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Date: 12/27/2022
WESTFIELD – A new historical lecture is coming to Westfield’s First Congregational Church Jan. 11 at 6:30 p.m., as a historian couple will give a talk about interesting gravestones in Westfield and throughout New England.
Betsy and Al McKee’s interest in gravestones began when they moved into their Longmeadow home decades ago, and found that it had been originally built by a gravestone cutter. After examining the stonework of the previous homeowner, and the work of other stonecutters who once worked in the area, the McKees came to appreciate gravestones as a form of public, outdoor artwork.
Betsy McKee said that her and her husband’s lecture, “Here Lies Interred,” will explore different stone carvers in New England and their individual styles, as well as the lives and deaths of those memorialized on the gravestones. She said they will also go over how cemeteries were laid out, and why they are designed as they are.
While they will explore cemeteries from other parts of New England in the lecture, they will put a focus on the Old Burying Ground on Mechanic Street in Westfield, where most of Westfield’s most notable historic residents have been laid to rest.