West Chicago's 22nd Annual Tales Tombstones Tell Provides Another Chapter of "Reality History" on October 7, 2011
West Chicago, Illinois: September 28, 2011 - Picture yourself standing amidst majestic oak trees on a brisk October evening at the oldest cemetery in West Chicago. You hear music wafting on the cool breeze, and listen as someone dressed in clothing from a different era shares a story - a real story, not fictionalized or exaggerated. This is West Chicago reality history.
For 21 years the West Chicago City Museum has been providing living histories that focus on the stories of notable, and ordinary, people buried at Oakwood Cemetery, located at York Street and Oakwood Avenue. The 22nd annual Tales Tombstones Tell program is scheduled this year for Friday, October 7, 2011.
With lanterns and candlelight illuminating your path, costumed interpreters are your hosts, revealing the life stories of selected former residents buried in Oakwood. Even though the subjects are former West Chicagoans, their stories are universal and transcend our town's borders.
Tours last 45 minutes and begin at 6:30 p.m. They run continuously about every 10 minutes, with the last tour getting started at 7:45 pm. No reservations are taken, it's first come, first served, and if the weather is inclement the program is cancelled.
Tales Tombstones Tell which is appropriate for families, is based on historical fact and does not contain ghost stories. It's a terrific way to learn the history of hometown personalities and events that have shaped the community we know today.
All in all, between 15 - 20 volunteers help out and run a seamless operation. Over the years these stalwart men, women and children have braved hail, rain, high humidity and hungry mosquitoes. They have a passion for history and bring it to the public with a respect for the people buried here.
Refreshments will be served after the program in St. Mary's Church basement. For twenty-one years St. Mary's has graciously provided a place for visitors to relax and refresh while they reflect on the stories just heard.
Although the program is free, donations are encouraged. For more information, please call the Museum at (630) 231-3376 or email questions to museum@westchicago.org.
Oakwood Cemetery is truly one of West Chicago's most studied local historical sites. Over the last several years two volunteers, Cheryl Waterman and Dennis Schuett, have surveyed the graveyard. What they have found has been documented on the website Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com). They have spent hundreds of hours walking the cemetery, recording grave sites and tombstone inscriptions for the 1,471 known interments at Oakwood Cemetery. Photographs taken of each tombstone provide a valuable record as erosion renders the stones less readable each year.
Obituaries and historic portraits of the deceased, if available, are included as well. Relation of the deceased to others in the cemetery (sister, wife, etc.) is noted.
The West Chicago City Museum acknowledges that it is random acts of genealogical kindness such as those performed by Waterman and Schuett that should be recognized and saluted for their preservation of West Chicago's historical record.
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