GGB Youngstown October Cemetery Tour and Supernatural Brunch

On October 27th the Youngstown chapter started off our brunch day by braving the inclement Ohio weather and setting out for a cold and wet tour of our local Oak Hill Cemetery. Oak Hill Cemetery was founded in 1852 in Youngstown, Ohio, on a stretch of land near the Mahoning River, and was designed to follow the trend of the time, acting as a landscaped memorial park. The cemetery was a reflection of the affluence of the area with  big business and industry leaders commissioning elaborate monuments and ornate mausoleums for their burial plots, which today stand as memorials to themselves and their families.

The tours are set up by the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, along with the Oak Hill Cemetery Association, and we were lucky to have a wonderful tour guide, Tracey, who was incredibly knowledgeable about the Cemetery and those lain to rest there. She walked us through the memorial park stopping frequently to tell us about the monuments and the stories and lives behind them.

One of the most influential people buried in Oak Hill is Governor David Tod, the 25th Governor of Ohio, remembered for his leadership during the Civil War. He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in 1868, and although a few minor changes have happened since, his grave site is mostly unchanged since then. (Tracey admitted that this is one of her favorite sites to speak about, and she could have gone on all day about it!)

Besides the governor, there are many names throughout the cemetery which have some connection to the Youngstown area: Wick, Powers, Beeghly, and Maag to name just a few. But its not just big names, there are estimated to be around 25,000 burials throughout the cemetery. Tracey even told us that there are around 100 plots still available today, should we be interested!

The tour lasted about two hours, and by the time we were done everyone was very enthusiastic about heading somewhere to warm up, dry off, and grab a bite to eat! We went from Oak Hill to a local haunt: Cassese’s MVR, only a five minute drive away.

At MVR we enjoyed great food, wonderful service, and managed to round off the day by continuing our ‘spooky’ theme for the month with some good ol’ trivia! We decided to split our Supernatural theme between the show and supernatural entities in general so everyone could participate regardless of whether they are Sam and Dean enthusiasts~

Brittany proved herself to be our biggest Supernatural fan, coming to the brunch in her casual Dean cosplay, and managing to answer correctly all but two of our trivia questions about the show! Way to go Brittany, we now know who to come to should we want to geek out about our favorite Hunters!

Alyssa showed herself to be a well rounded supernatural geek in all things creature related, and won the prize for knowing the most about those things which go bump in the night~ We couldn’t even say we were a tiny bit surprised, as Alyssa has shown herself to be a big horror and supernatural fan in the past!

All in all our October brunch was a big hit! We thoroughly enjoyed getting to do something a little different and stretch our legs, but were thrilled at ending the day with good food, great company, and spooky conversation!

Thank you as always to everyone who came, we wouldn’t be here without you!

The next two months are already well in the process of being organized. November we’re going to continue our annual tradition of hosting ‘Blind Date with a Book” as it went over so well in our first year, and December we’re thinking is going to be a Fandom Free-for-All, along with enjoying some Christmas Shopping. Hope to see you there!