Take a two-hour stroll through Massillon Cemetery beginning at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 7 to learn about the history of the community and some of the influential people buried there.
Local historian Margy Vogt will lead visitors around the perimeter of the grounds to see the exteriors of mausoleums. She will talk about the prominent families buried in the vaults. Among the notable people are womens rights leader Caroline McCullough Everhard; industrialists J.F. Hess and F.H. Snyder; Congressman John G. Warwick; iron and coal magnate J.P. Burton; Albert M. Wetter, who owned a circus; and the Grabers, Allmans and Putmans, who operated downtown businesses.
The 1-mile walk will be slow and shady, covering both paved lanes and grassy paths. While Vogts original Massillon Cemetery tours have focused on monuments in the center part of the old section of the cemetery, the June 7 tour will concentrate on 24 mausoleums and the symbolism of cemetery architecture along the way.
Massillon Cemetery is located at 1827 S. Erie St. in Massillon, just south of the Oberlin Road exit from Ohio Route 21.
Participants should meet just inside the cemetery gate. Cemetery parking is limited, but ample free parking is available on both sides of South Erie Street. Reservations are not necessary; the $7 fee may be paid at the beginning of the tour. In case of inclement weather, the tour will be cancelled.
Copies of Vogts hardbound photographic history Massillon: Reflections of a Community and her paperback Fourth Street: A Century of History and Design will both be available for purchase at the tour.
For more information about the cemetery, Fourth Street and historic downtown tours, contact Margy Vogt at 330-832-8469 or vogt@sssnet.com.
