It's time to confess! I have been keeping a little secret from my readers for the last couple of years. I don't think I can keep it up anymore. Why should I have all the fun? Remember a column I did two years ago about Web sites that list where famous people are buried? Well, I found the whole idea intriguing and began having lunch with, ah, well, many of the folks that are buried locally. Let me put it a different way.

I've been having lunch with dead people - sort of. It occurred to me that there's no other place on the planet where there's a congregation of such influential and important people in the country over a span of hundreds of years. We are talking scientists, politicians, labor leaders, you name it - so many of them in one place. Cemeteries are a composite of American history. Since most of the inhabitant's families are no longer around to visit, it seemed to me that it could be quite a learning experience to have "lunch" with them.

Here's a sample of what I mean. Buried in Oakwood Cemetery are Uncle Sam Wilson (1766 1854), symbol of America; Amos Eaton (1776-1842), father of American Geology; Emma Willard (1787-1870), founder of the first female college; James Griswold (1822-1872), who made the plates for the ironclad Monitor. Take a trip to the Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands and you can find Chester Arthur (1829-1886), President of the U.S.; Philip Schuyler (1733-1804), father in law of Alexander Hamilton and general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War; Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764-1839), Patroon and founder of RPI along with Amos Eaton. Another trip back to Troy and to St. Peter's's cemetery and you can visit with Kate Mullany (c.1845 1906), who started the first female union in the country in Troy.

Here's what I do. I decide who I'm going to have lunch with and then get out the books and start reading about the person and their accomplishments. Afterall, you need to have something to "talk" about, right? Ok, I don't really carry on a conversation. I don't want to be dragged away to the paddy wagon, but you do understand the purpose. It allows me to do some research about a person and appreciate their accomplishments. Sitting down at the grave with my lunch gives me time to reflect on their accomplishments, and forces me to do some learning. Also, I end up feeling in touch with the person. Certainly no one has objected yet.

Before you think I'm completely off my rocker, let me inform you that having picnics in cemeteries isn't new. In fact, large cemeteries like Oakwood, Albany Rural, or Vale, were the public parks of the 19th century.

The "rural" cemetery movement in early 19th century America was inspired by romantic perceptions of nature, art, and nationalism, along with the gloomy theme of death. Cemeteries were based on European design, especially those in England and France. America's rural cemeteries were established around elevated sites at the city fringes where magnificent views could be had, as Oakwood Cemetery certainly represents.

After the Civil War, people concerned about land preservation and public health issues promoted the practice of incineration over burial. This cremation movement gathered steam rapidly around the turn of the century and resulted in construction of crematories in many major cities. Oakwood's crematorium was built in 1891, for example.

The rural cemeteries laid out earlier in the 1830's in cities like Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York were more along a romantic pastoral and picturesque landscape. Serene and spacious were the grounds - a combination of nature and monuments that could be spiritually uplifting. The public looked at them as public parks, places to rest and recreate among their beauty.

The popularity of these new cemeteries where you could drive in a winding ascent among nature and broad vistas, or recreate, started a whole new movement of "urban" parks later in the 19th century. The writings and work of designers such as Andrew Jackson Downing, Calvert Vaux, and Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New York's Central and Albany's Washington Parks, led the way. Here in Troy, Beman Park became the city's first urban park in 1879.

So here's the plan. Why not join me every other week this summer for lunch with a famous person. Send me email at drittner@aol.com and I will let you know where and when.