Petrolia’s Historic Hillsdale Cemetery Tour, a fundraiser for monument restoration and the Petrolia Community Theater, returns Sept. 21.
Petrolia’s Historic Hillsdale Cemetery Tour, a fundraiser for monument restoration and the Petrolia Community Theater, returns Sept. 21.
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First held in 2013, the guided tour features members of the theater group performing heritage scenes in period costume for spectators taking part in a walking tour of the cemetery that sits just west of town on Petrolia Line.
“It has been three years since we’ve done one,” said Liz Welsh of the Petrolia Heritage Committee.
Initially, tours were held every two years, but organizers hit pause in 2023 to be part of Petrolia’s 150th anniversary this year, she said.
The town bought land in 1886 that became Hillsdale, a resting place for residents from Petrolia’s oil boom era that’s still an active cemetery.
“People had talked to us about doing cemetery tours before, but mostly the haunted cemetery tour thing,” Welsh said. “We didn’t really want to do that.”
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The committee obtained grants in the past to have students research the cemetery and those buried there.
One of the students a few years ago noted the site is “such a repository for history in our area,” Welsh said. “We wanted to showcase that history.”
For each tour, the committee gathers research on individuals buried at Hillsdale, then community theater members create two- to three-minute scenes based on the subjects’ lives to perform for groups walking through the grounds during the event.
About 200 people typically wait.
“We find some of the names people will recognize. . . if they’re familiar with Petrolia history,” Welsh said. “And some of them, they won’t but they’ve had very interesting lives.”
Stories told in previous years include that of a 19th-century oil tycoon John McMillan, who was said to have become obsessed with death and the afterlife before he died in 1891, and asked to be buried encased in paraffin wax.
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Each roughly hour-long tour has eight stops and can accommodate 16 to 20 people, Welsh said. They run every 15 minutes from noon to 4 pm, rain or shine.
“Our tour guides will be knowledgeable, and they can chat about interesting things about the cemetery or about Petrolia history,” Welsh said.
Steadman Brothers Funeral Home is expected to have vintage hearses on display. The town’s historical society, Lambton Historical Society, a local branch of the genealogical society, the county archives and Lambton Heritage Museum will also have displays and information.
“We have some extra special, secret things on this year’s tour I can’t talk about,” Welsh added. “I want people to be surprised.”
Tickets are $25 from the Victoria Playhouse box office in Petrolia, online at thevpp.caor at the cemetery on the day.
“Book early to get the time that you want,” Welsh said, noting some tine slots already are filled.
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