By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current
Heidi Hamer is the tour guide/storyteller for the upcoming ‘Stories in Stone” tours at Oakwood Cemetery. Photo by Claudia Loucks
Silent history comes to life through the “Stories in Stone” walking tours planned this summer at Oakwood Cemetery.
The 90-minute tours are on Thursday, June 11; Thursday, July 23, and Thursday, Aug.27, and are sponsored by the Geneseo Historical Museum.
Heidi Hamer is the tour guide/storyteller who brings to life the lives and legacies of some of Geneseo’s earliest residents.
Tour guests are invited to “unearth the rich and fascinating history above and beneath your feet.”
The historical walks begin and end at Muzzy Chapel, located just inside the entrance to the cemetery. There is no cost for the tours, but free will donations for the Geneseo Historical Museum are accepted and appreciated.
Reservations are required by visiting geneseohistory.com or by calling the museum at 309-944-3043.
The tours are described as a “3 Sneaker Walking Tour: hills and potential rough terrain,” so comfortable shoes are recommended.
Pets are not allowed in the cemetery.
Tour guide Heidi Hamer is retired after a career of teaching art for 35 years in the Geneseo School District.
When she was teaching seventh grade art at the Geneseo Middle School, the curriculum included “Our Town,” when some of the students visited the Historical Museum, others went to the Hennepin Canal, and another group went to Oakwood Cemetery.
Hamer said the information for the student tours was provided by Angie Snook, retired director/curator of the Historical Museum.
Cemetery information includes stories about the community’s founding fathers of Geneseo taken from their head stones.
Hamer became more interested in the art symbolism on the headstones.
“It was really after I retired from teaching and would often walk through the cemetery that I discovered more and different symbolisms, and I learned more about the history. I also volunteered at the museum and the two things came together,” and she offered to conduct “Stories in Stone” at Oakwood Cemetery.
She includes cemetery etiquette and cemetery rules on the tours.
The tours were introduced to the community last summer when two tours were offered on a Saturday and Hamer said there were 40 people on each of the tours…”We then realized there was an interest and it was decided to continue the tours this summer.”
Dressed in Victorian fashion, Hamer meets the cemetery guests at the Muzzy Chapel, which was built in 1916, and renovated in the 1970’s, and which she described as “a gem of a building in itself, a capsule in time.”
Hamer invites guests into the chapel where she presents a 10-minute slide show of what guests will see on the tour with a focus on the symbolism on headstones and the stories of the families who are buried there -stories in stone – what the symbolism means and the family history of who is buried there.
The group will follow the path up the hill from the chapel and continue on their journey until it concludes back at Muzzy Chapel.
She will have handouts listing the Victorian headstones symbolism/ meanings in alphabetical order, and she gave an example of the acorn symbol which means prosperity, power and triumph.”
Hamer advises those planning to accompany her on the tour to “wear walking shoes, sun glasses, a hat and bug spray and water if needed.”
