The history of Blue Star Markers and garden clubs

The Blue Star Marker in Dunnellon has been restored through an initiative of the Pioneer Garden Club. [Photo courtesy Pioneer Garden Club]

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Posted March 31, 2025 | By Jacqua Ballas, President, Pioneer Garden Club

Springtime weather encourages people to travel and explore outdoors and perhaps take a drive around the state. On your drive, you may see a roadside marker with a Blue Star near the highway and have some questions about its meaning. These markers are found throughout the United States.

When World War II ended, national garden clubs were seeking a suitable means of honoring the WWII service men and women. Garden club members visualized a living memorial that would beautify the country. The program began with the planting of 8,000 dogwood trees by the New Jersey Council of Garden Clubs in 1944 as a living memorial to veterans of World War II.

In 1945, the National Council of State Garden Clubs adopted the Blue Star Memorial Highway Program and began a highway system that covers thousands of miles across the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. In 1947, a beautiful roadside marker was designed to identify the highway and provide continuity. Garden clubs would purchase the markers, plant materials and find a place for it in their communities. Highway departments would plant and maintain the area.

The Blue Star Marker program was the first project undertaken by garden clubs on a national scale. In 1951 the program expanded to honor all men and women who serve in the United States armed services.

Why the Blue Star? The Blue Star was adopted because it was an icon in World War II and was seen on flags and banners in homes for sons and daughters away at war as well as in churches and businesses.

The program expanded to include a smaller Blue Star By-Way Marker, to be placed in areas such as parks and civic and historical grounds. This tribute line, “A tribute to the Armed Forces who have defended the United States of America,” appears on all Blue Star Highway and memorial markers.

There are 211 Blue Star Markers and Blue Star By-Way Markers in various counties in Florida. In Marion County, there are four Blue Star Markers in Dunnellon, Belleview, McIntosh and Micanopy. Gainesville has two Blue Star Markers at the VA Medical Center and at Paynes Prairie.

Members of the Pioneer Garden Club knew the Dunnellon Blue Star Marker on U.S. Highway 41 near the entrance to Rainbow Springs State Park needed to be restored. The marker was installed on Jan. 21, 1971, and had seen more than 50 years of sun, wind and rain. A complete restoration was needed.

The work was done by Tom Stelling of Historical Markers Restorations in Daytona Beach. Stelling, a veteran, has restored close to 500 Blue Star markers across the United States. The restoration was funded by Dr. Bryn McGhee in honor of her father, a Vietnam veteran, and her grandfathers, who served in both the Korean War and World War II, as well as the veterans she has cared for as a physician at the VA. The Pioneer Garden Club will host a dedication ceremony later in the year to celebrate the restoration.

Wherever your spring break travels take you, keep a lookout for roadside Blue Star Markers that honor the men and women of the armed services and the local sponsorships of the garden clubs in that area.

To find a list of all Florida Blue Star Markers and Blue Star By-Way Markers, visit the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs at ffgc.org
To learn more about National Garden Clubs, Inc., go to gardenclub.org