September
13 2014 at Hillsdale Cemetery Petrolia See poster at bottom of
page
Petrolia cemetery ca.1910
For
a drone fly over tour of the 2013 event
see Eric's video on youtube. Eric was our
summer student for the summer of 2013 and
he enchanted us with his research and
techno wizardry.Eric is back for 2014 and is
hard at work getting ready for this years
Hillsdale Tour.
This
years Tour was a great success.
Not a sell out though but many
people said they loved it and will
be back again. As with any event
that we sponsor, we learned much
and had a great time.
Click on this
pic for larger printable version of the
2014 Tour!
Hillsdale
Cemetery Tour
The
2014
Hillsdale Cemetery Tour: Walk Into the
Past had another successful year. Our
numbers were down slightly from last
year due to weather but those that
attended were suitably impressed. An
enormous thank you to all of our
sponsors
including Par Tee rentals who donated
the use and setup of a tent on a very
blustery day, Memorial Restorations,
who not only made sure all of the
monuments were pristine but also
assisted with advertising, Steadman
Brothers
Funeral Chapels who donated
advertising, The Independent newspaper
who offered
up a free ad and former Petrolia
resident Judy Keightley who donated
the
proceeds from the sale of her book
Charlotte and Jake: A Love Story.
Once
the
research was done, (thank you
Eric)Petrolia Community Theatre
members transformed
the lives of our featured characters
into spectacular and engaging
vignettes
that were presented to participants
complete with period costumes Bravo!
Our
Community
Emergency Response Volunteers (CERV)
were on site all day in case of
any mishaps and the IODE ladies
provided bottled water for
participants. The
Lambton Branch of the Ontario
Genealogical Society helped people
"Find
Their Family" all afternoon and the
Lambton Archives brought unusual
funerary items for display.
Town
of
Petrolia staff helped in every way
from promoting the event and ordering
materials to parking and anything else
that was needed. Truly a great team!
Of
course
this event couldn't have taken place
without our dedicated and enthusiastic
volunteer tour guides who made
themselves available for rehearsals at
odd
hours.
Finally,
it
is the little things that sometimes
make these types of events unique. We
were
fortunate to have contacts with
several descendants of those people we
highlighted on the tour. A special
thank you to Judy and Mac MacDonald
who
graciously opened the family mausoleum
so folks could fully experience the
heritage of the McQueen family and to
PCT member Steve Jackson who played
himself and was able to bring such a
personal touch to the Jackson Family
history in Petrolia.
