UPDATE: This event for 2019 is now SOLD OUT!
History buffs will be in their element when The Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery once again present their annual fundraiser, Meet the Pioneers.
Beginning every fifteen minutes between 4-6:30pm, Friday and Saturday, October 4th and 5th, Jacksonville will be visited by representatives from the pioneering past. They welcome folks to meet with them for what is sure to be an enlightening one hour tour and learn their stories from atop the Silent City on the Hill—the Jacksonville Cemetery. Recently I spoke with Dirk and Mary Siedlecki, facilitators of Meet the Pioneers, about this popular event.
“Our Meet the Pioneers program is actually living history tours in the cemetery,” Dirk explained. “We usually have around eight stops on the tour route. And the audience comes up on the shuttle bus that Pioneer Village generously supplies for us along with their drivers. We have guides at the top of the hill that greet the audience and lead the group around. There are anywhere from 14-21 individuals in each tour. Players in period costumes stand graveside and tell either their stories of the deceased buried there or talk about historic happenings during the 1800s and 1900s.”
Just how did murderer, Chester Barden, escape the noose? Listen to tale of a woman considered by some to be a genuine town character. Other histories of interest are Fletcher Linn and Louise M. Sawyers Linn, and Vance Debar Colvig, better known as Bozo the Clown. There are five additional stories on this year’s tour, including a vignette about a thirteen-year-old bride. There are no repeats in the bunch, with each year unearthing new early residents.
The Siedleckis dug up the idea in 2004 after nabbing the idea from the Grants Pass Historical Society. Dirk and Mary attended a living history tour at the Oddfellows Cemetery, the one visible from I-5 in Grants Pass. They thought, “Hey, we ought to do this!” They expected it to be a lone project, but those who came to Jacksonville’s inaugural Meet the Pioneers program in 2006, talked them into continuing, and it’s still going strong thirteen years later. Diehard attendees vie for an attendance award with many having viewed the previous twelve tours.
With cooperation from at least 65 volunteers, this once-a-year monumental fundraiser provides funds for the continuing restoration and upkeep of the cemetery grounds and tombstones. Sixteen players and eight stories or stops, including props, make for a unique evening of entertainment. First date, anyone?
Tours depart from the D Street parking lot. Tickets are $15 for individuals, children twelve and under are $5, or a family ticket of $35 for two adults and up to three children. For safety reasons, please don’t bring pets. Tickets went on sale September 4, so if you want a place at the tombs, buy yours today. They are available online at www.friendsjvillecemetery.org, by calling 541-826-9939, and at their ticket booth next to the Jacksonville Post Office on Friday’s and Saturday’s between the hours of 10:00am and 1:00pm – September 13, 14, 20, 21 27, 28 and October 4 and 5.
“It’s such a unique and fun way to share the history of not only Jacksonville but also the Rogue Valley,” Dirk added. “Adults and children, they love to be told history rather than read it.”
History never gets old. It gets told through caring and dedicated individuals like the Siedleckis and their army of volunteers. The mission of Friends of Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery is to “restore, preserve, document, and safeguard our cemetery and its history for future generations.” Programs such as this one gives us all the opportunity to help assure that this treasure continues to teach for many years to come.