Lilacs Donated To Lincoln Depot Museum In Peekskill

From the Lincoln Depot Museum

PEEKSKILL, NY — Two lilac shrubs, whose donation was inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem honoring Lincoln, “When Lilacs Last In the Dooryard Bloom’d,” were dedicated in honor of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Depot Museum in Peekskill on Saturday, October 24, 2020 at 3 PM.

John Testa, the founder and President of the Lincoln Depot Museum, said, “These lilac plants are a welcome addition to our museum landscape. They will bloom each spring and just as Whitman intended, they will remind us of Lincoln and the sacrifices he and many others made for the preservation of the union. Thank you to the 4 A BETTER WESTCHESTER + NYS ASSOCIATION for their donation and support.”

The Lincoln Depot Museum commemorates Abraham Lincoln’s short visit and speech in Peekskill on February 19, 1861; President-Elect Lincoln was traveling by train from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C. to be sworn in as President, on March 4, 1861.

“While the Lincoln Depot Museum site is the only Westchester County location where Lincoln’s Inaugural Train stopped in 1861, it is also the only Westchester location where his funeral train paused for the community to gather and mourn [on April 26, 1861],” Mr. Testa, who is a former Mayor of Peekskill and a former member of the Westchester County Board of Legislators, said.

“By dedicating these lilacs today we celebrate Abraham Lincoln and his devotion to democracy and the rule of Law,” Mr. Fryburg, who founded the 4 A BETTER WESTCHESTER + NYS ASSOCIATION with Stefan Lonce in 2005, said.

At the event, Paul Martin, a member of the Lincoln Depot Museum board of directors, read portions of Whitman’s famous poem extolling lilacs and Lincoln.

Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis, attendance at the ceremony was limited; attorney Brian Caplan, who is a member of the Lincoln Depot Museum board, also participated in the ceremony, which concluded with the participants placing mulch around the lilacs, which had been planted in September to allow the plants to acclimate before the weather got colder.