A Self-Guided Walking Tour Booklet of 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 Coebley looked at the Old Village Cemetery and saw a vast amount of stories that need to be told.  Judith is a retired educator and serves as the 2018 President of the Michigan State Organization of The Questers.  A 2016 grant from the Michigan State Organization of The Questers funded this booklet.  You will find biographical information, pictures of some veterans, pictures of grave stones, and a self-guided walking tour of the cemetery grave sites.  Each veteran’s grave site is marked with a short blue post with an accompanying number that corresponds to the number used in the walking tour booklet.

The Old Village Cemetery (first burial 1838) 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 (45) Civil War and (2) WWII veterans.

You will enjoy borrowing this booklet while you take a journey through time visiting grave sites.  Booklets are available in the drop box outside the main entrance into the cemetery.  Please return them at the completion of your tour.  (FYI:  The main entrance into the cemetery is closed until early August due to construction of the new pavilion and seating area.)

A well deserved thank you the Judith for her more than 1,000 hours of research over the course of two years in documenting the life stories of these Civil War veterans!

Thanks to Sue Skwarski for the above summary.