PCHS hosts first cemetery tour, more to come
Local cemeteries are a link to the legacy of Polk County’s past. To the casual passerby the tombstones may seem just an endless sea of names and dates, but every buried person had a family, a life, a story.
Thanks to the volunteers at the Polk County Historical Society, the community can read about the county’s founders, its early settlers, and the prominent families of the area.
Yet nestled among the books, research files, and records, PCHS houses a goldmine of early newspapers, revealing pieces of our past that have otherwise vanished.
History enthusiasts curious enough to spend some time sifting through the often mundane and sometimes brow-raising information can find many gems among the pages. This was the basis of the research for the organization’s first cemetery tour — discovering the lesser known facts and giving voice to those seemingly lost to time.
Counted among those featured on the April 6 tour are a senator, a battle-scarred Civil War veteran, a beloved doctor, and a unique musician. But they also highlight a young man taken tragically and much too soon, a woman with a scandalous Revolutionary War relative, a once prosperous man who fell victim to the Great Depression, and a quirky lady who was a fixture in town for 99 years.
The tour is interactive with a hands-on dowsing rod demonstration, and they also welcome personal commentary and recollections as the walk goes along.
Some of the tour-goers have family buried in the cemetery or own plots themselves. One of the recent guests even admitted that he used to take his wife driving through the cemetery when they needed time away from their children.
PCHS is hosting three more tours of Greenwood in the coming weeks before moving on to research other Polk County cemeteries.
Anyone interested in taking part may RSVP online or at the museum on West Avenue to join tours on Sunday, April 28, and Friday, May 10.
This is a fundraising event for the Polk County Historical Society, and proceeds benefit the preservation of local history.
Information in this article was provided by the Polk County Historical Society.