The Natchez City Cemetery is getting ready for company and we hope to see you! This Friday and Saturday is our ninth annual Angels on the Bluff. We have been busy cleaning headstones, cutting grass, pulling weeds, pruning roses, crepe myrtles and camellias over your 100-plus acre historic cemetery. In general we have been getting ready for our main fundraiser and we hope it will be the best one ever.

The actors are practicing their scripts, the guides are reading up on our history, the band members are tuning their instruments and the cemetery board and staff are trying their best to dot every I and cross every T. In fact we have counted over 100 volunteers that are coming together to make this a memorable evening and I don’t think you will be disappointed.

The cemetery board is constantly striving to preserve and beautify these sacred grounds. As you might imagine it is a costly venture. The operating budget alone is staggering. And beside that there are brick walls, cistern houses and century old landscape that need special attention. It is by friends and supporters such as you that we are able to call our cemetery one of the most beautiful in the country.

Come buy a ticket to have a great entertaining evening or join The Friends of the Cemetery or just make a contribution.  Tickets for Angels on the Bluff can be purchased at the Natchez Visitor Reception Center or call 601-446-6345 or 1-800-647-6724. Contact Danny Brown at Post Office Box 1738, Natchez, MS 39121 if you would like to join The Friends of the Cemetery.  We have memberships starting at $25.

We have so many interesting souls to introduce to you.  This year you will meet James Lewis Hopkins, the 120-year old Confederate; J.T. Robinson, our colorful chief of police; Lyman G. Aldrich, who wrote the last General Order of the Confederate States Army; Alvarez Fisk, who donated Natchez’s first library and public school; John Bayard Maxwell, who was jilted by a Natchez belle with deadly results; Mayor William G. Benbrook, Natchez’s mayor for 33 years; and Margaret Martin, our legendary teacher who lived to be 102. Oh yeah, her 1946 Ford Executive Coupe will be there also. Music from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s will be furnished by Terry Trovato, Ron Woods, Bob Sizemore and Mary Nell Rushing, honoring Miss Martin. In addition Kathleen Mackey King will sing lullabies in Babyland. Don’t forget to buy a ticket! We are looking forward to seeing you on Friday and Saturday.

Annette Holder is Angels on the Bluff chairman.