Cemeteries are one of Lyme’s most important historic resources, an important link to our past. A walking tour aptly titled, ‘Cemetery 101,’of the Pleasant View Cemetery in Lyme on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 2 p.m. will explore how cemeteries have changed over time.
The leaders of the walking tour, Parker Lord and Jim Beers, have unique knowledge of Lyme’s historic cemeteries, and over the past decade have been leading a team restoring cemeteries in Lyme.
Pleasant View Cemetery has been used for burials for more than 225 years and is an ideal location to understand how cemeteries have evolved. Early cemetery patterns, and the evolution of symbols and inscriptions on gravestones will be discussed on the tour as well as early gravestone carvers active in the Lyme area.
Pleasant View Cemetery is located at the junction of Rte. 156 and Salem Rd in Lyme, Conn. There is no charge for this program.
The Lyme Public Hall Association is dedicated to the appreciation of Lyme, Connecticut’s history, culture, and community through the preservation and use of the historic hall, its archives and historical programs.
Perhaps not uppermost on the agenda of Mr. Beers, who incidentally has kindly seen to it that my step-father has a veteran’s flag-stand and flag:
1) The grave site of Joan Bennett, alongside her parents (but Constance is not buried here);
2) The vivid “UFO” grave decorations — I mean no disrespect, I like them! — near the center of the cemetery: they change colors! One of my neighbors hates them, but I think they are totally 21st-century Lyme! (But they must be seen at night.)
3) Tree men trimmed branches today (Thursday, Sept. 24), so the large Raymond cenotaph, formerly masked by a tree on the rise next to it, is now visible as it must have been from the Raymond farmhouse (1746) across Salem Rd.