“Gone to the Grave,” a program on funeral customs of the Ozarks from 1850 to 1950, will be presented by independent researcher and author Abby Burnett Wednesday, May 19, at noon at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale. Burnett was recently featured in Silent Storytellers, a documentary produced by the Arkansas Educational Television Network about the history and culture of Arkansas cemeteries.

(Editor’s Note: Burnett is a former Gravette area resident who now lives in Madison County.)

“While I’m interestedin documenting the early days of the professional undertaker, the main focus of my research has been to study all of the ways in which people once helped one another when there was a death,” explained Burnett. “My talk will cover the role of the community in nursing the sick, laying out the body, building the casket, sitting up with the body, digging the grave and holding the burial,” Burnett said.

The Shiloh Museum is located at the corner of Johnson and Main in downtown Springdale. For more information call 750-8165.

News, Pages 6 on 05/13/2010