Cemetery Tour Kit Lane presentations

Archive

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Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society

Name/Title

Cemetery Tour Kit Lane presentations

Entry/Object ID

2023.18.16

Scope and Content

Four Kit Lane researched and written scripts for "Tales from the Crypt" cemetery tours that were presented to the SDHC membership at the October or November meetings. In the presentations, actors would play the "ghosts" of people buried at a particular cemetery and speak a short soliloquy about their mortal lives. Some of the scripts include a cover letter to the citizen-actors who would play the ghosts with advice about costume changes. Sometimes visuals of photo of the deceased and their gravestones would accompany the indoor presentations. 1. Two copies of the Riverside Cemetery tour, one dated June 30, 2005. This presentation was scheduled to happen at Riverside. Marsha Kontio, Steve Williford, Kit Lane, Corey Stoppel, Allyson Lane, Peggy Boyce, Johnn Malloy and as yet unwrangled boy were listed as players to present information about William Butler, Stephen Morrison, George H. Baker, Henry Bird, Desiah Van House Bird, Hattie Moffat Bird, Arnold Breukmann, James F. Taylor, Dr. H.H. Stimson and Alice and William, Samuel Johnson, Stephen A. Nichols, Alfred Wallin, Orcelia Tanner Wallin, Luman Wallin, Joseph J. Richards, Charles Richards, Winifred and Maude Moore, Captain W.G. Phelps, Ralph Case Brittain, John F. Francis, May Francis Heath, Doc Anderson Heath, Rev. Bessie Rulison, Elmer Haselgren "Whistling Bill. 2.Tour script for Douglas cemetery presentation at the History Center in Douglas performed by Kit Lane, Steve Williford, Ernie Evangelisto, Marsha Kontio and Harold Thieda. Historical people profiled include Robert A. McDonald, Michael Brown Spencer, Frank WAde, Lucinda Dietrich Dutcher, William A. May, D.M. Wiley, Crawford McDonald, Clara Brown Billings, George Dutcher, Captain Robert Reid, Fabian Snay, Captain "Billy" William B. Minter, Lila Woodall Paris, Captain Walter D. Hamilton, Fidelia Bowman Riley Slack, Philetus "Phleet" Purdy, Alice Purdy, Patrick devine, Emilie Haubenreisser, Joseph Prentice, Daniel Gerber, Rudolph Zeitsch, David E. "Skeet" Plummer, Louise Van Syckel, Mary Hans Wark, O.R. Johnson, Inez Haven Campbell, Hugh Dempster, Martha Slafter Gillespie, Clark Gillespie, Sarah Gill Kirby, Martin Crowner, Sadie Coxford Wicks, Arthur F. Deam. 3. Taylor cemetery script marked "Final" and 10/23/12. Presenters were Kit Lane, Steve Williford, Chris Yoder, Marsha Kontio. Historical people profiled include Philander Taylor, James Campbell Haile, Sarah Warner Grosvenor, Alexander Allen Johnson, William H. Dunn, Eliza Raplee, Van Renselaer Wadsworth, Levi Tuttle, William B. Kibby, Jonathan Pratt Eddy, Henry Hudson Hutchins, Frank Chenoweth, George Dallas Dean, Susan Lawrence, Dr. E.E. Brunson, Dr. Eugene T. Brunson, Alice Brunson Wolbrink, Charles McVea, Herbert D. Hudson, Claude Dornan, Linton Varus Foot, Robert Wolbrink, James S. Chase, Marion Ensfield, William Leslie Tromp, Bruce E. Matteson, Mary Kanyo Simon, Richard E. Trumble 4. Plummerville script dated 10/13. Historical people profiled include Benjamin Plummer, Elvira Ames Plummer, George Washington Dailey, Henry Daniel Bauhahn, Benjamin Tourtellotte, Andrew Ames Plummer, James Franklin Dornan, Charles M. Clark, Charles Blades, Eli H. Guigue, David Corlett, Marvin S. Newham, Howard Margot, Dr. Harriet E. Cooke, Robert Lee Baker, Samuel Ingalls "Uncle Sam" Clark, Ednamae Nichols Brooks, Neal A. Hess, Mary Cecilia Knipper Dickenson Anderson Paine, Robert L. Ruhl, John Butler Johnson II, Frank Leamy, John Stream, Marita Anne-Marie Arvidsson Smith, Edward Van Pendergrass, John Gerald Cain, William C. Vandenberg, Janet Windslow Ryder, Hamilton Lethin

Context

An example of mixing historical presentation with entertainment.

Collection

Cemeteries and graves

Cataloged By

Winthers, Sally

Acquisition

Accession

2023.18

Acquisition Method

Found in Collection

Dimensions

Height

11 in

Width

8-1/2 in

Location

Box

076 Parks and Cemeteries

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Riverside Cemetery 1864-, Rulison, Bessie M. 1864-1963/66

General Notes

Note

https://www.sdhistoricalsociety.org/Newsletter/2011/sep11/sep11_newsletter.htm Oct. 12, 2011 OCTOBER MEETING PROGRAM Visitors from Douglas Cemetery To Bring Tales from the Crypt In keeping with the season, the October 12th meeting at the Old School House, will feature a visit by some of the more interesting ghosts from the Douglas Cemetery. The founding families will be represented with Lucinda Dutcher, and her Civil War hero son, George; Robert McDonald, Frank Wade, the first white child born in Douglas; and William A. May, the first boy of Douglas. With the help of our technical people who have photographed their tombstones so they will feel at home, there will be a parade of citizens from the distant, and not so distant past. Even a visitor from California. What Douglas man arrived in Allegan County the day after his birth in a shoebox? Why is a pair of tombstones in the Douglas Cemetery some of the most photographed in the state? Learn about the woes of the Haubenreisser family, the fall and rescue of Alice's angel and why a Prentice son lived for four years in his own little house in the backyard of his parents' house in Douglas. How do these people speak after all these years? You might say they have ghost writers. submitted by Kit Lane

Create Date

July 16, 2023

Update Date

January 24, 2024