AC: During our work on the cemetery, we discovered and cleared out the gravestone of Hezekiah Harris and his wife, Catherine Griffin. He died a hero at Devil's Den in Gettysburg on July 2, 1863; his wife lived to see the turn of the century.
The author's family members at Hezekiah and Catherine Harris' gravestone, circa 1900.
(Image by Meryl Ann Butler) Details DMCA
The Rossville Cemetery Association's first Living History reenactment at the cemetery is scheduled for Saturday June 25, there will be three performances, featuring an actor interpreting Catherine's experience.
Our purpose is to help the community realize the impact the people resting there had on shaping our town, we believe living history events will shout this out to individuals of today and honor all who rest there.
We also plan to restore the church building, which will be 200 years old in 2031.
There is more info at our website.
If any readers have the time and wish to stop by, or take a tour of the church, simply reach out to me and we'll arrange it.
MAB: That's great, what's the best way for someone to connect with you?
AC: Please find me through the website, Rossvillecemetery.org or email RossvilleCemeteryAssociationNB(at)gmail.com. We love to see new faces and meet members of our family tree!
MAB: Well I am glad to meet you, my new cousin--and I'm looking forward to meeting other kinfolk in the Newburgh area! Thanks for visiting with OpEdNews, Alan.
* * * * And now a visit with Jessica Boyd -- * * * *
Meryl Ann Butler: Thanks for visiting with OpEdNews, today, Jessica. You'll be portraying my great-great-grandmother, Catherine Harris, in an upcoming historical reenactment, which is so exciting. But let's start with some background. How did you get interested in and started with historical reenactment?
Jessica Boyd: My interest in historical reenactment grew out of a lifelong love of history and storytelling. As a child, I loved to regale anyone who would listen with history I learned in school. I started to better understand my fascination with the past as I grew older. As a literature major in college, I realized that history, like any story, is a character-driven narrative. Artistic expression and primary source documents are the keys to understanding the motives, behaviors, and concerns that caused the events to occur.
When history is framed as a linear series of self-perpetuating events, people tend to disengage and claim that history "isn't for them." When I started doing theatre five years ago, I learned that portraying historical characters as complex human beings with stories, humor, and inner conflicts drew people in.
MAB: That's fascinating! I understand you have a new organization, Theater Hive Hudson Valley. Can you share a bit about that?
JB: Certainly. Theatre Hive is a theatre company local to New York's Hudson Valley, that I co-founded with a colleague and friend of mine, Kenny Drao. After being in the "biz" for a while (Kenny has been in it much longer than I have), we decided to create a company of our own. One reason we created the company was to have more creative freedom than we had with other groups. We also thought we could learn from each other because we have different areas of expertise. My specialty is writing, acting, and directing; Kenny's focus is technical direction.
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