It’s an event that will highlight families and individuals who were influential in the founding of a local church.

Likewise, it will shine a spotlight on those people who later settled in the Slatington area and helped the region grow and prosper.

“A Walk Among Some Our Earliest Settlers,” the fifth annual cemetery walk sponsored by the Slatington History Preservation Committee, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Heidelberg Union Church and Cemetery, 5187 Irvin Road, Slatington.

It’s free and open to the public. Parking is available in the church parking lot.

Among the more prominent names of those buried in the cemetery include Rex, Peters, Handwerk, Krause, German, Hunsicker, Neff and Blose.

Judy Gellis-Snyder, president of the group, explained the customs and beliefs of our forefathers.

“These are farmers with large families,” Gellis-Snyder said. “They were very religious with a strong belief in God.”

Most of the settlers were of Swiss and German descent, and were among some of the earliest in Heidelberg Township, Washington Township and Slatington.

Tim Snyder, first vice president of the group, said that the earliest burials were in the 1750s, and that this was one of the earliest churches and cemeteries in Lehigh County.

“The focus of their lives was church and family,” Snyder said. “Everyone spoke German, then Pennsylvania German dialect.”

For more information, call 610-554-4099, or go to Slatington History Preservation Committee on Facebook.