Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation Tours & Events
Mark your calendars now for Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation's
2010 Tours and Events!

Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation's 2010 Tours and Events are supported in part by the Greater Hartford Arts Council's Neighborhood Arts & Heritage grant.

This page will continue to be updated as additional information becomes available. Unless otherwise indicated, tours and events will take place at Cedar Hill Cemetery and will commence at the flagpole at the end of the entryway drive.
Please wear comfortable walking shoes for tours.

Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation's 4th Annual Run for the Roses
Saturday, May 1, 2010, 4:30pm - 9:30pm
The Hartford Golf Club, 134 Norwood Road, West Hartford, CT
Join us Saturday, May 1, 2010 at The Hartford Golf Club for Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation's 4th Annual Run for the Roses! Festivities will begin at 4:30pm with a two-hour cocktail social which will include pre-Kentucky Derby race coverage live from Churchill Downs, hors-d'oeuvres, open bar and a silent auction. The Cocktail Social will conclude with the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby. Following the race, guests will enjoy dinner, live music and dancing.

WTIC radio personality and voice of the UConn Huskies Joe D'Ambrosio will be returning as emcee for the fourth year in a row, and he will be joined by Emmy award-winning TV journalist and author Diane Smith. Tickets are $125 per person or $1,000 for a table of 10.

To view photos from the
3rd Annual Run for the Roses,
click here.

Cedar Hill's Artists, Authors and Actors
Saturday, May 8, 2010, 10:00am - 11:30am
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
Artists, authors and actors abound at Cedar Hill. Learn about their contributions to the arts during this tour. Featured residents include William Glackens, Katherine Seymour Day and Katharine Hepburn.

Cedar Hill's Feathered Friends
Saturday, May 22, 2010, 6:30am
Free for All
Join Roaring Brook Nature Center's Jay Kaplan for his annual Feathered Friends walk though Cedar Hill's nature preserve. Bring your binoculars and wear appropriate hiking shoes for this walk in search of resident birds. Meet at the bridge just beyond the entryway gates.

Live Birds of Prey Presentation
Saturday, May 22, 2010, 10:00am - 11:30am
General Admission: $8.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: $5.00;
Children 12 and under: Free *Please note: Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Everyone is sure to enjoy this live Birds of Prey presentation by A Place Called Hope. A Place Called Hope is a raptor rehabilitation center. They will introduce attendees to some of their feathered friends, discuss how they live in the wild, and share tips for people to lessen the dangers for Connecticut's wildlife. Follow signs at Cedar Hill for designated event location. This presentation will be postponed in the event of inclement weather.

Cedar Hill's Lesser-known Notables
Saturday, June 5, 2010, 10:00am - 11:30am
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
Every resident at Cedar Hill has a story. Come hear some stories about Cedar Hill's lesser-known notables during this walking tour. Featured residents will include Katharine Hepburn's assistant Phyllis Wilbourn, Actor Nicholas Hudson Holt, and Samuel Clemens's family physician Dr. Cincinnatus Taft.

Lest We Forget: Infectious Diseases from 1850-1918
Saturday, June 12, 2010, 10:00am - noon
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
In the 19th and early 20th centuries it was not unusual for parents to lose several children to an infectious disease within months or even days of each other. This tour will explore the infectious diseases that afflicted Cedar Hill's families in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, how they were diagnosed and treated then, and how they are treated today.

Cedar Hill's Exeptional Women
Saturday, June 19, 2010, 10:00am - noon
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
Led by women's historian Grace Parks Mitchell, this tour gives measure and weight to the lives of exceptional women who reside in eternity at Cedar Hill Cemetery. She will discuss the milieu of their times to reveal their silhouettes and present brushstroke re-creations of their place and time in history. Learn about the extraordinary accomplishments of these women within the context of their 19th and 20th century historical times as we explore their outstanding contributions to Connecticut and our world.

Cedar Hill: A Tour Behind the Scenes
Thursday, June 24, 2010, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
Join long-time Board Director Russell Jones for a tour Behind the Scenes of Cedar Hill Cemetery. Attendees will visit the historic Northam Memorial Chapel and Waiting Room, walk through the ornamental foreground, and end at Katharine Hepburn's grave. Mr. Jones will discuss the history of Cedar Hill and how this Hartford cemetery has become nationally-recognized as a premiere example of the American rural cemetery movement.

The Hartford Circus Fire: Presentation and Tour
Saturday, July 10, 2010, 10:00am - noon
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
This year marks 66 years since the Hartford Circus Fire. This catastrophic event changed the lives of many residents throughout Hartford and beyond. Join us for a presentation about the Hartford Circus Fire, which will include commentary from a gentleman who attended the circus that day. Following the presentation, attendees are invited for a tour to visit the graves of some of the people who lost their lives to the Circus Fire.

