Press release:
Join us for some spooky fun on Saturday, Oct. 20th, when the Batavia Cemetery Association will host a candlelight guided ghost walk through the Historic Batavia Cemetery on Harvester Avenue in Batavia.
The tours will feature the famous and infamous movers and shakers who shaped and influenced the City of Batavia.
The guided tour will bring guests to meet men and women of Batavia, who, for various reasons, held great power and exerted great influence in their day, were victims of tragic events, or both: Philemon Tracy, one of the few Confederate officers buried in the North; Ruth the unknown victim of a horrendous murder; Joseph Ellicott, a man of great power and great flaws; and William Morgan, the man who disappeared and was allegedly murdered before he could reveal the secrets of the Masons. These are some of the ghosts who will tell their stories on the tour.
Also visiting will be: Rev. John H. Yates, poet, preacher, philanthropist, journalist and author of nationally known hymns; Civil War veteran General John H. Martindale, who was Military Governor of the District of Columbia in 1865; and Dean and Mary Richmond, who greatly influenced civic life in Batavia in the 1800s, will meet with guests in their mausoleum on the last stop of the tour.
Dean Richmond made a great fortune in Great Lakes shipping and was the second president of the New York Central Railroad. Mary Richmond vastly expanded her husband’s fortune after his death and sat on the boards of many businesses and civic organizations.
Tours begin at 7 p.m. and run every 15 minutes until 8:30 p.m. Admission is $10 and includes refreshments. Reservations are required.
Proceeds benefit the upkeep and restoration of the cemetery. For more information, or to make reservations, contact 343-3220.
