Many people take advantage of a three-day weekend and travel to beaches, lakes or up to the mountains with their families. Parades, barbecues and picnics are traditional as well. Memorial Day is considered the unofficial start of summer.

Memorial Day was first known as Decoration Day. Both the North and South had been putting flowers on the graves of loved ones who perished in the American Civil War. The casualties of this war were high, 498,332 lives. On May 5, 1868 General John Logan, Commander-in-Chief of Grand Army of the Republic issued General Order No. 11, which officially proclaimed Decoration Day. It was first observed on May 30, 1868. However, the South decided to honor their dead on a different day up until World War I. In 1882 the named was changed to Memorial Day and in 1971 the day was declared a national holiday.