The Parish Town Historical Society’s Annual Cemetery Walk was held at the historic Pleasant Lawn Cemetery  South Railroad Street/Route 69A at 1 PM on Saturday, June18. The Pleasant Lawn Cemetery is the largest of the Parish, NY cemeteries.  It was established in 1806 and has an active cemetery association.  

The program began with Parish Town historian Bridget Swartz giving a brief history in the front of the chapel.  The oldest section of the cemetery was donated by Rev. Gamaliel Barnes. The settlement was commenced in Parish by Rev. Gamaliel Barnes and his son-in-law, Stephen D. Morse, in 1803. Rev. Barnes took the thirty cemetery walk guests back to the time when he first prospected here in Parish in 1802 and through the life span of his multiple talents and the many other firsts he had here in Parish.  Rev. Gamaliel Barnes was portrayed by Steve Stelmashuck, supervisor of the Town of Parish.

The fascinating lives of Samuel F. Mills and Nathan A. Petrie were portrayed by Doug Carver and Dan Dalin.  Mills and Petrie were first cousins from each sides of their family.  Both Parish and Ashton, Illinois were home to both Mills and Petrie with equal time spent at both towns.  In a double ceremony, Petrie married Sarah E. Howard and Mills married Louise Getman.  

Every day Parish residents and visitors drive, walk around or utilize the legacies left by Mills and Petrie.  Pleasant Lawn Cemetery is the site of the brick Tudor Gothic style Mills and Petrie Chapel (1917) and the Mills and Petrie Mausoleum. The mausoleum, completed in 1899, is the final resting place of Parish philanthropists, Nathan Albert Petrie and Samuel Franklin Mills and their wives.  Other contributions to their hometown of Parish that still stand today:  the Soldiers monument (1911); Parish Public Library (1922); chime clock (1923) and the Memorial Gymnasium (1925).