Jacksonville Review – October 2026

IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE we’re in October already and it’s time again to give the Jacksonville Cemetery a final cleanup in preparation for winter. Details of our upcoming Fall Community Cemetery Cleanup Day are below. We look forward to your help as we rake up and bag the (many) leaves of summer and, together, make a huge difference in the appearance of our beautiful historic cemetery!

August’s History Saturday topic, “Artists and Art in the Cemetery,” presented by Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery (FOJHC) docents Lynn Ransford and Anne Peugh, highlighted the stories of many talented artists from Jacksonville’s past and included a walking tour to their gravesites, which often house markers and monuments that are works of art in their own right.

Appearing in costume as early Jacksonville pioneers, Carrie Beekman and Jane McCully, Lynn and Anne pointed out that there are so many artists buried in all seven sections of the cemetery, in part because life in pioneer times was difficult and challenged men and women alike to develop a wide range of skills in order to survive. As a result, while residents in the 1800s may not have thought of themselves as artists, most women, for example, were adept at homemaking skills—skills we now regard as art—and their needlework, quilting, tailoring, fashion designing and dressmaking skills were often excellent, some even exquisite! Likewise, the elegant fences that surround many of the gravesites in the cemetery were not made by professional sculptors in their studios, but by local blacksmiths who fashioned metal fencing for the gravesites of friends or loved ones.

In addition to the citizen-artists who were created by the needs and challenges of life in pioneer times, Jacksonville’s arts community has long included more conventionally derived artists. We heard about painter and photographer Peter Britt, writer/illustrator/teacher Raymond Lewis, watercolorist Dorland Robinson, writers Herbert and Alice Applegate Sargent, landscape oil painter Helene Hesse Hanna, master woodworker David Linn and, more recently, artist and art philanthropist Eugene Bennett…among many, many others.

This was another wonderful talk and tour by Anne and Lynn, both of whom have written and presented many fascinating stories about Jacksonville’s past for History Saturday. We thank them both and extend our best wishes to Anne as she moves from the area to be with family out of state.

Project lead Butch Frost reports that volunteers trained in our Marker Cleaning Workshops have cleaned nearly 150 markers so far this year! That’s a great record, and we thank you one and all!

Fall Community Cemetery Cleanup Day, Saturday, October 24, 9am-noon—Join the Friends and other community organizations and volunteers for a clean-up of the cemetery grounds in preparation for winter. Bring gloves to wear, leaf rakes, pruners, and gas/battery operated blowers (if County fire regulations permit—see our website for current status). Eye and ear protection is recommended.

All Events—Meet at the Sexton’s Tool House, top of Cemetery Road. Parking within the cemetery.

Please check our website at friendsjvillecemetery.org for future events and programs.