Sackett Reunion

We had an excellent dinner on Saturday night with the extended Sackett clan in Ramsgate.  It reminded me of family gatherings in Corvallis.  Everyone was very friendly and we enjoyed getting to know some of our distant relatives a little better.

The following day, Chris Sackett and Steve and Debbie Barbee offered to show us the ancestral home of the first Sacketts in St. Peters Village in Thanet and Sacketts Hill.  They had been on the village tour on Thursday and were able to share a lot of knowledge of the area.

Inside St. Peters Church, we saw a plaque commemorating John Sackett, a prestigious member of the community who died in 1623.  There are many other Sackett graves in the churchyard.

From there, we walked to Sacketts Hill.  It’s actually not really much of a hill, more of a bump in the otherwise mostly flat countryside.  You can make out the rise beneath the trees on the other side of the cabbage fields.

It was interesting to contemplate the hundreds of Sacketts who must have trod this footpath over the years on their way to the church and the market.

It was fascinating to see things as mundane as the bus stop for Sacketts Hill.

Here are some contemporary Sacketts visiting Sacketts Hill:

Part of the hill is now occupied by a waste transfer operation.  Apparently, the owners reused  much of the material from an older Sackett residence that is no longer standing when building their own bungalow.

The other half of the hill is occupied by a commercial market garden operation.  This cottage, built in 1633, was once part of the Sackett estate.  We could just make out the roofline of an abandonned larger house behind this one.

It is a powerful thing to connect with our ancestors.  Exploring our history in such a way makes the past seem so much more relevant.  I’ve enjoyed seeing where my grandfather’s family came from in Italy and I look forward to exploring more family history while we are here in Europe.