Sandstone Society’s historic walk features Boxwood Cemetery

Concert in the basin follows Aug. 10 event at cemetery

Photo by Tom Rivers – The front entrance to Boxwood Cemetery includes mammoth sandstone pillars and chapel made of the local stone in 1903.

Press release
Medina Sandstone Society

MEDINA – Medina’s annual ‘Historic Walk,’ sponsored by the Sandstone Society, will take place at Boxwood Cemetery and will offer a generous slice of history surrounding some of the village’s most prominent people buried there.

The Aug. 10 event will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the cemetery on Route 63.

This is the fifth year for the Historic Walk with others having covered the downtown area of Medina, the Erie Canal basin, a historic residential district and three sandstone churches.

Susan Holland and Mary Zangerle, co-leaders of the walk, met last week with Orleans County Historian Bill Lattin to start plans and they paid tribute to Lattin’s background.

“Bill has created great interest in all of our annual walks here and cemetery locations are among his specialties.”

Then the two added that the 2013 walk will be blessed with a full staff of history specialists.

“Helping Bill will be Todd Bensley, village historian of Medina; Adam Tabelski, who has made history a hobby, and Craig Lacy, an official of the Medina Historical Society.  We can’t miss with a group of hosts like that.”

Boxwood in itself has a certain drama and its massive central hill displays some of the most striking monuments in the region. Added to those are numerous large mausoleums of stone, built to house the remains of entire families and fully inscribed.

One eye-catching point at Boxwood is the chapel sitting just inside the large iron gates.  This century-old structure boasts some outstanding stone masonry and also a stained glass memorial window that will get a full description.

The co-leaders added, “There is no charge for this annual walk and the society offers it as a public service.” They said previous walks have drawn as many as 70 enthusiasts.

Following the Historic Walk the Medina Tourism Committee has announced that a special event will be held in the Canal Basin at Medina. At 4 p.m. a musical variety program will be presented right in the dock area and the main features will be Medina’s popular Dave Viterna blues group and a visiting Creek Bend Band offering Blue Grass music.

“The music will run from 4 to 8 p.m. as a free concert,” said Jim Hancock of the Tourism Committee. “All the crowd needs is to bring lawn chairs and enjoy the entertainment.”

As an added attraction a new Medina food business will be offering baby back ribs and other specialties at the concert site.