Harmonie Chapel will be hosting a tour of their historic cemetery on June 1 from 2-4:30 p.m., telling the stories of the Warren County families and veterans who are buried there. The public is invited to hear storytellers, stationed throughout the historic cemetery, offer glimpses into the lives of these families and men who defended the Union against the Confederate Army during the Civil War. 

Tickets for the event will be $15. 

The chapel and cemetery are located at 24294 S. Stracks Church Road in Wright City. 

Harmonie Church will also be open for tours and church members will share the history of the historic building, which was established in 1842 as a German Evangelical Church. 

Names of those buried in the cemetery include Strack, Spoede and Blattner. These are familiar names now as roads in Warren County but more than 170 years ago they were immigrants who came to the area, raised families and contributed to the development of this community. 

Their stories and others, including seven Civil War veterans will be brought to life during the tour. 

Proceeds from the tour will benefit the gravestone restoration project now underway at Harmonie Cemetery. Visitors can examine the fallen and broken stones that have been repaired and see the work that remains. The cemetery is the final resting place for approximately 370 individuals and roughly 125 gravestones are in some need of repair or restoration. 

Some individuals whose stories will be told on the tour include Reverend Carl Strack, William Barklage, Richard and George Spoede, along with several Civil War veterans. 

Strack was called as the first permanent minister at Harmonie in 1843. He and his wife raised their 10 children on a farm along the Booneslick Trail. 

Barklage immigrated from Germany in 1859 and was killed four years later during a skirmish between the Missouri Militia and a group of Confederate bushwhackers camped between Warrenton and Wright City. The skirmish would lead to the burning of the baptist church and several businesses in Wright City the following day. 

The Spoedes were self-taught taxidermists who preserved hundreds of native birds and displayed them for the public to see in a museum they established on the family farm east of Truesdale. The brothers’ birds remain on display to this day at Black Hawk Middle School. 

The Civil War veterans whose stories will be recounted include Herman Boedeker, John Brandt, Bernhard Follenius, Wilhelm Korf, Herman Nortrup, Frederick Oberlag and Gerhard Vehslage. 

Guests can also find information on the gravestones awaiting repair and how they can sponsor the restoration of individual stones. 

There will also be refreshments available including cakes using vintage recipes. 

In the case of rain, the event will be moved to June 7. For more information, visit the Harmonie Cemetery Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/p/Harmonie-Cemetery-Warren-County-Missouri-61558284786630/.