The American Village has been designated by public law as the Veterans Living Legacy, and adjoins the hallowed ground of the Alabama National Cemetery, which will become the final resting place for almost 200,000 veterans. In February 2014 the American Village dedicated The National Veterans Shrine and Register of Honor. The Veterans Shrine is patterned after Philadelphia’s Carpenters Hall. Major sculpture and paintings by nationally-renowned artists, interactive media, artifacts and exhibits help answer the questions: Who are our country’s veterans? What did they do for our country? and What do we owe them? 

Enshrined beneath the figure of Liberty outside the Veterans Shrine is hallowed ground taken from blood-stained battlefields around the world where brave Americans have served their country and the cause of freedom. Housed within the Shrine is the Veterans Register of Honor, a website and database containing photographs, biographical sketches, and stories of America’s veterans and active members of the United States Armed Forces.

A Freedom Trail extends beyond a replica of Concord’s Old North Bridge and leads to an Amphitheatre atop the hill overlooking the adjoining 490-acre National Veterans Cemetery, truly transforming these spaces into the “Arlington of the Southeast.”