Burial Ground Preservation And Gravestone Studies: Gravestone Network Founder To Speak In Newtown
Burial Ground Preservation And Gravestone Studies: Gravestone Network Founder To Speak In Newtown
Ruth Shapleigh-Brown, the founder and executive director of the Connecticut Gravestone Network, will speak at the next meeting of the Genealogy Club of Newtown. The club, which meets the second Wednesday of most months, will welcome Ms Shapleigh-Brown and the public to the C.H. Booth Library lower level board room on April 9 at 7 pm.
Ms Shapleigh-Brown has been involved in burial ground preservation and gravestone studies since the mid-1980s, when she visited her ancestral family plots in Maine. The Shapleighs came from England in the early 1600s, settling in the area now known as Eliot and Kittery.
Finding the graves in an overgrown, weed-covered state, she thought this to be very disrespectful, and organized some family members to clean them up. This was the tip of the iceberg for what has since become Ms Shapleigh-Brownâs passion in life, who sees studying such historic artifacts and protecting them as a way to interact with history.
Since 1989, Ms Shapleigh-Brown has worked with the Association for Gravestone Studies (AGS). In 1995, she organized fellow AGS members to form the Connecticut Gravestone Network. Through CGN, Ms Shapleigh-Brownâs goals are to sponsor programs that work with local communities to develop and support an interest in caring for old cemeteries.
She writes and publishes a quarterly newsletter for CGN, and organizes an annual spring symposium. In addition, Ms Shapleigh-Brown does presentations and programs on basic burial ground/cemetery conservation.
Ms Shapleigh-Brown is also vice president and event director for Friends of Center Cemetery in East Hartford. In October 2002, she organized and produced two Historic Lantern Tours of Center Cemetery in East Hartford. She is also working with several towns throughout the state on projects such as the Old North Burying Ground in Middlefield and the Old North Cemetery in Hartford.
The Genealogy Club of Newtown meets monthly, September through June.
Refreshments are provided during programs, and visitors are always welcome. For further information call 426-1840.