Sheffield Historical Society to present its Annual Spirit Walk
SHEFFIELD, Mass. - Join members of the Sheffield Historical Society for the Annual Sheffield Spirit Walk on Sunday, October 4 from 2-4 pm in Center Cemetery for this theatrical rencounter with Sheffield history as memorable residents from our town's past are recast! Come learn their stories as they are vividly brought back to life before you.Featured in the 2009 walk will be the spirits of: Graham A. Root (1820-1880), high sheriff of Berkshire County and descendant of Civil War musician George F. Root; Edward Eli Ensign (1848-1872), a member of the prominent Ensign family of general merchants and builders, who suffered an untimely death; the mother of Prudence A. Smith (1824-1868), whose grandchildren succumbed to death by epidemic; Ralston F. Little (1853-1924) a local butcher and member of the Little family whose collection of correspondence will be the subject of an upcoming exhibit at the Society; J. Luella Dowd Smith (1847-1941) an inspirational writer and poet of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; Emily Rood, wife of David W. Rood (1836-1862), who lost two children due to the uncertainties of life on the frontier in the nineteenth century; Patrick Conway (1819-1897) a successful Irish immigrant; and Dorothy Andrews Cabis (1917-1971) a Sheffield native who went on to become the treasurer of the United States! Come learn something about Sheffield's illustrious ancestry through the guise of a little ghost lore.
The walk also honors the month of October as Massachusetts Archaeology Month through the appreciation of our town's cemeteries, where many of the marble grave markers were locally quarried. Local fieldstone and marble is also a feature of Center Cemetery's Barnard Chapel, which will be open to the public during the event. This mausoleum was erected in 1893 by Columbia University in honor of Frederic Barnard, a Sheffield citizen who served as the tenth president of Columbia College and founded Barnard College for Women.
Center Cemetery is located on Berkshire School Road, Sheffield, a stone's throw from DeVries Building Supply. Parking is available in the cemetery's parking lot or on the south roadside. Please remember to dress for the weather as the event will be held rain or shine. Light refreshments will be provided. A suggested donation of $5 for all Society members and $7 for non-members will be collected. Children will be admitted for free.
For more information about Society programs, please call (413) 229-2694.
