Ann Langille is set to lead graveyard tours during the three-day festival.
Langille describes the tour as a play in the burial ground, with actors playing the parts of people buried in the cemetery.
“The old burial ground on Main Street dates back to the beginning of the settlement,” says Langille. “The earliest burials there are 1759 and go all the way up to the turn of the last century.”
Back in time, there was only one meeting place for people to worship. This meant various religious denominations congregating, and the old graveyard was a common burial ground, says Langille.
“After the community became more established, then they started to build other churches of other denominations, and people opened their own burial grounds,” she says.
Langille says there are about 250 stones on the property, but there are probably about 2,500 people buried on the grounds.
Langille says she’s been involved in being a volunteer with Privateer Days for more than 20 years.
“I loved the burial ground as a little kid, would walk by and be fascinated by what was on the stones,” she says.
Pastor Edward Powell, who used to be in Liverpool, would do a walking tour of the grounds, and Langille says she loved it.
“When he transferred to another church and left Liverpool, we were without someone to do the tour,” she says.
That’s when Langille took the reins. She says she spent three weeks at the museum researching the history of the people who are buried in the old graveyard.
Initially Langille simply led walking tours, but she says she wanted the event to grow, so she found writers to write the parts.
“You could come today to the tour and then tomorrow and learn something different,” she says. “The people will be the same, but sometimes what I tell you might be different.”
Tours are slated to take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. and tickets cost $10.
