Tickets now available for historic cemetery tour on Oct. 6

Old cemeteries are filled with more than just ornate headstones and large shade trees. They’re brimming with local history and the personal stories of a town’s forebearers.

An opportunity to learn more about the triumphs and tragedies of the people who helped build Oxford is coming up on Sunday, Oct. 6. That’s when the Northeast Oakland Historical Society (NEOHS) will host its third annual walking tour of the township cemetery on the north side of W. Burdick St.

Tours will run from 1 to 4 p.m. and tickets are $15 each. This year’s theme is “Stories of Old Oxford: Fraternity, Charity and Loyalty.”

“We’re using those three principles as a thread for our stories,” said Oxford resident Jim Lehtola, the tour’s organizer.

Those are the principles upon which the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was founded in 1866. The GAR was an organization open to all honorably discharged veterans of the Civil War who served in Union forces between 1861 and 1865.

One of the stories to be shared during this year’s cemetery tour will be the history of the GAR – its founding, its work, its achievements and influence in politics, and ultimately, its demise in 1956.

According to Lehtola, who began researching Oxford’s cemetery and its occupants in 2016, “some, but not all” of the stories on this year’s tour will involve the Civil War.

The lives and deeds of seven folks from Oxford’s past will be highlighted, including Dr. Ailee Corbit, James Dove, Dr. John T. Stanton, Hiram Travis, Francis “Frank” Powell, William O. Davis and Elmer Van Wagoner.

One of those stories, that of Corbit, shows how a woman didn’t let the prejudices and limited opportunities her gender faced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries stop her from achieving her dreams and helping others.

Corbit, who lived from 1877 to 1937, has the distinction of being Oxford’s first female physician. After graduating from Oxford High School in 1893, she attended the University of Michigan Medical School and graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1902. Corbit was one of eight women to earn that degree from U-M that year.

After returning to Oxford, Corbit became the village’s health officer and while many of the men were away during World War I, she served as the town’s only doctor.

During the tour, folks will also learn how Stanton was instrumental in bringing the railroad to Oxford in 1882; how the body of Dove, a Civil War veteran, was stolen by grave robbers in 1879; and how the Travis family donated land for two schools and “contributed liberally” toward construction of the first Methodist Church in town.

Lehtola started organizing these cemetery tours to help share Oxford’s rich history in a way that’s both “entertaining and educational.”

“I haven’t had any negative feedback,” he said. “All I’ve heard are strictly positive things.”

Lehtola noted that after the first tour in 2017, one participant told people “she learned more about Oxford in an hour than she had learned her whole life living here.”

Those taking part in the tour are asked to gather behind the Northeast Oakland Historical Museum, located at the northwest corner of Washington (M-24) and Burdick streets in downtown Oxford. From there, they will be transported to the cemetery.

“We’ll have a shuttle bus running from the museum every half-hour since there’s parking issues at the cemetery,” Lehtola said.

Tours will leave for the cemetery every 30 minutes beginning at 1 p.m. The last tour will commence at 4 p.m. Each tour will run “just short of an hour,” Lehtola said. Rain or shine, the tours will go on and there will be a lot of walking on uneven ground. Folks are encouraged to be prepared and dress appropriately.

Tickets can be purchased at the museum (1 N. Washington St.), which is open on Thursdays and Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m. For more information, call (248) 628-8413.