Cemetary tour a success

Editor:

After over two years of planning and a couple of setbacks, the first tour of the Highland and Calvary cemeteries on Oct. 16 was a success. Eight people enjoyed a beautiful autumn afternoon learning about some of the area's most famous individuals and families, as well as those not as well known, but whose stories need to be told and remembered. Eighty dollars will be donated to the Hill County Cemetery District, preferably for headstone preservation efforts.

Those who participated in the tour also learned about the history of the cemeteries and the surrounding site, other local cemeteries and headstone art. Many headstones at our cemeteries have exquisite carvings, oftentimes depicting avocations of that person's life, of how the family wished the community to remember their loved one. A commemorative booklet is in progress and will be available for those who could not take the opportunity to go on the tour.

An encore of this tour is being planned for May during High Line Heritage Resources' National Historic Preservation Month activities. Research is already under way for a new tour featuring different sites and is planned for a summer release. The new tour will focus on people important during the formation of Hill County and will be a part of the Hill County Centennial Celebration hosted by High Line Heritage Resources.

Thank you to Doug Fisher and the Hill County Cemetery District for allowing me to conduct the tour, the Havre Daily News for publishing this event and especially to those who took the opportunity to learn about a part of Hill County's vast history.

Emily Mayer

Havre