The Burrillville Historical & Preservation Society will be celebrating RI Historical Cemeteries Awareness and Preservation Weeks with three events in April and May. The first event will be held on Saturday, April 9 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Riverside Cemetery in Harrisville. The cemetery is located opposite the Harrisville Fire Station on Callahan School Street and is known as historical Cemetery #26. The public is invited to help in cleaning the cemetery and bring supplies such as rakes, leaf blowers and brush loppers, gloves, water to drink and a wheelbarrow or cart if available to carry away debris. There will be demonstrations of proper headstone cleaning techniques and a stone setting demonstration, weather permitting. There will be a table with information on the location of Burrillville’s historical cemeteries, how to maintain a graveyard and the Adopt-A-Cemetery program.
The second event will be a tour of the Sayles-Cook Cemetery behind CVS in Pascoag on Sunday, May 1 from 1-3 p.m. The third event will be a hands-on gravestone conservation workshop at the Pascoag Cemetery on May 14 from 9-4 p.m. To attend this free event on May 14, you must register.
If you love old cemeteries or are just curious, stop by to see the work BH & PS is doing and join in the efforts to maintain the town’s abandoned cemeteries. Call (401) 568-8449 or (401) 500-0433 or email bmencucci@verizon.net for more info or to register for the gravestone conservation workshop on May 14.
