In the Civil War, the town of New Paltz was well-represented, about 100 men enlisting in the Union Army and nearly half that number in the Navy. Most of those in the Army served in the 156th Regiment, though there were a large number in other Regiments, such as the 44th, 56th, 80th and the US Colored Troops.

Carol A. Johnson, coordinator of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection at the Elting Memorial Library, and Susan Stessin-Cohn will be giving a tour of Civil War soldiers’ graves at the New Paltz Rural Cemetery, located at 81 Plains Road in New Paltz, on Sunday, July 3 at 4 p.m. The tour is in conjunction with the Cemetery’s sesquicentennial celebration. The tour will be highlighted with letters written by soldiers, photographs and other Civil War memorabilia.

On Saturday, the day before the tour, at 1 p.m. a rededication ceremony will take place honoring the 150 years that the Cemetery has been in existence. Rod Dressel, president of the Cemetery board, will be the master of ceremonies, with speeches by the Rev. Howard Major, Tim Copeland and Carol Roper.

Barbara Hardgrave, Rich Steffens and Jim Paradies will be performing at the ceremony. Refreshments will be served. The events are free and open to the public. For more information, call Carol Roper at (845) 255-0609.