In Park City, autumn means it’s time for the annual Glenwood Cemetery Tour and this year there’s an historical lecture happening to kick off the Saturday event. Deceased characters come alive for just one day as patrons visit a handful of grave sites.
In addition, Tuesday is a free entry into the Park City Museum.
The cemetery was started by a handful of fraternal organizations as a sort of insurance for the miners who were doing a dangerous job but had no financial support if hurt or killed in the mines. Executive Director of the Park City Museum, Sandra Morrison says a few families still own plots there, but it is a private cemetery.
“So, they banded together in these fraternal organizations, not only for socialization but also to help with if they got injured, help with any health care and you know if ultimately the worst thing happened and they died on the job, that you know, the fraternal organization would pay for their funeral, their headstone and you know, also take care of their families, their widows and children as well, so…”
Barbara Martz is hosting the cemetery lecture starting at 5 on Wednesday at the Education and Collection Center building at 2079 Sidewinder Drive. Morrison says Martz has lived in Park City a long time and has put more effort than anyone into researching the history of the cemetery.
“Barbara has lived in town since the 70’s and pretty much been a volunteer at the cemetery all that time. So, helping with all the weeding and the clean up and doing a lot of research. So, she’s our foremost historian on the Glenwood Cemetery…”
They ‘ve got a restoration firm coming in October to do preservation work on some of the headstones that are showing signs of deterioration.
“You’re talking about things that are 100-120 years old. So, you know, it’s a continuing process. A lot of the marble and sandstone, if they’re leaning, they actually will absorb water out of the ground. And then they will start to bend because of the weight of the water at the top of the headstone and then they’ll never be straight again."
Morrison says the tour is designed for adults or adult kids.
The theme for this year’s tour is “law and order.” Volunteer, local actors will reenact characters from both sides of the law.
“So, we have Patsy Coughlin, who was the one that stole the strawberries and the theft ended up escalating to the point where he became a horse thief and was actually executed by firing squad…”
The cemetery is open for visitors. They allow the wildflowers to grow all summer to preserve the historical feel of the cemetery from a hundred years ago.
Morrison says the tours typically sell out. Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased on-line at parkcityhistory.org. The tours last about an hour and fifteen minutes with the first starting at 10:45 and the second one at 12:45.
The Park City Historical Society has more events and activities scheduled for October. They include an historic pub crawl and talk from a miner who worked at the Mayflower mine in the 1960’s. More information can be found in the link on KPCW.org
