Honoring stories of past residents – Tombstone Trail now open!

Posted on Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Imagine a treasure hunt that spans several counties and beautiful quiet spaces. Following the Tombstone Trail is a fun experience for all ages and is truly a great learning opportunity.

The Tombstone Trail began several years ago in Noble County and has grown into several counties across several main routes. To participate, one must go online to http://www.tombstonetrail.com and purchase booklets that are filled with stories from each featured cemetery. Booklets are $3.50 per cemetery or $27 for a full set and they can be downloaded or mailed to you. If you want to get started right away, there are books available for purchase at the Huntington County Visitor Bureau. Once you have the books, you travel to each grave yard, find the markers and learn about each person and their contributions along the way. Some cemeteries offer guided tours for those interested.

Armed with a booklet-full of stories, a map and not so sensible shoes, I felt a little rush of excitement as I wandered through the first cemetery. The first one I visited was Mount Hope here in Huntington County. Each grave is marked so that they are easy to find but there’s still a bit of navigating between the markers.

As I read the stories about Helen Purviance, James Slack, Cyrus Briant and others who served so willingly and bravely during times of war, it feels like such an honor to be near their place of rest. While many of the names are familiar to folks in town, the real stories of their accomplishments are not widely known or discussed. There’s much more to most of their lives than in the obituaries featured in the books and most of them are featured in files at the Indiana Room in the Huntington City Township Public Library.

Each cemetery has its own look and feel and each person laid to rest has their own unique story. It’s interesting that while you are viewing the featured graves it's fascinating looking at the other nearby stones and wonder about the lives of the others that were buried there.

I hope that others will enjoy the experience as much as I did. I highly recommend picking a nice day outside, taking pictures, finding fun stops along the way and truly reading the stories of each person who lived and helped shape our communities.

For more information, go to www.tombstonetrail.com

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