MINTO – In celebration of Palmerston’s upcoming 150th birthday, two groups have come together to create an event for history buffs and those eager to learn about local legends.
The Palmerston Railway Heritage Museum and the Harriston Historical Society, from now until July 30, are hosting a Palmerston 150th Headstone and Plaque Hunt.
“[We] wanted to collaborate on a headstone style hunt that visitors who are coming into the area perhaps for the celebration can do,” Madison Dicks, a member of both groups, told the Community News.
The hunt includes two locations: the Palmerston Cemetery and the CNR Park just behind the Palmerston museum.
The cemetery portion focuses on various headstones while the other focuses on information found on plaques throughout the museum/park.
“It’s to give a large scope of Palmerston’s history and also highlight some notable Palmerston figures,” Dicks said.
Participants will need to obtain entry forms available on the Harriston Historical Society and the museum websites.
In-person forms can be picked up at the John Webb Room in the Harriston library, at the museum or at the Palmerston library.
The cemetery portion includes 18 questions, and the plaque portion includes 14.
“I’m personally a cemetery lover and I think there is a lot of great local history in cemeteries that often goes missed and forgotten,” Dicks stated.
“Having a headstone hunt is a great way to familiarize locals, but also visitors to the area with notable people in Palmerston’s history who helped make it what it is today.
“Any event like this that gets people out in the community, seeing the historic buildings and getting them into the museum … is just a great thing,” she said.
Participants can win one of two family passes to The Norgan Theatre in Palmerston. Completed forms are to be submitted before July 30 and returned to the museum or emailed to museum@town.minto.on.ca.
The winners will be announced on Aug. 2 during a Palmerston history presentation at the Norgan at 1pm.
Headstones in the Palmerston cemetery. Submitted photos
Similar event
Dicks noted a similar event occurring from June 11 to Aug. 6, the Harriston Historical Society’s ninth annual headstone hunt.
This event is slated to take place in the Harriston cemetery only and like the event above, participants can “do it all on your own time and at your won pace.”
“Last year the headstone hunt took place all across the Town of Minto because it was the 25th anniversary of the amalgamation of Harriston, Clifford and Palmerston,” she explained.
This year, guests will be looking for specific headstones with a section on “more general cemetery questions.”
The prizes include $100 for first, $75 for second and $50 for third. Entry forms are available at the Harriston Historical Society room in the Harriston library or at harristonhistoricalsociety.com.
Forms can be submitted in person or via email at info@harristonhistoricalsociety.com.
Winners will be announced on Aug. 9 at the Harriston Street Party event.
“I know there is perhaps stigmas around cemeteries but I think they are really great areas to learn about local history,” Dicks said.
“You don’t want kids to be afraid of cemeteries so I think it’s a great opportunity to see the positive and the beauty of cemeteries, and how much history they have to offer.”
