* {{Protected Areas of Maine United States national cemeteries Cemeteries in Washington County, Maine Protected areas of Washington County, Maine 2020 establishments in Maine