For the second year in a row, The Sherman Museum is proud to sponsor "History Comes Alive at West Hill Cemetery," a historical walking tour of Sherman's West Hill Cemetery. The event will take place on September 27, 2014, and consist of timed tours through the cemetery with stops at specific locations. Costumed actors will share informative and entertaining stories about individuals interned in the cemetery or about particular sections of the cemetery. Tours being at 9:30 am and continue at staggered times until 3:30 pm. Tours are suitable for all ages. One tour will offer handicapped accessibility.
The event will serve as The Sherman Museum’s major fundraising event for 2014. Tickets are $20 for adults; $15 for museum members; $10 for students with ID; and children under 12
are free. Tours are limited to groups of 25, so advanced ticket purchase is encouraged. Tickets can
be purchased online at the museum’s website (see link below), or in person at either the
Touch of Class Antique Mall (118 W. Lamar Street, Sherman) or at The Sherman Museum (301 S. Walnut Street, Sherman). Any tickets remaining on the day of the event can be purchased at the event.
Museum volunteers carefully selected the grave sites in hopes of offering something for everyone.
“The tour will feature eight stops in a relatively small area of the cemetery making the walk easy,
but focusing on cultural diversity and some really unique individuals,” said event planner Shelly
Morgan.
Among the notables in this year’s tour include Andrew Lawrence Randell, a world- famous Mason;
Thomas Jefferson Shannon, “The Father of Sherman;” and John Brooke, a businessman from England, known for his descriptive letters relating life in his adopted country. Also featured is Elisha Baker, a soldier who served for both North and the South during the Civil War. Other stops include the grave of Texas Ranger, Francis Marshalk, and the headstone of Electra Waggoner Biggs, famed Texas sculptor and oil-and-ranching heiress.
Early Sherman culture is the focus of a stop in the Jewish Cemetery, as well as at the headstone of
Dr. Anthony Prince, a black physician whose home was burned in the riot of 1930. Njoki McElroy,
author of a book on the life in Sherman during this era, will be the presenter, and her books will be available for purchase.