History & local legend
Bright Cemetery in Oakmont preserves the name of Civil War soldier Adam Bright on his parents’ headstone, although his body is buried in Georgia. Bright served in Company K of the 101st Pennsylvania Infantry, was captured and died at Andersonville. An 1881 roster lists his grave there as 8073.
Local legend gives him another way to return to his family. People have described a uniformed man walking among the Bright family graves late at night, particularly in fog. When Oakmont’s library and historian Gary Rogers organized a walking tour in 2006, they identified Adam as the soldier associated with that story.
Sources
- Daveen Rae Kurutz, Tribune-Review, October 5, 2006, reporting the Oakmont cemetery legend and interview with local organizers
- Historical biography of Albert Renfrew Bright, identifying his father Adam, grandfather Peter, regiment and Andersonville death
- John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary and List of the Dead (1881), Pennsylvania roster, grave 8073
