Following World War II, the National Council of State Garden Clubs designated certain national roads as Blue Star Memorial Highways as a living memorial to all those who have served or will serve in the nation’s armed forces through the planting of aisles of flowering trees and shrubs. The Pennsylvania Turnpike from Carlisle to Irwin became part of the first transcontinental Blue Star Highway, and plantings of flowering dogwood trees are visible along this segment of the turnpike.