Cedar Hill Sunset Notables Tour
Thursday, July 15, 2010, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
Join Foundation Director Wendi Fralick for a tour through Cedar Hill's historic memorial grounds highlighting the lives and accomplishments of some of Cedar Hill's most notable residents. One of the most anticipated tours of the year, attendees will enjoy watching the sun set over Cedar Mountain during the walk. Featured residents will include Dr. Horace Wells, Gideon Welles, J.P. Morgan and Katharine Hepburn.

Architects at Cedar Hill
Saturday, July 17, 2010, 10:00am - noon
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members, Hartford Preservation Alliance members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
Tomas Nenortas & Mary Falvey of the Hartford Preservation Alliance will share the life and times of notable Hartford architects and the buildings and homes they designed.  Notables include James G. Batterson, Walter P. Crabtree, Edward Hapgood, William Scoville and Jacob Weidenmann - Cedar Hill Cemetery's very own landscape architect.

Cedar Hill Notables Tour
Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 10:00am - 11:30am
Free for All
Experience Cedar Hill's grandeur during this morning stroll highlighting Cedar Hill's most notable residents. Featured residents will include Dr. Horace Wells, Gideon Welles, J.P. Morgan and Katharine Hepburn.

Twain's Companions and Cohorts
Saturday, July 24, 2010, 10:00am - 11:30am
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
While Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, is laid to rest in Elmire, New York, many of his Hartford companions and cohorts are interred at Cedar Hill Cemetery. Learn about Mark Twain's life and his many Nook Farm friends, neighbors and colleagues during this tour. Featured residents will include Reverend Joseph Hopkins Twichell, Charles Dudley Warner and Isabella Beecher Hooker.

Cedar Hill Notables Tour
Tuesday, August 17, 2010, 10:00am - 11:30am
Free for All
Experience Cedar Hill's grandeur during this morning stroll highlighting Cedar Hill's most notable residents. Featured residents will include Dr. Horace Wells, Gideon Welles, J.P. Morgan and Katharine Hepburn.

3rd Annual Family-friendly Mystery Scavenger Hunt
Saturday, September 18, 2010, 10:00am - noon
$5.00 per person
Teams of up to four people each will compete to find and follow clues to solve a mystery. This family-friendly event is a race to the finish and prizes will be awarded to the teams who solve the mystery the fastest. Reservation are recommended. Please call 860-956-3311, ext. 224 to reserve a spot for your group.

Old State House Agitators and Orators Tour
Saturday, September 25, 2010, 10:00am - 11:30am
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
Discover the people who changed Connecticut on the Old State House Agitators and Orators Tour.  The tour, a collaborative venture between Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation and Connecticut's Old State House, features living history vignettes that bring to life people with a connection to the 1796 Old State House.  Hear the stories of such notable - and sometimes controversial - people as: Morgan Bulkeley "the Crow Bar Governor"; Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy under President Lincoln; suffragettes Frances Ellen Burr and Isabella Beecher Hooker; and Governor Thomas Seymour, an opposer of the Civil War and leader of the Connecticut Peace Democracy.  Learn how these citizens advocated their beliefs and sought to change Connecticut.

Cedar Hill's Notable Trees
Saturday, October 2, 2010, 10:00am - noon
General Admission: $5.00; CHCF Members and Let's Go Arts Members: Free
Join beloved tree expert Ed Richardson for his annual tree tour at Cedar Hill. Learn about the beautiful European Weeping Beech, the unusual (for the Northeast) Umbrella Magnolia, and the Hemlock that had Mr. Richardson himself "stumped" - for a little while anyway.

Cedar Hill's Haunted History Lantern Tour
Friday, October 29, 2010
Ticket Sales: 6:00pm - 8:30pm
General Admission: $10.00; Children under 12: $5.00
Don't miss Cedar Hill's most anticipated event of the year. Cedar Hill's Haunted History Lantern Tour is the only night during the year that the Cemetery is open to the public after dark. Led by lantern light, attendees will visit the final resting places of some of Cedar Hill's notable and not-so-notable residents. Character actors will share the true-yet-darker-tales of these residents. Please be advised that this tour may NOT be suitable for children under 12, and please wear appropriate walking shoes.

Tour & Event Photo Galleries
2009 Hats Off to Spring at Cedar Hill Featuring
the Victorian Lady Kandie Carle
Cedar Hill: A Tour Behind the Scenes
Cedar Hill Sunset Tour
Mystery Scavenger Hunt
Cedar Hill's Afflicted Families
2009 Haunted History Lantern Tour
3rd Annual Run for the Roses
An Evening of Jazz at Cedar Hill - 2008
2nd Annual Run for the Roses
Cedar Hill Cemetery & Foundation's Gate Dedication Ceremony

For up-to-date information about Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation,
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To schedule a private group tour or event,
contact Wendi Fralick at 860-956-3311 or wfralick@cedarhillcemetery.org.