The first of six monthly guided tours starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 28.
A Michigan Registered Historic Site, Brighton's Old Village Cemetery is one of the city's most significant landmarks. Thirty-seven Civil War veterans, as well as dozens of influential residents, are buried onsite.
The location is also one of Brighton's most beautiful. Perched atop a small hill above Mill Pond, the cemetery offers panoramic views of downtown Brighton and Mill Pond Park.
"I believe it is the crown jewel of the Mill Pond Park," Jim Vichich of the Brighton Area Historical Society (BAHS) said.
BAHS, which has led annual clean-ups for the last three years and was responsible for its rededication in 2010, plans to refurbish the entire cemetery.
It'll be a slow process, but organizers plan to repair the headstones, most of which are skewed or crumbling, Vichich said. He also envisions a retaining wall and fence along Mill Pond, benches for reading and reflection, lighting, cameras, and pops of color.
"We'd like to add some flowering shrubs and trees," Vichich said. "The point is to get people in there."
Contrary to frequent assumption, Old Village Cemetery does not belong to St. Paul's Episcopal Church. The cemetery, which has always been a public cemetery, is property of the City of Brighton.
It was originally dedicated in 1837 with the burial of Truman Worden, whose death marked Brighton's first. Strangely, Worden's headstone was missing until a few years ago when it was discovered under a foot of debris during a clean-up.
Among those interred at Old Village Cemetery are John McKinney and Kinsley Bingham.
McKinney, a slave who fled to Brighton, died in the early 1890s after living above the bank (now the Yum Yum Tree) for 40 years. Even though he was respected in the community, Brighton's residents protested his being buried in the public cemetery. Instead, he was buried on the 10-foot portion of the grounds of St. Paul's Episcopal Church that abutted the cemetery's grounds. His plot has since become part of the Old Village Cemetery.
Bingham (1808-1861) served as Michigan's governor from 1855-1859 and as a U.S. Senator from 1859-1861. He also helped to found the Michigan Agricultural College at Michigan State University.
BAHS's tours of Old Village Cemetery are scheduled to take place on the fourth Saturday of each month during Brighton's Farmers Market. Tours will begin at 11 a.m. at the cemetery's new entrance above the gazebo at Mill Pond Park. In addition to providing general information, the one-hour tour will feature information concerning nine prominent Brighton families whose members are buried there
