OSWEGO COUNTY – Come out to the Oswego Town Rural Cemetery for the ninth annual ghost and history storytelling tour! It begins at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26 at the cemetery located at 242 Cemetery Rd., Oswego.
The free event is a partnership between the Oswego Town Historical Society, SUNY Oswego’s Theater Department and its History Department’s “Death, Data, and Local Cemeteries” course.
The annual performance is directed and produced by Professor Jonel Langenfeld and features fascinating stories along with a dance performance by SUNY Oswego theatre students and students in the storytelling class.
The tour will be split into two parts, beginning with stories under a tent from 2 to 3:15 p.m. Students will tell stories of historically significant figures not buried in the cemetery, but who have had a large impact on the town and city of Oswego as well as SUNY Oswego. Stories showcase Edward Austin Sheldon, Lida Penfield, Ruth Gruber, Richard Shineman, Harriet Tubman, Queen Lili’uokalani of Hawaii and more.
The second portion of the event is a walking tour from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Participants will visit the gravesites of those buried within the cemetery and hear their stories, including U.S. Congressional Medal of Honor recipients Dr. Mary Edwards Walker and James Lee. There will only be one walking tour this year, and all attendees will stay together as a group during the tour.
People not interested in participating in the walking tour portion of the event will have the opportunity to play cemetery history trivia to compete for fun and local prizes courtesy of SUNY Oswego, Studio C Dance Academy, the Oswego Town Historical Society and more.
The river’s end bookstore will be on-site with books for sale, and new Oswego Town Rural Cemetery merchandise will be available for purchase. Free cider and donuts will be served.
All attendees must take the complementary bus service to the cemetery, as public parking will not be permitted at the performance site. There are four different bus loops providing round-trip transportation between SUNY Oswego’s C-32 parking lot (located on West End Avenue) to the cemetery. The bus is limited to 44 passengers per trip. The full bus itinerary is located on the SUNY Oswego box office website, once the ticket is reserved and printed.
The event will be held rain or shine. To reserve a free ticket or for more details, including the shuttle bus schedule, visit the SUNY Oswego Box Office website at https://oswego.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=9608&p=1.
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