November 01, 2024
Holidays
Holidays

Popular Oswego cemetery walk to go virtual

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Helen McKinny Pogue, who will be one of the “ghosts” portrayed in this year’s virtual Oswego Cemetery Walk, “Cemetery Stories,” was born in Oswego in 1852. She grew up in Oswego, married a local lumber merchant, and spent the rest of her life in the village. (Photo provided)

Last year’s Oswego Cemetery Walk, co-hosted by the Oswegoland Park District and the Oswegoland Heritage Association, was the most successful in the event’s history, with more attendees than ever before. This week, because of the pandemic, the popular cemetery walk moves into cyberspace.

The Little White School Museum will post "Cemetery Stories," interviews with five "ghosts" who currently inhabit Oswego area cemeteries, a news release announced. The ghostly interviews can be enjoyed on the museum's Facebook page at shawurl.com/3e7s.

“While we weren’t able to do a physical cemetery walk this year, our Facebook ‘Cemetery Stories’ will still allow Oswegoland residents to be entertained and informed about Oswego’s rich history by engaging with ‘ghosts’ from the community’s past,” noted virtual cemetery walk coordinator Tina Heidrich, Little White School Museum manager, in the release. “In the case of a couple of the ‘ghosts,’ it’s also giving us a chance to enjoy stories of Oswego pioneers who are not buried in our usual cemetery walk location at the Oswego Township Cemetery.”

Again this year, members of the Park District’s Limelight Theatre Company will portray the ghostly residents of Oswego graveyards.

Each evening through Oct. 30, “Cemetery Stories” on the museum’s Facebook page will feature a new spectral visitor. Ghosts expected to visit this year include pioneer Phoebe Bartlett; Dillinger gangster John “Three-Fingered Jack” Hamilton; Oswego native Helen McKinney Pogue; settler Clarissa Foster Warner; and millwright and business owner William Parker Sr.

For more information about "Cemetery Stories," call the museum at 630-554-2999 during business hours from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday through Monday, or send an email to info@littlewhiteschoolmuseum.org.

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