ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Below are many of the accomplishments that the Friends of Lansing's Historic Cemeteries have completed since we began in 2007.

• Forgotten Fathers walking tour of Mt. Hope Cemetery and Founder's Feast at the Cadillac Club, our kickoff events, 2007

• Silent Auction "Way to Go," featuring cemetery themed items

• Photographic survey of conditions in Mt. Hope Cemetery

• Photographic survey of conditions in North Cemetery

• Joint tour of North Cemetery with the Historical Society of Greater Lansing

• Spring and Fall cleanups and shrub trimming in North Cemetery with Boy Scouts

• Grave rubbing workshop in Mt. Hope Cemetery

• Scavenger Hunt in Mt. Hope Cemetery

• Photographic Calendar of all three cemeteries

• Provided planning and oversight of the purchase and installation of new fencing around Mt. Hope Cemetery perimeter

• Created, planted and maintained flower beds/planters at all three cemetery entrances and at the historical marker in Mt. Hope Cemetery

• Provided planning and oversight and upkeep of the private/public redevelopment of the Evergreen Cemetery entry boulevard

• Assisted in filming of the independent movie "The Funeral Guest" with scenes in Mt. Hope and Evergreen Cemeteries; listed on the film credits

• Conducted off site presentations for the Delta Township Kiwanis, Insurance Ladies, Capital Area District Library, Sycamore Creek Neighborhood Association, Scott Woods Neighborhood Association

• Conducted private tours in Mt. Hope Cemetery for Model A Club, two times for Model T Club, Bike Club, and three times for a MSU professor and her classes

• Planned and participated in a Historic Heritage Holders event with Fenner Nature Center and the Friends of Turner Dodge House at the Turner Dodge House and Historical Center

• Participated in the Festival of Trees at the Turner Dodge House with our "Resting in Peace" Christmas tree decorated with 70 laminated photo ornaments of monuments in Mt. Hope Cemetery

• Co-hosted several years of "Day of the Dead" night time tours in Mt. Hope Cemetery with Fenner Nature Center, eventually turning the program over to them when it grew too large for us to manage

• Held a Dedication Ceremony upon the installation in 2014 of a marker for the grave of Richard Fritz, the last victim of the Bath School Bombing of 1927

• Formed a coalition of funeral homes, monument companies and florists to successfully stop the city proposals to sell the cemeteries or outsource the management of the cemeteries

• Worked with the Jewish and Islamic communities to broker a deal with the city to open Section G in Evergreen Cemetery, creating a new revenue stream for the city and providing the Jewish and Islamic communities needed burial spaces

• To Date: HAVE RESTORED OVER 120 MONUMENTS IN MT. HOPE CEMETERY WITH FUNDS FROM OUR "RACE TO RESTORE" 5K RUN/WALK since 2013

• Participated in the Be A Tourist in Your Own Town event annually since 2012, hosting a self-guided tour of Mt. Hope Cemetery

• Distributed free seed geraniums for planting in the three city-owned cemeteries annually since 2010

• Hosted a "Shakespeare in the Cemetery" performance of Romeo and Juliet's Act Five, the death scenes, on the Bard's 453rd birthday and the tenth birthday of the Friends of Lansing's Historic Cemeteries, April 23, 2017, in the Fratcher Memorial Garden of Mt. Hope Cemetery

• Host a Service of Remembrance in August in the Fratcher Memorial Garden of Mt. Hope Cemetery since 2017

• Oversaw the creation of the Fratcher Memorial Garden in Mt. Hope Cemetery with it's Columbarium walls, creating another new revenue stream for the city

• Donated, with Memorial Minders, a statue of Athena for the Fratcher Memorial Garden Cremation Towers section 

• Presented three workshops for the members of the Historical Society of Michigan

• Donated four new Boxwood shrubs for the entry gates at Evergreen Cemetery

• Donated and maintain three urn planters, their bases, and seasonal plants at the columbarium in Evergreen Cemetery

• Held a Patriotic Pooch and Public Picnic in the Fratcher Memorial Garden in July 2020

• Present a fresh floral tribute wreath during the Memorial Day events at Little Arlington in Evergreen Cemetery since 2015

• Coordinated the placement of over 7,000 flags for Memorial Day at the three cemeteries

• Working with the Plumber's and Pipefitters local union as they recreate the original entry arch from the west side of North Cemetery

• CONDUCTED ANNUAL FALL WALKING TOURS OF MT. HOPE CEMETERY SINCE 2007; theme varies annually and 15-18 different people at perpetual rest are featured each year

• Held a Doggie Easter Parade Costume Contest in the Fratcher Memorial Garden in April 2019, this was a kickoff event for a fundraiser to buy and place individual markers on the unmarked graves of 60 wards of the state buried in the Boys Training School site at Mt. Hope Cemetery; we raised $21,000 in 9 weeks to complete this project; landscaping of the site followed the fall of 2020 and a bench has been donated and will be placed in spring of 2021

• Applied for and received grants from the city and the city council to help fund our activities

• Raised funds on Facebook to help fund our activities

• Created a Facebook page in 2012 that has over 1,700 followers

• Produced a multi-disciplinary curriculum for middle school students to use in Mt. Hope Cemetery field trips

• Are working on conducting a ground penetrating radar survey of the oldest section of North Cemetery in order to be able to do restoration work in that cemetery with some degree of accuracy

• Will be presenting to the Ingham County Genealogical Society in April

• Reached a historic agreement in December 2019 with the City of Lansing to take over operations of the City Cemetery Office located for 70 years across from Mt. Hope Cemetery and staff it with volunteers as the Cemetery Courtesy Office