The Otsego 2000 Historic Preservation Walking Tour Series continues with Old Hartwick Cemetery: What Burying Grounds Tell Us. Grave markers give us more information than just the names of the deceased. This tour helps us understand settlement patterns, gender roles, mortality rates, aesthetic trends, and even the availability of natural resources through the grave markers found in the Old Hartwick, or Robinson, Cemetery.  

The tour will be led by Dr. Cindy Falk, , Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies at SUNY Oneonta and Professor of Material Culture at the University’s Cooperstown Graduate Program. Mackenzie Sadler, Lizzy Keukjian, and George Macko, students in Dr. Falk’s Historic Preservation class at the Cooperstown Graduate Program, researched and developed the tour.

“Cemeteries are a great place to think about visual symbolism. The families of the deceased might choose a weeping willow tree or an open book or a lily of the valley as a way to remember their loved ones,” explained Dr. Falk. “We can learn what was readily available, culturally important, or simply stylish by studying the markers placed at graves.”  

Ellen Pope, executive director of Otsego 2000, will have information on the Historic Home and Barn Tax Credits available to homeowners living in communities like Hartwick that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Otsego 2000 offers free technical assistance in applying for these tax credits. The Otsego 2000 Historic Preservation Series will continue with walking tours in Worcester on October 6, and Cooperstown on November 10.

Dr. Falk was co-editor of Buildings & Landscapes: The Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum for five years and is the author of Barns of New York: Rural Architecture of the Empire State.

The cost for the walking tour is $10. Register in advance online or by calling 607/547-8881.

This walking tour has been funded in part by a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.