Potts Inn to celebrate Butterfield Stagecoach route
POTTSVILLE — The Pottsville Junior High School History Club has performed several reenactments in the past, but Friday’s event will be a first — the 150th anniversary of the Butterfield Stagecoach route.
History teacher Tina Taylor said 35 students will don period clothes and go back in time to when the Butterfield Overland Mail Route between Memphis and Fort Smith came through Pottsville.
John Butterfield of New York, a former stagecoach driver, established the route in 1858.
“It did come through this area; we have the documentation at Potts Inn about it,” Taylor said.
Potts Station was the only scheduled stop, according to the Potts Inn website. The inn, at 15 E. Ash St., was a family home of Kirkbride and Pamelia Potts, who had 11 children. Construction started in 1850, and the house was finished in 1858.
“The very first [stagecoach] didn’t stop at the Potts Inn; about a year later, they did.”
Travelers might spend the night at Potts Inn or just eat a meal and continue their journey, Taylor said.
“Students are going to do a little re-enactment of the stagecoach coming to Potts Inn and what people would say in that time period about their journey,” Taylor said. “We have a really good group this year, so I’m really excited.”
Taylor said three skits will be performed, beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, and the public is invited to attend. The skits are free for people to watch, but there is a $5 charge to tour Potts Inn. The Potts Inn Museum includes the original house and several outbuildings in downtown Pottsville.
One performance is Tall Tellers. Jackson Grigsby, an eighth-grader, will “tell some tall tales that have happened at Potts Inn and Pottsville,” Taylor said.
In another scene, “they’ll pretend to be stagecoach drivers, and people stepped onto a rock as they exited — we have the rock they stepped on — and kids will be standing on the rock to explain. The other skit on the front porch of the house is the Waterman Ormsby reenactment. He was one of the first people to ride on the stagecoach,” Taylor said.
Students will also be stationed throughout Potts Inn to “tell about each room and the belongings in the room and just different pioneer facts,” she said.
One of those students is Issac Drew, an eighth-grader, who said his family is part of the community’s history.
“We’ve lived in Pottsville for centuries and have been involved with the city,” Isaac said.
Issac said he has been participating in re-enactments since he was in the third grade, and his aunt Pam Scarber is president of the Potts Inn Board of Directors.
Issac said he enjoys portraying a pioneer farmer and giving tours of the barn, which he will do again during the Butterfield Stagecoach re-enactment.
“I say, ‘I’m Issac Drew, a historical farmer.’ I talk about how they take their corn to the mill to have it ground. [The participants] go inside, and I talk about the cone funnel and how it was for the fire department. People would come into town and borrow the fire department’s buckets to water their horses and wouldn’t return them, back when they had the bucket brigade,” so the firefighters started using a cone-shaped container instead of a regular bucket. The cone shape wouldn’t allow the buckets to sit flat on the ground.
“I talk about the tractor and the cotton scales and all that stuff,” he said. “I hope we get a good turnout.”
Taylor said other teachers involved with the re-enactment are Kellie VanEs, a specialeducation teacher in the district, a former history teacher and a volunteer at Potts Inn. She’s also secretary of the Pottsville Historical Foundation. Diane Hancock, gifted-and-talented teacher for the Pottsville School District, is also helping to organize the event.
Taylor said the History Club has held Civil War reenactments and others through the years.
“I’ve made probably 60 costumes myself, and Potts Inn houses those for us … above the caretaker’s office.
“We usually have a lot of fun with it,” Taylor said. “These kids are awesome.
“It’s just fun for me and the other volunteers at Potts Inn to see the kids get so excited about history. We teach to do this.”