MENTZ - As Halloween approaches, many children will view cemeteries as dark and foreboding places.

But Owasco Town Historian Laurel Auchampaugh wants to bring these historic graveyards out of the shadows.

Auchampaugh said many cemeteries in 19th century America were built on hillsides because the land was not suitable for farming, and for the belief such settings brought the deceased closer to God.

Auchampaugh's son, Philip, has a unique cemetery in a back area of his farm on Jugg Street in Moravia. It's called Hall Cemetery.

She is a frequent visitor there, as is her daughter, Lynne Stenberg.

Both have been studying gravestones and enjoying visits to local cemeteries, for many years.

A mixed crowd of senior citizens and families attended the presentation Sunday.

After the afternoon slideshow and its informative narration, a scavenger hunt was held in the cemetery.

A fall repast of cider, donuts, and candy corn was also served.

The Historic Mentz Church was built around 1820, and was incorporated as the First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1825.

The first gravesite there was in 1817, and the cemetery encircles the one-room church.

It is a rare example of early 19th-century architecture in Cayuga County, and in 2004, was named to the National Register of Historic Places.

“Virtually intact to its date of construction, the church retains a remarkably high degree of integrity in design, material, craftsmanship and feeling of the early settlers of this area,” writes Montezuma Town Historian Cheryl Longyear.

There are many epitaphs to be found.

On many occasions, Auchampaugh has found a sonnet that reads in a variation such as “As you are now, so once was I; As I am now, so must you be; Prepare for death and follow me.”

Certainly not the most light-hearted of messages, such as one Auchampaugh found in Boston which read, “I told you I was sick.”

Auchampaugh is often moved emotionally by the sights she encounters on her tranquil cemetery walks - carved lambs that signal the loss of a young child, gravestones with weeping willow trees symbolic for their tear-shaped leaves, and the frequent sight of draped clothing, a symbol of how the departed has shed earthly concerns for the joys of Heaven.

And, of course, there is always religious symbolism from many faiths.

Auchampaugh showed five images of Jesus Christ as he's been portrayed on markers - as a child, as a man, carrying a cross, and on the cross.

A sublime example of the latter, she said, is at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Fleming.

There are a number of historic cemeteries in Cayuga County.

At Lakeview Cemetery, in Fleming, the members of the murdered Van Nest family are buried.

The most notorious mass murder in the short history of the United States in 1846, William Freeman stabbed to death four members of the Van Nest family with no apparent motive.

Freeman would later be defended in court, by a plea of insanity, by future Secretary of State William H. Seward.

At Fort Hill Cemetery in downtown Auburn, there are numerous families that can still be found together. There are “family circles,” the leaders of the family surrounded by a ring that died after them. It is a frequently-visited site at Fort Hill, a rough-hewn cross reading “Emerson” in front of the graves.

During Auchampaugh's slideshow, she encouraged young people to visit cemeteries - to learn more of their history, and to become more respectful of such places.

“They should go with their families, first, to visit their family graves, their ancestors. And not only on Memorial Day,” Auchampaugh said.

“This has evolved, too. With modern times people have different ways of interpreting grief. And you don't want the children to think it's maudlin or frightening. It's about reverence and respect.”

To learn more

Laura Auchampaugh, along with fellow Auburnian Colin Sullivan, will lead a tour of historic Fort Hill Cemetery at 2 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 21. A $5 admission charge will benefit Willard Chapel.