Native Grasses

The Sunderland Veterans’ Memorial is designed to honor those who died, who gave their lives, gave their time, gave their mornings and nights, gave the passage of the seasons for their country, for us. This is a place to see, feel, hear, to contemplate and recognize this sacrifice.

The memorial is made of monuments of rolled, cut and bent stainless steel, with polished metal elements identifying the branches of military service to the top and base. Each monument will reflect the passing light of morning, evening, night. Each will reflect the phases of the moon and the seasons. They will respond to the wind. They will weather with time.

Placards at the base of each monument will be engraved naming each individual from Sunderland who died in war, the emblem of their branch of service, and the war in which they fought.

Time will be marked by the placement of the monuments, organized to follow the chronology and the human price of each of the American Wars. We feel each war as we walk the site; the number of dead understood by the number of monuments grouped in regimented formation.

The placement of the monuments, each representing a blade of grass or wheat, is analogous to the military regiments – and to the order of the agricultural fields of Sunderland; careful rows whose order is understood at the moment you stand perpendicular to the rows; agricultural fields left behind by these soldiers.

Immutable time that holds our memory in a place long after we are gone is also present on this site.

Ledge outcroppings across the river, the town hall, the library, icons of the town of Sunderland, remind us of that which will endure. Places to stop, to sit, to rest, to contemplate, will align with views of places of lasting time.

Sunderland Memorial with Hernan Barufaldi, Jane Thurber, Dale Schlappi