Evergreen Cemetery Lantern Tours ignite imagination of history buffs

PINE PLAINS — For one weekend in autumn, characters from the town’s past returned to cast light on its storied history at the 2021 Evergreen Cemetery Lantern Tours, on Friday, Oct. 22, and Saturday, Oct. 23.

A treasured fall tradition and annual fundraising event organized by the Pine Plains Free Library and the Little Nine Partners Historical Society, the tours reflect the hard work of those dedicated to sharing local history.

Tour Director Lenora Champagne and Historical Society President Dyan Wapnick selected the featured characters after extensive research. A script for each character was developed by Wapnick while Champagne recruited the actors. The show was then gradually brought to life by six locals who embodied their roles in costumes provided by the high school’s Stissing Theatre Guild.

A notable feature this year, Champagne mentioned two of the scripts were developed with community members, including Scott Chase, who wrote and performed a script about his ancestor, Enos Jordan Chase. Another script, Champagne said, was based on an oral history of Esterina Peppe that resident Rosie Lyons Chase did with her youngest daughter, Evelina Peppe Lyle.

Selling out both nights, organizers, guides and actors couldn’t have been more thrilled by the turnout of residents, visitors and history buffs. All embarked to the cemetery at 6, 6:30 and 7 p.m. on Friday night and at 6, 6:30, 7 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night. A limited mobility tour was offered on Friday at 5 p.m. to bring the tour and its actors to those who couldn’t make the journey in the dark.

Pumpkins carved with precision and glowing with candlelight lit the path to the cemetery. As they followed their guide through the woods peppered with headstones, the path back through time was met first by Isaac Hunting.

Seated atop his gravestone, Hunting (played by Thayer Durrell) leaned forward to tell his tale of the Little Nine Partners Patent, his war service, his travels in and out of Pine Plains and his recognition as an authority of the Little Nine Partners.

Next, those taking the tour came face-to-face with William Owens (played by Patrick Trettenero), who told the tale of why he and his beloved wife were not buried together. Offering a colorful story of fortune and misfortune, Owens spoke of his life as an animal trainer for Barnum & Bailey Circus, a railroad breaker, a lamplighter and even of starting Pine Plains’ first taxi service.

Catching her dancing to music played on guitar, the tour met Esterina Peppe (played by Martine King), the matriarch of one of Pine Plains’ first Catholic families. She shared her family’s work in the community while honoring their Italian and Catholic roots.

Embodying his ancestor’s words, Chase narrated Enos Jordan Chase’s work as owner of the town’s general store. With family roots in Pine Plains since the 1700s, he illuminated his ancestor’s business know-how and how, at age 23, he opened his own store in 1863. He started with a small stock of groceries and medicine and graduating to a larger general store.

Playing the oldest citizen of Pine Plains whose only wish was to lead “a perfect life,” Catherine Howard detailed Margaret Amelia Deuel’s life as a well-to-do society matron and mother of scions of the Deuel family, listing her wide-reaching community involvement and the two scandals that checkered her otherwise perfect life.

As the last stop on the tour, the audience was introduced to Dr. Henry Clay Wilbur (played by Andy King), a leading country doctor in Pine Plains for 52 years.

Remembering the long hours and low pay, the terrors of the night calls and overnight stays at patients’ homes, Wilbur revealed how a country doctor is, to quote tour guide Marie Stewart, just as important as men fighting on the battlefield. Even as he remarked on the difficulties of treating patients and the marvels of the advances in medicine, Wilbur was proud to say he never refused medical services to a patient who couldn’t afford them, recognizing medicine as a profession about giving and not taking.