NEWS

History comes to life in 'Night at Heritage Hall'

John Jarvis
Reporter

Gale Martin doesn't know where Lewis Robinson is buried.

The Marion County Historical Society director expressed sadness that the burial place of Robinson, an African-American man who fought in the Civil War, is unidentified.

"I think it's a shame we have an American soldier in an unmarked grave," Martin said.

To make such little-known facts known to the Marion-area public is one of the objectives of A Night at Heritage Hall, which the historical society will present from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Heritage Hall, 169 E. Church St., she said.

Rebecca McKinney portrays Lucy Webb Hayes, first lady to President Rutherford B. Hayes, who was known as “Lemonade Lucy” because alcohol was not served at the White House during the Hayes presidency. Marion County Historical Society volunteers and director Gale Martin were busy Thursday getting ready for A Night at Heritage Hall, where some 45 volunteers will portray local, state and national historical figures.

Robinson's is one of many historical figures, some known locally, some known beyond Marion County, who will be portrayed and whose stories will be told during the event.

The movie "Night at the Museum," in which exhibits in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City come to life, inspired Martin to initiate A Night at Heritage Hall nine years ago.

"Our characters change," she said. "Most of my characters only do the same character two years in a row. So you always have new characters coming in. ... So you never know who you're going to meet."

Martin mentioned a few individuals from Marion's past of particular note to her.

"One of the people people are going to see that I think is really interesting is Nettie Aronhalt," a late 19th century woman Martin said will be portrayed by Kaylen Brown, of Marion. "She was accused of murdering her father. She took poison and died before she even went to trial. ... But we don't know what the circumstances were, so Nettie might be trying to explain herself."

People who attend A Night at Heritage Hall will have the opportunity to explore the dimly lit museum with flashlights as they meet the historic personalities and make discoveries about the community's history while they move among the exhibits throughout the historic 1910-era federal post office, which evolved into Heritage Hall.

Richard Cooper, of Caledonia, will portray his ancestor, Daniel Cooper, who was one of the early settlers in the Caledonia area and a tanner by trade, "so he'll be there with a lot of furs."

Volunteer Eric Ravitz, who will portray John Quincy Roads, a farmer who raised sheep in Prospect Township, works on the “A Night at Heritage Hall” book, which will be available for sale at the Marion County Historical Society event.

As for Robinson, Martin said, "According to what we've been able to discover, he is in the Magnolia section, lot 1205, in Marion Cemetery. I've had some people working on it. ... He died in 1922. He survived the war, came back here and worked in Frank and Samuel Saiter's tin shop."

Mark Revere, of Marion, will play Robinson.

A friend of Revere, Jerry Arnold, will tell the story of Milton Lashley, a World War I veteran who was born in Barbados and came to Marion looking for a relative he never found. Lashley stayed, fought in the war and became pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and assistant pastor at the Quinn Chapel.

"He couldn't read a word, but he memorized the entire Bible," Martin said, adding that her understanding is that he had been the victim of a mustard gas attack, which so damaged his breathing that he had to sleep sitting up. He also was a WMRN Radio personality and scoutmaster, she said. "He was an incredibly intelligent man."

"That's what we try to do with this event: Make people aware of interesting people, who in their own minds were average, everyday Joes, but who lived incredible lives. I think we owe it to them to understand who they were."

The price of admission at the door is $4 for members or $8 for nonmembers. The historical society will loan flashlights to participants. For more information, call the historical society at 740-387-4255. People attending the event also can purchase an information booklet about the historic figures portrayed for $5 at Heritage Hall.

jjarvis@marionstar.com

740-375-5154

Twitter: @jmwjarvis

Rebecca McKinney portrays Lucy Webb Hayes, First Lady to President Rutherford B. Hayes, who was known as “Lemonade Lucy” because alcohol was not served at the White House during the Hayes presidency. Marion County Historical Society volunteers and director Gale Martin were busy Thursday getting ready for A Night at Heritage Hall, where some 45 volunteers will portray local, state and national historical figures.