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COLUMBIA COUNTY, Ga. () – A public ceremony, including a canon and rifle salute, was held Saturday morning, August 2nd, at the Evans Market next to Columbia County Performing Arths Center to honor the memory of Revolutionary War Veteran Stephen Day and to celebrate a new memorial marker being placed at his gravesite.
The family legend passed down over the centuries has particular resonance: Stephen Day was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and raised as a Quaker and was forbidden from fighting in war due to their pacifistic beliefs. When he left home on his own, he moved first to North Carolina where he married, then settled in Georgia.
Once the Revolutionary War began, he broke with the religious tradition he was raised in and joined to fight with the Continental Army
He survived the war, went on to have ten children, lived into his 80s, and died while a resident of Columbia County in 1825. He and his wife Margaret had seven sons and three daughters – a family member said the children’s names and birthdates were all recorded in the family Bible that had been passed down through the family.
Day’s grave, discovered during the development of Grove Landing Subdivision, is still located inside that community, which is off of Harlem Grovetown Road just East of the Grovetown Trails at Euchee Creek. Day’s final resting place is now gated and can be found near the Grove Landing community pool located between Grove Landing Circle and Grove Landing Drive. The new grave markers dedicated Saturday are located there.
Several of Day’s descendants were in attendance for the ceremony commemorating the new memorial marker.
Because Day’s grave is located on private property inside a subdivision, the ceremony Saturday was chosen to take place at a much larger, public location to allow for all those wishing to pay their respects to Day.
Visitors came from hundreds of miles away from Virginia, Florida, and other Eastern states. Wreaths had been sent from as far away as New Mexico.
The Col. William Few and Washington Wilkes Chapters of the Sons of the American Revolution helped to organize the memorial marker and Saturday’s ceremony. Music was provided by the Garden City Strummers and Sons of the American Revolution from multiple chapters across several states showed up in full-dress regalia to honor Day’s memory.
