By Julie Huss
CHESTER — One of the area's most historic graveyards will be open for a tour this weekend.
The Chester Historical Society hosts a tour of the Village Cemetery on Route 102 at 2 p.m. The tour was postponed from previous date due to rain.
The cemetery, listed on the National Register of Historic Places dates back to the 1700s and holds the graves of many notable Chester citizens, politicians, ministers, soldiers, and families, all calling Chester home through the generations.
According to the Chester history book, "Chester Revisited" by author Richard Holmes, the cemetery shows prominent examples of 18th-century gravestone carvings as well, the most important created by Able and Stephen Webster.
The history book also notes that Chester residents formed a Village Cemetery Association in 1882 to care for the graveyard.
The historic burial ground earned national prestige in 1979 when it was entered into the National Register of Historic Places through the efforts of resident Col. Richardson Benton.
Benton's efforts to put the graveyard on the map, both nationally and locally, took hold again when Benton worked with the town to create a commemorative walkway through the cemetery to highlight some of the more notable Revolutionary War soldiers and families laid to rest there.
Among the notable buried at Village Cemetery include members of the Bell and French families, including politicians, scientists, military heroes, and writers. Also, more than two dozen Revolutionary War soldiers as well as veterans from every other American war are buried there.
Many of the Village Cemetery headstones are suitable for tracing and among the most intricate and artistic of stonework. Over the years, tours of the cemetery have been given so visitors can see and hear the stories and history behind the stones.
The tour will be led by Historical Society members. All are invited to attend. To learn more about the Chester Historical Society's efforts to preserve the town's history, including its work with the Stevens Memorial Hall re-dedication ceremonies planned for spring of 2010, contact the group at 887-4545 or e-mail to chesterhistorical@yahoo.com.
