Lewes Historical Society's Russ Allen will present "Stories in Stone" at the Friday, May 18 program of the Lewes Historical Society at Lewes Presbyterian Church fellowship hall beginning at 7:30 p.m. Here he points to a headstone of seaman Thomas Truxton buried in Bethel cemetery. Allen points to the nautical insignia is missing its traditional lifesaving ring commonly found on naval headstones. Allen will highlight his findings at the Friday presentation.

Lewes, Del. -- Russ Allen has spent a lot of time visiting "tombstone territory." He's seen headstones, footstones and family stones. Then there are obelisks and big markers and interesting epitaphs and unusual ones, too. Allen, a Lewes Historical Society board member and avid genealogist will share his findings and discoveries gleaned from thousands of historical headstones standing quiet sentry in cemeteries throughout Lewes. "Stories in Stone" will be the presentation for the May program of the Lewes Historical Society, Friday, May 18 at Lewes Presbyterian Church fellowship hall beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Allen has had a deep interest in genealogy for many years. And he's transferred this interest into a cemetery project of major proportion. "I expressed an interest and fascination with the headstone inscriptions and stone variations to Mike DiPaolo (Lewes Historical Society executive director) and suggested that we might want to research or study the many historical grave markers in Lewes," Allen explains. "He immediately showed an interest and in fact secured a Jesse Ball duPont grant to finance a research project to examine and record historical headstones. Now with five years of finding, recording and GPS location we have created a fascinating collection of historical information on Lewes's past inhabitants."

Allen talks about some unusual stones. He points to a small stone in Bethel Cemetery on Savannah Road simply inscribed "Sea Captain Name Unknown Died About 1880." "Some epitaphs," he explains "are downright humorous like one inscription that expresses that the deceased 'was not sure about this trip.'" Allen will present photos of many interesting headstones, the epitaphs and carvings and other interesting facts and discuss the ongoing cemetery project which has identified the markers of people who died before 1951. He says that these and hundreds of others have been catalogued in a data base and many people looking for ancestors or relatives buried in Lewes have used these findings to locate burial sites.

This is the final program for the 2006-2007 season. The Lewes Historical Society will resume its programs in September. If you have any program ideas please contact Michael DiPaolo at the Lewes Historical Society 645-7670. The public is cordially invited to attend and following the presentation, light refreshments will be served.

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