Carol Bainbridge is the Fort St. Joseph Museum Director for the City of Niles. She gives a yearly cemetery tour in the fall. This year (Oct. 20, 2007) she welcomed the Friends of Silverbrook to join her in putting it on. It was advertised as open to the public in the Niles Daily Star and 60 people came. She gives a tour while walking around in the old section of the cemetery, giving
details about the graves and lives of former Niles citizens who are buried there. She spoke on the Pattersons who owned Paris Candy, Thayers of Thayers Jewlery, numerous war veterans, the Wards, Dresdens, Coolidges, Tylers, Griffins, Issac Gray, the first grave in the Bond Section, the oldest section of the cemetery, the French family graves and French Paper Company, the tallest stone in the cemetery, the Receiving Vault, and other grave sites too. She has a special interest in the Underground Railroad and spoke of many people who had a connection to helping slaves come north and those that settled in our town, like the Finleys.
Friends of Silverbrook provided cider drinks and maps of the cemetery for questions afterwards, and assisted people with finding gravesites from the cemetery books and plot maps. We also talked about restoration and cleaning of stones and showed visitors examples of stones we have repaired. We received many positive comments about the cemetery grounds. The tour focused on the older sections of the cemetery, before the creek.
