NATIONAL ROAD MONUMENT DEDICATION CEREMONY ANNOUNCED

The National Road Bicentennial Committee is pleased to announce that the National Road Monument and memorial plaza will be formally dedicated at a special ceremony in Riverside Park (40 Greene Street) in Downtown Cumberland at 3:00 PM on Sunday, June 10, 2012.  This ceremony will be the culmination of the Heritage Days Festival in Cumberland on June 9-10.  A number of local, State, and Federal officials will be in attendance.  Dignitaries who have committed to attend include U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, U.S. Representative Roscoe Bartlett, MD Delegate Wendell Beitzel, Allegany County Commissioners Mike McKay, Bill Valentine, and Creade Brodie, Jr., and Cumberland Mayor Brian Grim.  Reigning Miss Francis Scott Key Outstanding Teen, Stevee Royce will also be participating in the ceremony.  Historian Al Feldstein will be the Master of Ceremonies.

During the ceremony, the new National Road Monument and Time Capsule will be officially unveiled, along with the surrounding Memorial Plaza that will contain over 200 engraved bricks purchased by area donors.  An additional sidewalk ring of over 400 engraved bricks surrounding the adjoining Cresap Monument purchased by members of the Thomas Cresap Society will also be opened to the public.  At the conclusion of the ceremony, flags representing each state that the National Road passes through will be raised along with a replica of the official 1811 U.S. Flag—representing the year that construction on the National Road began.  The ceremony is planned to last about one hour.

Major funding for the National Road Monument, Memorial Plaza, and the 2011 National Road Bicentennial Commemoration was provided by a National Scenic Byways Grant administered by the Maryland Department of Transportation, the City of Cumberland, the Allegany County Historical Society, the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland and Cumberland, Chessie Federal Credit Union, the Canal Place Preservation and Development Authority, the Allegany County Office of Tourism, and more than 150 individual donors.  Contributions of labor and/or equipment were donated by Carl Belt, Inc., the ACPS Career and Technical Education Center, and Donny Hayes of Hayes Construction.  The monument is being constructed by Corinthian Stoneworks and Design of Flintstone, MD.

For more detailed information about Dedication Ceremony, please contact David Umling, City Planner, at 301-759-6503, or by e-mail at dumling@allconet.org or Pam Cover, Administrative Assistant, at 301-759-6449, or by e-mail at pcover@allconet.org.