This month's Third Thursday Virtual Program will showcase the Historic Gloria Dei Preservation Corporation's intriguing cemetery project.
In 2024, Todd Compton, who has direct lineage to Peter Gunnerson Rambo, embarked on a journey to find where his ancestor was buried through legend, word of mouth and technology. As we know, everyone in Philadelphia is related to Peter Rambo, but this particular one is Todd’s 10th great grandfather who arrived in America in 1640 and was known as the father of New Sweden and among Pennsylvania’s earliest European settlers. Todd’s family has maintained an amazing connection to their past through the evidence of detailed records that have been passed forward for over 400 years that had a strong connection leading to Peter’s interment in the Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) Church cemetery in Philly along the Delaware River—but there was no headstone.
Today, Todd is the Division Director of Geo-environmental services at Colliers Engineering & Design, a national, multi-discipline engineering firm, and has access to multiple technological tools including ground penetrating radar (GPR) which has the ability to detect various contrasts in the subsurface without disturbing them.
Enter Alex Ross, Geophysicist and head of the firm’s Geophysical department, led the exploration team to locate Peter, using GPR electromagnetic imaging. GPR is a non-invasive means of revealing hidden shapes and anomalies beneath our feet, enabling geologic scientists to identify many different materials including metals, soils, wood and stone, as well as cultural remains.
Find out how this was accomplished, and how the team revealed hidden features of the cemetery lost to time.
This is a free program presented via Zoom. Registration is required. A separate email will be sent with the Zoom link after registration is complete.