Experience Newnan’s Oak Hill Cemetery and learn about the lives of the people laid to rest there during the Newnan-Coweta Historical Society’s “Walk With Old Souls” event scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 15, 4-7 p.m.
NCHS will host interactive, immersive experience tours of Newnan’s Historic Oak Hill Cemetery. Actors in costume will portray approximately a half-dozen of Newnan’s more notable deceased who are buried in Oak Hill.
“This will be a different kind of tour than we have done in years past,” said executive director Jeff Bishop. “It’s not a stroll through a historic neighborhood, and it’s certainly not meant to be a scary type of tour.”
The tour focuses on Newnan residents who lived and died in the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of the residents or those who served here during the Civil War featured on the tour include manufacturer R. D. Cole; a pair of Civil War nurses, Kate Cumming and Fannie Beers; society lady and College Temple student Hibernia Berry, educator Moses P. Kellogg, and others.
Jeff Bishop wrote the all-new scripts for the tour, based on original historical research. The cast includes Jennifer Dorrell as Fannie Beers, Dawn Campion as Kate Cumming, Bailey Oliveira as Hibernia Berry, Richard Tranter as M.P. Kellogg, Dean Jackson as W.U. Anderson, Tom Grandpre as R.D. Cole, Taj Stephens as Pharaoh Farmer, and Joe Arnotti, Gar Welden, Anne Graner, and Barbara Bishops as guides.
The tours, scheduled every 20 minutes from 4:00 to 6:20, last approximately an hour and begin at the NCHS’s McRitchie-Hollis Museum, 74 Jackson Street in Newnan.
Taking inspiration of Atlanta’s popular and successful Oakland Cemetery Spirit Tours, organizers of the NCHS Oak Hill Cemetery Tour hope to engage, educate and entertain ticket holders.
“This is community event designed to give citizens an opportunity to learn about some of Newnan’s citizens who had notable lives and made a difference or an impact on the town in which we live today,” said tour coordinator Larisa McMichael.
Actors will perform next to the gravestone of the deceased person of which they are portraying. Actors will be in Civil War era or Victorian costume and have props or other visuals to help illustrate the lives of the people they represent.
Those in attendance should expect to hear a first person monologue by the actors about the life of the person they are portraying. This event is a unique opportunity for citizens to experience Oak Hill as they never have before.The guided tours will be led by an NCHS lantern-wielding docent dressed in Civil War or Victorian garb as well.
Ticket holders are asked to arrive at least 15 minutes before their scheduled tour to check in and get with their group and guide.
While waiting for the Oak Hill tours to begin at the McRitchie-Hollis, there will be elegant dances performed by members of the Southern Arc Dance Company led by award winning choreographer, Paulo Manso de Sousa and old-time music played live by a trio of folk musicians.Local actors, musicians and dancers are being used as talent in this event. Folk musicians performing at the museum will entertain with a set of old-time, lively yet respectful music from the 19th and 20th centuries.
The first person accounts of the deceased’s lives are designed to engage audience members and give attendees a feeling of “getting to know” the citizen being featured on the tour.
By highlighting some of the citizens buried in Newnan’s Oak Hill cemetery, the stories of the deceased will be perpetuated and the memory of the former citizen prolonged and celebrated.
“The event is intended to be a celebration of some of Newnan’s own and how their lives impacted our town and community,” said McMichael.
This tour is being organized by the staff and volunteers of the Newnan Coweta Historical Society for the purpose of educating our community about some of our deceased citizens contributions to our community. Tours last approximately one hour and begin and end at the NCHS’s McRitchie-Hollis Museum. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at www.eventbrite.com, by calling 770-251-0207 or by visiting the NCHS museum at 74 Jackson Street in Newnan.
