Meeting Dates – 4th Wednesday of each month, beginning at 6PM, CoBACH

Board meetings are open to the public.

If you are interested in getting involved, this is a good opportunity to learn how.

**  November meeting will be the week before Thanksgiving and no Meeting in December

202 W. Main Street, in downtown Brighton next to the Millpond. CoBACH is formally known as the City of Brighton, Arts, Culture and History Center. It is located in the former Town Hall building.

** November 20 – Sunday – Annual Meeting, Election of 2017 Officers, Lyon School

Board meetings are open to the public.

If you are interested in getting involved, this is a good opportunity to learn how.

The Lyon School is located on in Brighton Township, Michigan on Buno Road one quarter-mile west of Pleasant Valley Road.

Brighton Area Historical Society will host Santa and Mrs. Claus at Lyon School on Buno Road in the township.  The 1885 one-room school will be decorated with an early 1890’s theme for the Christmas holidays.  This is a wonderful time of the year for families to visit and tour the school that instructed children in Brighton Township from the 1880’s through the 1950’s.  Allow your children to experience history at the one-room school that was rural America!

Meet Santa and Mrs. Claus and take your family holiday photos.
Enjoy fresh cookies and hot chocolate
Enjoy many old fashioned Christmas decorations
Supervised “Make and Take Projects” for you children.
Great day for kids.  BRING YOUR CAMERA!

EXHIBITS at CoBACH
Sunday – Friday, 5-8 pm
Saturday, 11 am – 5 pm
Closed Monday

CoBACH Display
April – May
“World War I”

Learn about the local WWI veterans that served our country as the 100th Anniversary of
WWI takes place this year.  Over 100 local veterans have their photos and their service
records on exhibit.  See letters and memorabilia about the men from Brighton.

FREE Admission

Brighton’s oldest cemetery is due for its annual grounds restoration on Saturday, May 6 from 9 am-Noon.  This will be the Ninth Annual Spring Day of Restoration as we prepare all the gravesites including those of United States Veterans for the upcoming Memorial Day remembrance.

This is a wonderful opportunity to donate a Saturday morning to assist in such a worthwhile effort.  Helping to enrich your hometown with community involvement is an important civic public service.  Please feel free to bring your school-age children.

There have been tremendous joint efforts by many to improve the appearance of this burial ground.  The initial proposal by the Brighton Area Historical Society in 2009 was graciously embraced by the former City Manager, Dana Foster.

Prior to the pitch, some may remember that the cemetery was locked closed all day to any visitors.  Brush and weed trees totally encompassed the cemetery’s perimeter making it impossible to see into the grounds.  Many headstones around the perimeter were covered by brush and impossible to see.

Today you will see beautiful grounds that are under the canopy of mature trees.  As you gaze down on the millpond from Brighton’s 1838 cemetery, you will enjoy viewing the glistening diamonds of light that reflect off the gentle waves of the water.  The early founders of Brighton indeed selected a beautiful setting for the burial grounds of famiy and friends.  The cemetery is open to all during the daylight hours.

Please join us to continue the transformation on May 6.  Bring work gloves and a lawn rake.  The recent winds removed the leaves from the ground, but left small broken branches everywhere.  You will be guaranteed a wonderful feeling when you are done!

9th Annual Old Village Cemetery Spring Cleanup
Saturday, May 6th, 2017
9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Participate in the FREE Memorial Program inside the Old Village Cemetery that
will follow the parade and Veterans’ Address at the Millpond.  The Brighton Area
Historical Society and the Sons of the Union Veterans Post 240 will present a
special memorial program for two local buried Civil War soldiers.  Their broken
headstones have been reassembled and will be rededicated today.  This program
from within Old Village Cemetery should take place around 11:40am-12:15pm.
For more information, please call 810.250.7276

ALSO…

Veterans Day
November 11, 2017

“RededicatingTheir Service”

A Self-Guided Walking Tour of the Civil War Soldiers’ Graves in Brighton’s Old Village Cemetery
The past teaches much, and a cemetery is an unlikely but abundant wealth of information.  Every grave stone is a story. Judith Coebly looked at the Old Village Cemetery in Brighton, Michigan and saw a vast amount of stories that needed to be told. Judith Coebly is a retired educator and an active Quester as she serves both on the Michigan State Board of The Questers and also President of Plank Road Questers #236. One of her interests has been the human aspect and impact of the American Civil War. This is apparent in her accomplishment of a booklet which details the lives of those Union Soldiers whose grave stones are found in the Old Village Cemetery in Brighton, Michigan. Funded by a grant from the Michigan State
Organization of The Questers, this booklet provides biographical information, pictures of some veterans, pictures of grave stones, and a self-guided walking tour of the cemetery grave sites.  This booklet will be available for cemetery visitors’ usage in May, 2017.  After more than 1,000 hours of research over the course of 2 years, Judith presents the stories behind the grave stones. In addition to the 38 identified veteran graves, research also revealed other grave markers were veterans. It was also discovered that some of the grave stones were only memorials (cenotaphs).

The Brighton Old Village Cemetery serves as a record of the historical development of the City of Brighton as it holds the grave markers of prominent local and state leaders, noted political figures, and Civil War Veterans. Designated as a Michigan State Historic Site, the cemetery provides many educational opportunities.

Through the spirit and support of The Questers, Judith Coebly has established another location that provides historical significance and of which it can be said, “This Place Matters!”

Suzanne Skwarski
Plank Road Questers #236
This booklet is available in a mail box just inside the cemetery entrance.

Allow your children to experience a FREE Christmas 2017 program at the Lyon
School with Santa and Mrs. Claus.  The Brighton Area Historical Society presents
this wonderful opportunity for your family to take holiday photos with the affable
duo visiting from the North Pole.  Our special holiday celebrities are long-time
Brighton BAHS members who enjoy this tradition with the kids.  The school is
decorated in early 1900s style including the Christmas Tree.  The aroma of
fresh pine permeates the 1885 one-room school building.  Make and take crafts
are supervised by the crew of adult elves.  Homemade cookies, apple cider and
candy canes will complete the afternoon of joy for your family.  Be sure to have
your children bring their figt list to give to Santa!  Many adults have been over
heard saying as they leave “…this is the best kept secret in Brighton for children
and parents.”

For more information, please call 810.250.7276

Old Village Cemetery Spring Cleanup, May 5, 9am-12nn
Can You Help?

The 10th Annual Old Village Cemetery Spring Cleanup is 6 weeks away. Can you spare 3 hours on a Saturday morning to give some time for our deceased veterans and the early settlers of Brighton.

Veterans’ Day Program
Saturday, November 10, 2018
11am – Veterans Parade on Main Street, Brighton
11:15am – 11:40am – Veterans Program at Millpond Memorial
11:45am – 12:15pm – Veterans Program in the Old Village Cemetery

Civil War Private Ernest Crippen will be honored.  The story of Brighton’s (5) Crippen
brothers and their service to the Union during the Civil War will be shared.

“Old Fashioned Christmas”
Nov 20 – Dec 21

CoBACH Center Hours:
Sunday – Friday, 5 – 8pm
Saturday 11am – 5pm
Closed Mondays
For more information, please call 810.250.7276