The Stearns family was connected to Amherst College. William Augustus Stearns (Annie's grandfather) was president of Amherst College. Mary (Annie's mother) ended up living in William's college home, and she was allowed to stay there for many years following his death. This is where she ran her school.
I absolutely love that you're highlighting people/images from the mural. I always think the stories told by the graveside are wonderful, but if the attendees see it again in a different light, or make a connection with another part of town, then it's going to stick with them for so much longer. I wish I were closer. I would come to this tour in an instant.
Yes, this cemetery is relatively compact, so I'm going to introduce the figures I'm highlighting at their graveside and then end at the mural where we can see them in a different light.
I think it is great that you are doing this research and I look forward to attending your tours. I also hope that at some point you can make your way over to Wildwood Cemetery. We have thousands of interesting people to research!
I will, Rebecca! I've been trying to identify who I'll talk about on the tour both by looking up women whose graves intrigue me at West Cemetery and by looking for women in Amherst history documents and then seeing where they're buried. I've discovered quite a few who are at Wildwood.
I love the idea of a cemetery tour. I have given many impromptu tours of our small country cemetery but the idea of writing in down for others to use is important I think. Good job, Sarah!
Very neat! I wonder about the wealthy family with the daughters who died early.
The Stearns family was connected to Amherst College. William Augustus Stearns (Annie's grandfather) was president of Amherst College. Mary (Annie's mother) ended up living in William's college home, and she was allowed to stay there for many years following his death. This is where she ran her school.
What a wonderful tour you are creating - thanks for giving us all an early preview!
Thank you for the encouragement. Grateful for this Substack community.
I am loving the prospects of this tour as you lay them out.
If I lived close by I’d be part of your tour group with bells on.
Thank you. It's been helpful to organize my thoughts by writing these posts. Hopefully it all comes together.
I don’t see why it won’t. I think that it’s a brilliant idea on your part to use posts to better map and sort things.
I absolutely love that you're highlighting people/images from the mural. I always think the stories told by the graveside are wonderful, but if the attendees see it again in a different light, or make a connection with another part of town, then it's going to stick with them for so much longer. I wish I were closer. I would come to this tour in an instant.
Yes, this cemetery is relatively compact, so I'm going to introduce the figures I'm highlighting at their graveside and then end at the mural where we can see them in a different light.
I think it is great that you are doing this research and I look forward to attending your tours. I also hope that at some point you can make your way over to Wildwood Cemetery. We have thousands of interesting people to research!
I will, Rebecca! I've been trying to identify who I'll talk about on the tour both by looking up women whose graves intrigue me at West Cemetery and by looking for women in Amherst history documents and then seeing where they're buried. I've discovered quite a few who are at Wildwood.
I love the idea of a cemetery tour. I have given many impromptu tours of our small country cemetery but the idea of writing in down for others to use is important I think. Good job, Sarah!
Thank you, David. If nothing else, I hope the script will help me document all the information I've collected about these women.