SAFE DAY at WOODLAND CEMETERY – NEWARK, NJ FAMILY GRAVESITES & TOMBSTONE RECORDING DAY Sunday, June 1, 2003 – 9:30 a.m. (rain date Sunday, June 8) For old friends who help each year, it's that time again. For new people who have never had the opportunity, this is your chance to go to Woodland Cemetery in Newark, NJ to visit your family gravesites in the security of a group. For those out of state, our volunteers will help with pictures and tombstone inscriptions of your family gravesite. Each year the Newark Police Dept. has provided us with on-site protection, although with a large group we find we are pretty safe. Woodland Cemetery in Newark has over 82,000 burials from 1856 through present. We are not affiliated with Woodland Cemetery in any way, but work only as a volunteer group trying to preserve the tombstone inscriptions and helping family researchers find their ancestors through our computer database. For those who do attend, we ask that you allow time to help record tombstone inscriptions. Please invite your friends to come (adults only please) and help us too. We'll pair you up with someone, so please come even if you are by yourself. Anyone who will be coming to search their own family sites and needs help in locating those sites, please e-mail us and let us know what site you will be looking for. This way we can check for your family names in the computer database and find the site on a map to prepare ahead of time in order to guide you. Anyone who can't make it, but would like inscriptions and pictures of your family tombstones, please make arrangements with John or me ahead of time and we will do our best to record inscriptions and take pictures of your site, time permitting. To everyone - please let me know if you will be attending so we will have an approximate count. The day is Sunday, June 1st at 9:30 a.m. at the front gate (on South 10th St.), with a rain date of Sunday, June 8th, again at 9:30 a.m. If both days are raining, a new date will be set at a later time. If there is a question on the weather, anyone may call in the morning between 8:00-8:30 at 973-667-0450 to find out if we're still "on". The gate entrance for Woodland Cemetery is located at 670 South 10th Street between Springfield and Avon Avenues, Newark, NJ. Directions - take the Garden State Parkway to the Springfield Ave. Irvington Exit #143. Take Springfield Ave East to South 10th Street - Make a right onto South 10th St. The cemetery is located about a quarter mile down on the left side. For the new people, here are a few suggestions if you are planning on donating some time to help us record tombstone inscriptions: Wear long pants, a short sleeved shirt, with a long sleeved shirt/sweatshirt over it (in case it gets warm). Wear socks and either sturdy sneakers or hiking shoes of some sort. If you will be spending a few hours with us, bring some cold bottled water or soda - you will get thirsty. Please bring: * pencils/pens - we'll supply the paper * clip board (if you have one, if not, we are trying our best to have some available) * cheap camera (it helps to look through a camera lens to decipher a tombstone inscription) * sunglasses (sometimes easier to see the inscription) * small garden tool(s) to pull back weeds from tombstone; * wide sidewalk chalk, (to rub difficult inscriptions...again, I'll bring some * a plastic bucket to put all your "stuff" in - the tools, camera, chalk, camera, etc. - it makes it easier for you to carry everything from tombstone to tombstone. * a towel or kneeling cushion, some tombstones only show a couple of inches above ground... Any questions, just e-mail or call either John or me.... John Sass jajs918@aol.com <mailto:jajs918@aol.com> Bloomfield, New Jersey 973-748-0985 Mary Lish mary.lish@verizon.net <mailto:mary.lish@verizon.net> Nutley, New Jersey 973-667-0450