The two RV Gypsies visited
Francis Scott Key's Gravesite and Monument
in Mount Olivet Cemetery
515 S. Market Street
Frederick, MD
June 21, 2017

The final resting place of Francis Scott Key is located in Mount Olivet Cemetery within walking distance of downtown Frederick. Just inside the front gate stands an impressive monument dedicated on August 9th, 1898 to pay lasting tribute to the author of our country's national anthem, the "Star Spangled Banner". The cemetery is open to the public during daylight hours. There is no charge.

Below: Lee Duquette read the sign that recounts moments in Key's life and the War of 1812. When Lee pushed a button on the sign, it played a recording of the "Star-Spangled Banner." It was wonderful and worth the visit.

Below: The 1898 monument to Francis Scott Key, under which he and his wife, Mary Taylor Key, are interred. Key is represented by a 9-foot tall bronze statue on top of a 15-foot pedestal. A statue of Columbia, the goddess of patriotism, is located on the front of the pedestal. Columbia is flanked on her left by an adolescent boy representing war, and on her right by a young boy representing music. This represents the moment that inspired the poem "Defense of Fort McHenry" which Key wrote after witnessing the bombardment of the fort by British Royal Naval Ships in Chesapeake Bay in the War of 1812. This poem became the national anthem of the United States of America.

Key is joined at Mount Olivet by more than 100 veterans of the War of 1812, and most of their headstones are marble and the inscriptions have deteriorated over time. Some do not mention their services. Bronze plaques are currently being added to their graves. In total, the cemetery holds the remains of 4,000 veterans, including hundreds of Confederate soldiers.

Below: The 4 verses of
The "Star-Spangled Banner"

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
'Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - In God is our trust,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Continue navigation in the order of occurrence - a brief stop at the Catoctin Furnace Historic Marker and the elephant icon at The Elephant Museum.

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