The second annual Chestnut Ridge Cousins reunion will be held Friday and Saturday October 3 - 4, 2003, in Petersburg and Fayetteville, TN. The reunion will begin on Friday afternoon at an informal social gathering at Pavilion Park at Morgan School in Petersburg, with a pot-luck picnic supper at 5:30. On Saturday morning, the group will meet at First United Methodist Church in Fayetteville from 9:30 - 12 noon. The program will include a talk on local genealogical research sources by Jack Towry, president of the Lincoln County Genealogical Society, and an account of several of the interrelated families of the Chestnut Ridge area by Al Simmons, president of the Bedford County Historical Society. The afternoon will be free for individual research. At the Saturday night banquet, Dr. Michael Bradley, author of books about the War Between the States and other historical subjects, will tell true stories of the war in the Fayetteville-Lynchburg area. Dr. Bradley, professor of social sciences at Motlow State Community College, is well known for his entertaining story-telling about real people and real events. The banquet will begin at 6:00 p. m. at the Best Western Fayetteville Inn. Reservations are required. Last year's initial meeting of the Chestnut Ridge Cousins association in Shelbyville drew nearly 150 cousins from 11 states. The organization, open to everyone, especially welcomes descendants of the pioneer families who settled in the early 1800s in the hills and the hollows where Lincoln, Bedford, Marshall and Moore counties come together. Goals of the group include surname research; sharing of the family facts, stories, and photographs; and preservation and restoration of family cemeteries that are in disrepair or have been abandoned. For information about becoming a member or for a registration form for the 2003 reunion, please go to www.chestnutridgecousins.org. We hope to see you in October.