Figures from Butler history coming alive for annual Cemetery Walk
The stories of Butler residents, like one who was a soldier during the Spanish-American War but never saw combat, and one of the first occupational therapists in the city, will come alive Saturday, May 9, at the North Side Cemetery.
Each year, the Butler County Historical Society hosts Echoes From Our Past, which invites people to tour the North Side Cemetery to meet representations of its residents. People buried in the cemetery are portrayed by actors who will relay their stories to guests of the event, which helps bring to life the people who made the area what it is today.
Mackenzie Herold, executive director of the Butler County Historical Society, said the event is meant to bring to life the stories of people’s lives from a previous era. And usually, the people being portrayed in the walk lived their entire lives before 1970.
“We have such wonderful history here in Butler, and lots of times people who have contributed are not well-known,” Herold said. “These people have made such an impact and they don’t get the recognition.”
According to Herold, she and other members of the historical society start researching for the Cemetery Walk around August, and then spend months researching and pulling names to find a few people whose stories are fascinating. They will look up some names found on gravestones and use their stories to write scripts for actors to relay to cemetery walkers.
The actors then present their person’s story to visitors for two sessions of the event.
“Mostly we do a lot of genealogical research, going through ancestry, we look through Butler High School yearbooks,” Herold said. “They get about two or three page scripts and we talk through the research and try to understand the character.”
The event has been popular over the past few years, with people attending the walk to see people in period-appropriate costumes talk about life in a past time. This year, there will be five stories presented by actors, all of them new and not repeats of previous Cemetery Walks.
Herold said that by researching new people each year, it helps paint a picture of what life was like in Butler over the decades, especially to returning guests of the Cemetery Walk, who hear different information each time.
“We want to highlight women, people of color, immigrants of Butler and the folks who made this the place what it is,” Herold said.
The Cemetery Walk has two sessions May 9. One begins at 11 a.m. and the other at 2 p.m. at the North Side Cemetery.
Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for non-members. They can be purchased at butlerhistory.com/echoes or by calling 724-283-8116.
