Exploring graveyards and cemeteries

Historian Peter Osborne explores topic for park talk BUSHKILL, Pa. — How did graveyards develop in our social history from simple plots on family land to elaborately designed community cemeteries? On Saturday, June 12, at 7 p.m. in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area’s Bushkill Visitor Center, historian Peter Osborne will illustrate the different stages in cemetery development with photographs of local graveyards, churchyards, and cemeteries. The presentation on “Exploring Graveyards, Churchyards and Cemeteries” also will include handouts on epitaphs and graveyard preservation. The program, at the Visitor Center on Route 209, Bushkill, is sponsored by the non-profit Friends of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and is free to the public. A meeting of the Friends membership will be held at 6:15 p.m. preceding the program where members will hear about Friends’ activities in 2010 and the planned fundraiser to celebrate 10/10/10 this fall. Osborne is a well-known area historian who has several books about local history in publication and makes history come alive in his presentations. Former director of the Minisink Historical Society in Port Jervis, he now lives and works in Easton, PA, where his Pienpack Company is based. This talk is the first in the 2010 series of lectures sponsored by the Friends in cooperation with recreation area staff. The next program is Saturday, July 24, at 7 p.m., featuring Dr. Jane Huffman of East Stroudsburg University, on Black Bears of NJ and PA. Information about the park and all of its programs can be found at www.nps.gov/dewa or by telephoning 570-426-2452. Information about the not-for-profit Friends organization is at www.friendsofdewa.org .