It has been a super crazy past few weeks and there has been a LOT happening in our quiet little section of the city! I got a call from Julie Basol this week, some tourists saw the work we've been doing and were so impressed that they contacted her about it.
First, we had another fantastic cleaning day. Cleaning Day Four was super productive. Even though almost everyone who came could only stay for a couple hours, we ended up cleaning over 55 stones! Most of the visitors were veterans who just got right to work scrubbing. It was Dorothy's first time and while she enjoyed cleaning a couple stones, she found her true calling: digging out some stones that are disappearing into the ground. She discovered quickly how rewarding it was to reclaim a stone and bring it back to life. I'll be making another blog with details soon and you can see the amazing job she did as well as Meg's miracle cleaning.
The next event was Vergennes Day. I thought it would be a great opportunity to spread the word and was able to get a booth donated, thanks to Maria Benoit. I printed some pictures, made up some signs, and borrowed an easy up from Susan Magill. (Grandma's Cupboard-best jellies in town!) My goal was to be able to show what an amazing job the team has been doing and it was super successful. People were so surprised to see the before and after images. I also learned about 2 new local cemeteries that might need some love. And I learned that there's a geocache location at the cemetery!
We've also got some plans in the works to team up with the Boys & Girls Club. I spoke with Alicia Grangent and we've got a cleaning day scheduled, plus we're trying to figure out some options for Halloween. We'd like to involve the Bixby Library somehow. I was also approached by the Vergennes Partnership about some potential ideas as well. We're not sure what it's going to look like but if you'd like to be part of the Halloween team, let me know!
And last but not least, Dianne and I have started trying to map the cemetery! We know there are unmarked graves and based on what we're finding, we fear it's a lot more than we had expected. The graves seem to be lined up "too perfectly" to have spaces between them, especially in the top section. There is a lot of work to be done to try to figure out who else might be buried there.
The biggest surprise? Dianne realized that the people are probably buried east to west but that the headstones are facing west. That means that when you're looking at a stone, the person is BEHIND it, not in front of it. This completely blew my mind! And it also made me quite happy to realize that the barn along the top of the cemetery is probably NOT on top of a grave.
That is a quick summary of the past month or so! Some upcoming notes:
*The next cleaning day is Saturday, October 7. Please be sure to sign up here if you're available. This will probably be the last one of the year.
*If you're interested in writing blog posts, researching genealogy, or helping with our master excel spreadsheet, please keep an eye out for emails in the next few days.
*I've also added a new section to the website, called Research. It gives you ideas about places to search as well as some helpful links. If you have any suggestions, please message me.
Thanks for all of the support and hard work!
-Heather
Comments