Inside: ‘The Talking Dead’ come alive Saturday at cemetery,
TEXARKANA, Ark. — With the onset of March, the Texarkana Museums System brings the dead to life with another Twilight Tour on Saturday, this time with “The Talking Dead” at State Line Cemetery.
Starting at 6:30 p.m., this living history experience provides a guided tour of what’s actually a conglomeration of cemeteries, including the main cemetery with an independent section for African Americans, a Masonic cemetery, Mt. Sinai Memorial Garden and Woodlawn Cemetery.
Other TMS Twilight Tours follow through March and April.
“We have a great group of volunteer actors for these tours,” says TMS Curator Jamie Simmons in a news release statement. “They love Texarkana history and are excited to be able to share that history in such a unique way.”
In an interview, Simmons explained that a new lineup of cemetery residents will be included this time around, in addition to some who’ve been part of the tour before.
“Such a big set of cemeteries that every time we do this tour we’ll include different people,” Simmons said. “Some people will be part of that tour more frequently. For instance, Silas Hunt is buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery part of that tour and so he’s going to be making a return appearance.”
New characters will have different stories to tell. “They all have have their different perspective on things and are from different time periods, too,” she said.
How Texarkana got its start, plus the characters’ role in making that happen and developing the city, will be common themes.
“We’re actually going to feature Fred Offenhauser this time, who was a pioneer, founding father. He came to Texarkana as a young man and of course he’s most well known today for having founded the Offenhauser Insurance Co. Of course the Museums System is now located in the original location of the Offenhauser Insurance Co.,” Simmons said.
Among other things, Offenhauser’s life has an interesting story about a publicity stunt he concocted to promote Texarkana while president of the board of trade, she said.
“I think it will be interesting to go through all of those again. There’s so many stories.”
—Jamie Simmons
“We do actually have some newer characters, such as Jaco Butler, who was African American (and) from the 1870s on, worked as an expressman. That was a person on a train who was actually in charge of the car where they would transport gold and payrolls. The money car, which was called the express car,” Simmons said, noting Butler, also known as Jaco Kane, was a Union soldier during the Civil War.
Butler was buried in Woodlawn, which was founded as an African American cemetery and became multi-cultural over the years, the curator said.
“A little bit of a different perspective on the early decades of Texarkana and also the impact of the railroad in bringing people into Texarkana,” Simmons said. “Those are a couple of the newer characters. We’re actually going to feature Betty Bonner Smith, who was the mother of Olivia Smith Moore.”
Her family were Texas pioneers, and her character helps to provide insight into early 20th century Texarkana, local hospitals and more, the curator explained. They’ll include characters from all of the cemeteries in the tour.
“I think it will be interesting to go through all of those again. There’s so many stories,” Simmons said.
Other tours on tap in the next month or so include “Monuments & Memorials,” a tour of downtown Texarkana’s historic markers on March 13; evening bike tours; “The Talking Dead: Hillcrest Cemetery” on April 3; and “All Aboard!,” a history of Texarkana railroads on April 10.
Participants can meet at the front gate facing State Line Avenue. There’s no parking at the cemetery, but parking is available nearby. Call for assistance in advance, if needed. The route in the cemetery is almost all paved. An audio unit will be provided so everyone can hear the actors.
Anyone interested in acting as a living history performer or make costumes for the Texarkana Museums System is encouraged to contact the TMS.
(Tickets: $15, or $10 for TMS members. Tickets must be purchased in advance at TexarkanaMuseums. org/Events. For more information, call 903-793-4831 or email Ahern@ TexarkanaMuseums.org.)