The annual Cemetery Walk began in 1993 for two reasons. The first was to present a living history of Palatine to its residents that would be more interesting, especially to young people. Hillside Cemetery land was donated to the village by Joel Wood around 1854. It represents 150 years of local history that we think should be preserved and shared with the community.

The second reason is that when we began to record the people buried there we found many, many of the old gravestones worn out, broken, or missing. There were no official records for the first 90 years of Hillside’s existence. It was necessary to save the records that were there, that is the gravestones. Therefore, we charged for tickets to this event. The money has always been used, and complemented by Palatine Township, for the repair of these old stones whose families are no longer here. This difficult and expensive work is still being done.

We always appreciate volunteers to lead tours around to the graves of those citizens who come out to tell you about their past lives. And we can always use a few actors and actresses, too.  Here are some a photo taken by Ruben Cuellar in 2016, of cemetery work done by Stonehuggers.