PESHTIGO, Wis. — Walk with Paige Frappier-Potkay in the cemetery adjacent to Peshtigo Fire Museum and the horror of the event becomes evident.

Informational pedestals mark graves tied to the fire.

There are markers for entire families that were lost. Another where just a watch is buried — with no body.

Another marks a mass grave where hundreds of unidentified people were laid to rest.

That’s where Frappier-Potkay is standing.

“You feel different standing in front of this,” she said. “You can sort of feel just the gravity of the hundreds of lives that were lost— that we’ll never who they were.”

She’s one of the volunteer staff at the museum that tells the story of the 1871 fire that killed an estimated 1,250 to 2,500 people.

It’s an event often overshadowed by the Great Chicago Fire that happened on the same day.

“I think it’s very important to tell these people stories because they can’t,” Frappier-Potkay said. “They’re long-forgotten and overshadowed, so people like me, and Helene, and everyone who volunteers for this museum are sort of keeping this story alive.”

The museum and cemetery have  seen an uptick in visitors as the anniversary draws nearer.

That includes people like Steven and Linda Graczykowski from west bend. It’s a trip they planned to make for years and finally made a reality.

“It shows us life is shortened that one should be thankful for everyday one has,” Steven Graczykowski said. “It’s quite a somber place and something people shouldn’t forget.”

The visitors Frappier-Potkay sees are part of making sure the fire — and those who perished — aren’t forgotten.

“We get people from even Chicago, which overshadowed our fire, who are so fired up about this story and everything that happened to these people,” she said. “It’s amazing to see these people get to sort of live on and have their memory cemented in other people."