Historical Society presents famous spirits for Sesquicentennial
21st Annual Cemetery Crawl
Spirits visited Gilpin County Saturday afternoon, and not just any old spirits, but those of some of the area’s most famous early residents. They were seen by more than a hundred people in the City of Central cemetery. Dressed in the style of their day, the late 19th century, they stood out from modern visitors, yet looked right at home amidst the shade-dappled monuments. It was the Gilpin Historical Society’s (GHS) 21st Annual Cemetery Crawl.
Each year the members of GHS research the lives of some of Gilpin’s earliest residents, often picking the everyday men and women who lived and died here. They contact family members of the deceased for additional personal information that will help them “know” the deceased. Then they “act” the part, telling folks who take the annual cemetery tour all about their work, their families, their interests and what is was like to live more than a hundred years ago. This year being the Sesquicentennial Celebration, GHS picked characters from Gilpin’s history who were well-known in their day, and now in ours through history, for their accomplishments and/or accumulations.
The path is wide at the entrance through the big iron gates at Central’s cemetery, but soon it splinters into trails that wend between graves marked with simple board tombstones worn smooth, large expensive polished granite monuments and everything in size and material between. Some graves are no longer marked at all, except for a roughly rectangular depression in the ground. GHS members, aware of grave locations, plan their routes accordingly, to keep visitors on the trails. Guides, also dressed in period styles, led groups of about 20 visitors each along the various pathways until they came to a “spirit” standing beneath the aspens or sitting on a low wall that surrounds some burial plots. Then a history lesson ensued, done in so individual and personal a manner, the information and impression is likely to stick. Gilpin’s local cemeteries are interesting enough, on their own, to draw visitors who just like to wander through and wonder about these early residents. GHS indulges that interest to a greater level, drawing crowds every time.
This year, there were twelve “spirits” represented by GHS members, each with an important place in Central City/Gilpin County history. Janet Maley portrayed a friend of Father/Bishop Joseph Machebeuf; Fred Rodgers portrayed Eben Smith; Chris Rogers portrayed Horace and Irving Hale, Kathy Klutsch portrayed a reporter writing about Clara Brown; Amy Abshire portrayed Lou Bunch; Jennifer Rogers portrayed Frances Jacobs; Chuck Roberts portrayed Jerome Chaffee; Buddy Schmalz portrayed Chin Lin Sou; Karen Swigert portrayed Ida Kruse McFarlane; Anne Lueddes portrayed Harriet Belford; Dave Thomas portrayed Billy Cozens; and Neal Standard portrayed Henry Teller. The historical group includes miners, lawyers, legislators, educators-even a madam. Some are not so well known but played important roles in local history; Chin Lin Sou was a Chinese man who prevented mob violence against the Chinese population of Central City following the 1873 fire which is said to have started in a Chinese laundry. GHS members impart not just the common knowledge about the early citizens, but often find the lesser-known, more everyday information that makes their characters “real.”
The annual fundraiser is held every August. Each year, GHS chooses different “spirits” to portray and rotates to a different cemetery. Gilpin residents have requested GHS do tours of Black Hawk’s cemetery on Dory Hill and the Catholic cemetery above Central. Maybe next year.