Cemetery Restored: Patricia Fanning of the Old Parish Preservation Volunteers (OPPV)

Name: Cemetery Restored: Patricia Fanning of the Old Parish Preservation Volunteers (OPPV)
Start: 2024-10-18T17:30:00-04:00
End: 2024-10-18T19:30:00-04:00
Location: Town of Plainville

Schedule

Fri Oct 18 2024 at 05:30 pm to 07:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Town of Plainville | Plainville, MA

Copied from the description used by Walpole Public Library & Walpole Historical Society:
In 2015, Patricia Fanning attended a Walpole Historical Society meeting at which Rob Gregg of the Vine Lake Preservation Trust spoke about the efforts of that group to preserve Vine Lake Cemetery in Medfield. She was inspired. And three years later, helped to found the Old Parish Preservation Volunteers (OPPV) of Norwood, an organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the Old Parish Cemetery in Norwood.
On Friday October 18th at 5:30 pm in the Community Meeting Room of Plainville Town Hall, she will present an illustrated talk about the efforts of OPPV to restore, repair, preserve and foster a sense of respect and�appreciation for this local landmark.
Learn what this group has accomplished in a few short years. They have cleaned, repaired, and reset a great number of gravestones, send out weekly blog posts about those interred in the cemetery, and have offered thematic tours, a production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” an art installation, a musical performance, and an annual Reading Frederick Douglass event. The research into the place and the families interred there has resulted in Fanning’s recent book: The Old Parish Cemetery of Norwood, Massachusetts. Old Parish Cemetery sits in the heart of downtown Norwood and serves as the final resting place of some of Norwood’s earliest and most influential residents.
It is our hope that Plainville residents will be inspired by Norwood’s efforts to help care for and support Plainville’s own cemeteries. Including the much needed and deserved project of documenting, restoring & eventually returning the collection of headstones safely stored in the basement of the James Humphrey House, Plainville’s History Museum & Archives to their proper resting place of the South Burial Ground in Plainville. A project the Historical Commission has long wanted to complete but just does not have the resources or manpower to do so.
Following the presentation of the cemetery’s history, noted individuals, and the work of OPPV, a short documentary will be shown. Directed by Norwood residents Maura and Kate Smith, the film explores the history of the Old Parish Cemetery and the work of the Old Parish Preservation Volunteers. It showcases both the importance of this burial ground to Norwood’s history and the work of the Volunteers.The evening will conclude with a question-and-answer period for anyone interested in learning more about OPPV’s efforts to preserve this colonial graveyard. The book The Old Parish Cemetery of Norwood, Massachusetts will be available for purchase (cash only) as well.
We hope you will join us for this incredible program. Be sure to speak to volunteers with the OPPV & the Plainville Historical Commission to find out how you can do more for our own cemeteries.
This is of course a Free Program.
Community Meeting Room. Plainville Town Hall
190 South St.
October 18th, 5:30 PM
(doors open at 5)
No registration required!