The rescheduled Cemetery & Prairie Walk at Heaton Cemetery, northeast of Morrison, will be on Saturday, September 26th at 10 a.m. and will run approximately one hour. Local tombstone restorer Dana Fellows will lead a walk through the cemetery and share some of its history, including:
- How the restoration project began and the work involved in preserving its damaged monument
- The Heaton family and the beginnings of the cemetery
- Some of the earliest known burials
- Stories of children who died young and families who later moved away
- Connections among the families buried there
- Unidentified graves, missing stones, and conflicting records
- Discoveries made while researching and restoring the cemetery
Sammy Dalati of NAGS will also discuss the unique native prairie adjoining the back of the cemetery and explain why these remaining natural areas are important and how the organization works to identify, protect, manage, and preserve native prairie and other natural areas throughout Whiteside County.
Parking is limited and depending on attendance, passengers may need to be dropped off near the cemetery entrance before drivers park along the road.
On Sunday, Sept. 27th, at 3 p.m. NAGS will tour the Lyndon-Agnew Nature Preserve located off Jason Road between Yorktown Rd. and Mellotts Rd. For parking, turn in to the driveway where a gravel path on the left leads to a boathouse. Next to it is a large grassy area where guests can park, and the “very level” prairie begins just a few feet away.
Dalati said the groups will probably stay on mowed paths at both sites, though they can venture into the tallgrass prairie. He warned that chiggers have recently been biting so bug spray and iNaturalist/insect books are advised. There are many pollinators crawling over all the different aster species at Lyndon-Agnew so the group will work to identify as many as possible!
The Whiteside County Natural Area Guardians (NAGs) are a volunteer sub-committee of the Whiteside County Soil and Water Conservation District dedicated to protecting and restoring local prairies, natural areas, and native flora and fauna
Photo by Sarah Bull
The Lyndon-Agnew Nature Preserve is located along Interstate 88 in Whiteside County. Photo by Sarah Ford.
