National Battlefield/Historic Site/National Cemetery etiquette

[guihong]

This weekend, I visited Vicksburg, Tupelo and Shiloh National Battlefield sites.  While most people were lovely, here are some guidelines for those who were not:

*Stop your conversation when the ranger is speaking.  Guaranteed, he or she knows much more about the battle than you do and the rest of us are here to learn something.
*When you're on a driving tour, don't speed through at 50 mph.
*If you want to stop and get a picture/read a monument, use the pull-off areas.  Don't block up traffic, especially on a one-way road. 
*Don't drop your butts into the grass; good way to start a grass fire and littering is unlawful anyway.
*If you are in a cul-de-sac and want to read the signs/maps/whatever, find a pull-off.  I can't get around your super-duper pickup truck, and don't really feel like scratching it up.
*If you are walking with a toddler in a National Cemetery, don't let her run up and down the rows or play leapfrog on the little stones  . 

[DCGirl]

From someone who has a number of relatives buried at Arlington National Cemetery:

-Those people dressed in black at a gravesite are not costumed re-enactors for your entertainment.  They are family and friends burying a loved one.  Please behave with respect.

[Black Delphinium]

-If there are obviously not-public areas marked off from the rest of the site, please respect them.

-Please don't pick fights over events that have long come and gone. The war/etc was many years ago, arguing over what "should have" happened won't change anything.

[Elfmama]

If you are visiting a religious site, please be as respectful of other people's religion as you would want them to be of your own.  That includes Indian burial mounds, Halemau'mau crater in Hawaii, and Buddhist temples as well as various brands of Christianity.  Would you want other people's children running and screaming and telling dirty jokes in YOUR church?

[Pinky830]

If you are visiting a military historic site, don't allow your kids to treat it like a playground.

DS and I spent the weekend on the USS Yorktown in Charleston last winter. It's a weekend program they do for Boy Scouts, and it is absolutely wonderful. The staff did an orientation for the Scouts the night we arrived, and the last rule they told them was, "No horseplay. The veterans who visit here really don't like to see kids running around and yelling. Y'all don't forget, people have died on this ship. Respect it." I will never forget that.

[lady_disdain]

If you are visiting a military historic site, don't allow your kids to treat it like a playground.

Don't treat any historic site as a playground.

I do think, however, that behaviour should be determined by the age of the site. For example:
- 9/11 memorial: some of the people there have lost spouses, parents or children to the disaster or they themselves may have gone through a terribly traumatic episode. Act as you would in a graveyard: low voices, absolutely no running around, young children kept at arm's length distance to their parents (or, as grandma would put it, a ear's pull away).

- WWI memorial: it is at least one generation removed from us, so a little more freedom. I would expect people to talk normally, but still be very respectful. For example, it is not the place to tell a joke about life in the trenches.

- Civil War battleground: similar to other historical sites. I would not blink at a guide telling the more humourous side of army life of the period, but I would also expect them to explain the significance of the site and the sacrifices made.

[Mopsy428]

Pet owners--please follow the site's rules regarding pets. If pets are not allowed, please leave them home. If they are allowed, please clean up after them.

[Boots]

I just visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, so parents, please watch your children.  Because when your son who looks to be around 11-12 is swinging the chain into the legs of the wheelchair bound WWII vets who are visiting and he is grinning a devlish grin as he is doing it.........yeah, I'm going to hiss at him "Stop it." 

[PurpleFrog]

Please dress appropriately, just because your on holiday and want to tan does not mean you can wander round with no shirt on. It's disrespectfull.
Culprit sighted at Pegasus Bridge memorial.

[Bellantara]

I just visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, so parents, please watch your children.  Because when your son who looks to be around 11-12 is swinging the chain into the legs of the wheelchair bound WWII vets who are visiting and he is grinning a devlish grin as he is doing it.........yeah, I'm going to hiss at him "Stop it." 

    I'm afraid I'd be tempted to do more than just hiss "Stop it."  What in the eHell is wrong with people???