Projects

The Moseley-Bright Chapter supports many projects that help us achieve our goals of historic preservation, patriotism, and education. These are a few of our on-going activities:

• Project Patriot — The Moseley-Bright Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and the Kingston Society of the Children of the American Revolution send cards and notes to active service personnel and provide phone cards for them. DAR Project Patriot is the official Daughters of the American Revolution committee that supports America’s service personnel in current conflicts abroad.
• Cancelled stamps — We collect cancelled stamps from mail — excluding flag stamps. These are used for veterans’ projects.
• Soup labels, etc. — We collect and send Campbell’s Soup labels and “Box Tops for Education” to Crossnore School.

• Caswell Cemetery Project — In 1929 the Moseley-Bright Chapter received the deed for the Richard Caswell Family Cemetery from Rachel Watford. Watford was a descendant of Richard Caswell and owner of the cemetery and surrounding land. In return, the chapter agreed to purchase and erect a wrought iron fence to protect the cemetery and to care for it in perpetuity. In 1956 the land became the property of the State of North Carolina for a Memorial Park honoring Governor Richard Caswell. The deed noted that the land transfer did not include the family cemetery in the care of the Moseley-Bright Chapter. Eventually the state built a museum on the land. Almost seventy years later a new generation of chapter members learned of their commitment to the descendants of Richard Caswell. Initially considered simply a fence repair project, additional discussions and several public-private partnerships expanded the project to include archaeological research, repair of the gravestones, and interpretive ideas for the visiting public. Long-term plans include teacher workshops and symposiums. The project is not complete although much progress has been made.

• Conservation project and tree planting ceremonies — Each fall the Moseley-Bright Chapter and the Kingston Society of the Children of the American Revolution chose to honor past DAR members and plant trees in their memory at the Neuse Way Park in Kinston, North Carolina. Both chapters host a memorial service inviting family members of those being recognized to participate in the tree planting ceremony. Trees chosen for the event are river birch, which are native to the area.
• Participation in the DAR President General’s Project — Lay Lights Restoration — The chapter gave a donation for the restoration of the Lay Lights at the DAR Library in the DAR Headquarters building in Washington, DC.