The Art of Mourning: A Guided Tour of Gravestone Art in Bennington Center Cemetery

Join Bennington Museum curator, Jamie Franklin, for a tour of the Bennington Center Cemetery (also known as the Old First Church Cemetery), plus a special guided tour of Bennington Museum galleries, featuring Rev. Jedidiah Dewey’s original headstone and other art and artifacts related to the act of mourning and memorialization in early Vermont. Early New England cemeteries are underappreciated treasure troves, akin to open air museums, filled with some of the most important examples of stone sculpture created in America during the period of the Revolution and Early Republic. The Bennington Center Cemetery is widely recognized as one of the most beautiful in our state. The cemetery tour will introduce you to gravestones carved by some of the most prominent stonecutters active in this area from the 1760s through the 1830s, including  Zerubbabel Collins, the Manning Family, Samuel Dwight, and the Rule family, and provide insights into the early stone cutting industry in our region. The program will begin at the museum’s Early Vermont Gallery and finish in the Bennington Center Cemetery, located immediately adjacent to the museum. Wear comfortable shoes and dress appropriately for the weather. In the event of heavy rain, we have reserved November 21st as a rain date.

Registration for this in-person tour is limited to 10 participants. Tickets must be purchased by 5:00pm (Eastern US) on Thursday November 5 and are non-refundable.

Members: $10

Not-Yet-Members: $15

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This event is SOLD OUT.