Monday, February 01, 2010

Colonial Burial Grounds

On Saturday, I bought, for a very reasonable price, this brand new, hardcover book and two DVDs of the 8, 500 gravestone photographs of the colonial burial grounds of Newport, RI. (yes, that's a lot of photos)

Sold by the RI Genealogical Society, this exciting project took YEARS of work. You will remember, that last fall, I was privileged to attend a workshop led by Letty Champion at the Newman Cemetery in Rumford, RI where she used the double mirror technique. She is one of the team that made this book/DVD set possible. She and Barbara Austin took the photos from 2006-2009.

It's a beautiful book and I have read the introduction by Cherry Fletcher Bamburg, FASG. I was luck enough to have the very gracious Cherry sit with me during lunch and she gave me some wonderful advice about how to solve the problem of my Maria who has no maiden surname. She is a lovely, smart genealogist. I was thrilled to talk to her.

The book alone is $35 (non-member) and $31 (member), The DVDs alone are $29 (non-member) and $26 (members) . The combo package is $59 (non-member) and $49 (members).

Of course, RI charges a tax (which I paid) and the shipping would be extra. I am sure they will be advertising this on their Web site and in their newsletter soon. I love coming home with such wonderful resource from my home state. Those who worked on this project deserve a big ound of applause.

I am delighted to report that the first gravestone is the oldest carved gravestone in RI, who was John Coggeshall, 1647. It's a great photo!

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