CEMETERY WILL OPEN TO VISITORS

Like most open houses, visitors can enjoy a drink, wander about to take in the sights, and meet new people.

It's just that this open house is in an unusual place a cemetery.

"Most people I know who are interested in Cape's history say the cemetery is a good place to start," said Loretta Dodd of the Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Commission. "And we hope it's going to be fun."

The Historic Preservation Commission is hosting an "Open House" at Old Lorimier Cemetery on Saturday. Members of the commission will be dressed in costumes reflecting the lifestyle of the early 1800s, when the cemetery was founded.

The cemetery is likely to be named one of Cape Girardeau's first historical landmarks, said Dodd. Many of Cape Girardeau's early settlers are buried there, including the city's founder, fur-trader Louis Lorimier.

"We wanted to do something to get people out to the cemetery, where they can ask questions about the people buried there," said Dodd. "It's a way to get people interested in their history."

Local historians and genealogists will be on hand to answer people's questions and describe what is known of the lives of some of the people buried there.

Dodd said she didn't realize how informative a visit to a cemetery can be until she spent part of an afternoon at Old Lorimier Cemetery last March, when members of the commission held a telethon to raise money to restore vandalized tombstones there.

"It's incredible. You begin to realize there were a lot of infant deaths, and a lot of young people who died," she said. "It puts things into perspective. You realize how much longer people are living now."

In recent years, the 186-year-old cemetery has been repeatedly vandalized. Numerous headstones were broken and pushed over. The commission, along with the city's Parks and Recreation Department Advisory Board, decided in March to hold a telethon to raise money for a security fence around the cemetery, situated along North Fountain Street.

About $10,000 was raised from the telethon, and a mail campaign raised about $9,000. Dodd said construction of the fence will begin soon.

The open house will be held from 2-4 p.m. at the cemetery. Dodd said such an event at a cemetery may be viewed as unusual, but its really an opportunity to visit Cape Girardeau's oldest shrine.

This week is Historic Preservation Week in Cape Girardeau.

"We've had school children come and visit the cemetery in the hope that when they get older, they'll realize the historical value of it, and later on in their lives they won't be tempted to vandalize" the cemetery or others like it, she said.

"The kids really seemed to like looking at the graves and reading the tombstones."

One of the most interesting grave sites is a mass grave of 17 people who died of cholera, she said. The grave is dated 1835.

"Epidemics don't really scare us anymore," she said. "But we forget that back then hundreds of people died of them."

Lemonade will be served as people wander the grounds of the cemetery.

"Every year we plan on trying different events to get more people interested in Cape's history," she said. "I hope this one works."