1,500 lanterns will line the pathways of Pine Hill Cemetery on Oct. 19-20 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. for the biennial Pine Hill Cemetery Lantern Tour. For this historic walking tour through the cemetery, 100 volunteers will make the history of Auburn come alive through costumes and creativity.
Tickets can be purchased there at the gate or in advance by tour timeslot on the Auburn Heritage Association website. The Auburn Heritage Association Facebook page also includes valuable information with a link provided.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for students and children. The Auburn Heritage Association shared that the aim is for 500 people to go through the tour, so buying tickets in advance will help secure a spot for the spooky experience.
The groups are sent out about 15 minutes apart, but attendees do not have to arrive right at 6:30 p.m. in order to be a part of the hour-and-a-half-long tour.
On this tour, there will be volunteers dressed up as the five Auburn University presidents buried at Pine Hill, the original Auburn settlers from 1836 and more. These 11 in-character actors will allow the historic tour to come to life.
Pine Hill Cemetery is Auburn’s oldest cemetery and is located on Armstrong Street, which is adjacent parallel to Gay Street. The cemetery was gifted to Auburn by founder Judge John Harper, who is buried in the cemetery and will make a special costume appearance at the event.
The Auburn Heritage Association, the event’s sponsor, consists of nine board members, 300 members and a specific lantern tour committee. They start planning the event about six to nine months in advance.
The Auburn Heritage Association was first formed in 1974, and they have been hosting this event biennially for 25 years.
Mary Norman, president of the Auburn Heritage Association, has been a part of the organization for 25 years and has held her title of president for the last 10 years.
She shared that she does a lot of the research behind the scenes and is involved in writing the scripts for the event. This role, as well as the sentimental value she has for the cemetery, are her favorite parts of helping with the Pine Hill Cemetery Lantern Tour.
“Pine Hill has always been a part of me. I have approximately 100 people of my family that are buried in Pine Hill from my parents to my two sets of great-grandparents to two sets of great-great-grandparents and all the way back to my fourth great-grandfather, so Pine Hill means a lot to me,” Norman said.
She then shared a key objective of the Auburn Heritage Association’s impact on the community of Auburn.
“We have a lot of documents and a lot of history that are associated in and around Auburn, and that’s one of our goals - to preserve as much of Auburn as we can,” Norman said.
The Auburn Heritage Association serves and preserves the city of Auburn. Norman talked about the inner workings of what the organization does and other projects they are involved in throughout the year.
“We have placed approximately 30 historic markers all in and around the city of Auburn and Auburn University. Our very next event is going to be November 3, and we are placing the historic marker for the College of Veterinary Medicine out at the vet school,” Norman said.
The Auburn Heritage Association has also been pivotal in revitalizing landmarks such as Pebble Hill, Ebenezer Baptist Church and relocating the Nunn Winston House.
Norman explained that this is an event that really brings all ages of the Auburn community together, with high school students helping host tours, fraternity brothers helping set up, boy scouts lighting the candles and more.
“It’s our way of educating the public about Auburn’s early history, about history you don’t hear very much about. It’s over and above the football history,” Norman said.
If students, children, adults or veterans are looking for an event to dive into the Halloween spirit, the Pine Hill Cemetery Lantern Tour is the place to be. Come have fun and learn about the enriching history of what makes Auburn home.
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