If you are looking for an event to put you in the Halloween spirit, this is it.
There will be a free walking tour of Mount Vernon’s Mound View Cemetery from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. Sept. 12.
The 41-acre cemetery, owned by the city of Mount Vernon, dates back to 1833, according to the city.
“There are burials whose death dates occurred prior to 1833,” the city said on its website. “However, it is believed that most were persons who were moved here from the Presbyterian Cemetery, which was located behind the Presbyterian Church at about 105 East Chestnut Street.”
The cemetery is named after an ancient Native American mound located in the western section of the grounds
The Sept. 12 event will be a guided walking tour, organizer Susan Kahrl told the Mount Vernon News.
Visitors should park across the street in the Round Hill Dairy parking lot on Wooster Road, Kahrl said. From there, transportation will be provided to the historic section of the cemetery.
“This year, we are highlighting medical pioneers,” said Karhl, a retired schoolteacher and former Mount Vernon city councilwoman. “We have three doctors from the 1800s we’re highlighting. Two of them came from Connecticut.”
Actors will portray the doctors and their wives and tell their stories, said Karhl.
The tour will also highlight the life of Ellamae Simmons, who died in 2019 at the age of 101.
“She was the first Black woman physician to specialize in in asthma, allergy and immunology,” said Karhl.
A marker in her honor was recently placed on the square in Mount Vernon.
The tour will also feature the Ransom vault.
“The Ransoms were an early group of bricklayers that immigrated to Mount Vernon,” said Karhl.
A member of the family, Susan Ransom McDonald, will tell the story of the Ransom family to tourgoers.
The mausoleum, the largest building in the cemetery, is also on the tour. It was built in 1924.
“Hardly anyone knows anything about this mausoleum,” Karhl said. “A lot of people have been very curious about this. The visitors to the cemetery tour are going to get to in the mausoleum.”
There are 200 crypts, which were sold to families, in the mausoleum.
“A number of them are unoccupied,” Karhl said. “Probably, there are family members who originally bought them and died and maybe nobody knows that people could be buried in there.”
