Those living in and around Abbeville will have a chance to learn from those who came before.

Abbeville Main Street will hold its fifth cemetery tour “If Headstones Could Talk: A Living History Cemetery Tour.” The tour will feature stories on those buried in the cemetery.

“We pick 10 and research them,” Main Street’s Charlene Beckett. “We started off in the Masonic Cemetery by the railroad tracks. We’ve also done the old Catholic cemetery downtown. Those are oldest cemeteries.

“We’re back to the Masonic cemetery for this year.”

The event is scheduled for this Friday, Nov. 11. It will begin at 5:30 at the courtyard entrance to Magdalen Square. Tours will be every 30 minutes after that.

Tickets are $10. They can be purchased at either The Depot or Abbeville City Hall. For more information, call (337) 898-4110 or (337) 740-2112.

This is the fifth cemetery tour conducted by Main Street. It began as a result of a grant from Louisiana Main to Main, a program of Louisiana Main Street and is sponsored by a grant from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor and the Department Culture, Recreation and Tourism.

“There was a program created to connect all of the Main Street communities in the month of November,” Beckett said. “It’s called ‘Main to Main: A cultural Road Show.’

“Everybody could come up with their own event.”

Beckett said the Abbeville group decided not to do a big festival.

“We wanted to promote our historical component, which is downtown,” Beckett said.

That led to the cemetery tour. The tour features life stories those in the cemetery. The characters include George Eldridge, Alonzo Van Slyke, Uriah Stansbury, Dr. William Kibbe, Mr. Hellen Fleta White, Lizzie White, Hellen’s relative, Marceline Cavailhez Remick, Mrs. Rosa Winston Leguenec, and her friends of Lilly Rose and Kate Chevis. Spirit guides will take visitors on the tour. A musician will also play during the tour.

“I think it’s something that people will really enjoy,” Beckett said.