Celebrating the Mountain's Past

The Mountain friars host extended family of man buried at the Mountain during the Civil War

On July 19, the Mountain friars climbed our property to the historic grave site of Civil War veteran John S. Peterson with 40 members of his family. 

The Peterson family once owned the land, dating back before the Civil War and up until about the 1950s. The family also owned the wells of the first African-American oil company and Civil War-era family members knew Frederick Douglass, who came through Western New York. 

The gathering came about when one of the local family members and her nephew, a librarian in New York City, became interested in inviting other family members to come see the property. The friars invited them for a meal and time for reflection in the chapel.

Multiple generations of the Peterson family came out - some from local towns like Olean and Friendship, and others from as far as North Carolina and Louisiana. 

At the grave, chapel and dinner table, we celebrated this heroic family, conjoining our mission with their survival and peaceful life. 

"It was really for us just a very powerful experience. Some older folks told stories from when they were growing up here. That part of our land you could tell was a farm now growing into forest. To imagine what the land looked like years ago to me was very powerful and it was nice to make new friends," Br. Kevin, ofm, reflected. 

Fr. Dan tweeted, "To remember is to live the spirit of those before us here - who loved this land, forged new lives and worked to free us!"