Eagle Point, Ore. — Crews are continuing to work on an expansion at the Eagle Point National Cemetery. The expansion gives the cemetery enough space to hold thousands of headstones.
“The last thing that anyone wants is 100 miles or more to go to Roseburg, Willamette, to bury their relative when they live in the Rogue Valley,” said Andrew Matthews, director for Eagle Point National Cemetery.
Fortunately for local veterans and their families, that won’t be an issue – all thanks to an 18-acre expansion across the street.
“Nobody in this valley needs to every worry about — in the next, I can’t even imagine in the next generations,” Matthews said.
The Eagle Point cemetery has been open since the early 1950’s. It’s currently around 24 acres in size.
“We’re coming up on 20,000 veterans that are buried here,” Matthews said.
The 18-acre expansion makes room for thousands of headstones and a place to store urns and remains.
“We don’t have a huge veteran population here like large cities here do, because we’re not a large city. But we have a lot of veterans in the rogue valley. I can assure them we’re all going to have burial space here,” Matthews said.
And a place for families to come and honor their loved ones, and their commitment to our country.
Matthews said the bulk of the construction project is finished, now it’s just touch-up work – including landscaping, and completing the iron gate to match the current cemetery. If all goes well and weather permits, the majority of construction should be complete by late April or May.
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